The Black Dragon Emperor
by TheBlackRyuubi
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki is the jinchūriki of the Twelve-Winged Dragon, a fearsome creature that almost brought the Leaf to its annihilation. Follow our favourite knucklehead on his road to become the ultimate bridge to peace. NarutoxHarem.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hi! Thank you for checking out my story! Before we begin, there's some things I'd like to say.**

 **First: This is kind of a crossover story between Naruto and Highschool DXD, but it'll be completely set IN Naruto's world, only some characters and a bit of the lore from DXD will be dragged into this story, so bear that in mind when you read this.**

 **Second: I'm new in this writing thingy, I've never wrote anything in my life actually, but since I am writing the story of a videogame, I wanted to get some exp first, so please, feel free to correct me and comment your tips and critiques, that will help me create an amazing story for both the game and this fic. I'm open to listen to your feedback AS LONG as you keep it CIVIL, comments with insults or lame hate will not be taken into consideration.**

 **Third: The pairing will be a Harem, a huge one actually, I already have at least 45 girls planned for the story since this fic is inspired by the amazing 'Eroninja' by 'TheLemonSage' (Go and check it out if you haven't, it's a really cool story), so if you have any girl you'd like to see, even if she's from a different franchise than Naruto or DXD, send me a PM and I'll see if I can fix them into the story! But this will NOT be a lemon fest, I'll add one here and there, but this is a plot driven fic, so I'll let you lads know when I add one.**

 **With that set, let's get to it.**

 **(I only own OCs, the plot some techniques, from there on, I own shit)**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **Prologue**

A 5 year old Naruto was running around the village trying to get away from the angry mob that was giving him chase. Sadly, this was a common occurrence in his life, especially on the anniversary of the defeat of the Twelve Winged Dragon by the hand of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, his hero, his inspiration and above all, his father.

Yes, he was very aware that the Fourth was his father, many people believed that Naruto has a hard-skull, even if they knew that the reason for that would be because nobody in the village would teach him how to read or do math, not even in the orphanage that was supposed to take care of him, that and the fact that he goes running around the village painting shit with his paint-bombs, pranking and screaming about being Hokage one day.

But, the truth is that he is quite the genius, all it took was one comment about him being a mini version of the Fourth, a thorough search on people in the village with blond hair and blue eyes, a nervous looking Third Hokage when being questioned about it, a good look at the face in the monument and then at the mirror, and there you go, the clear answer of who his father was.

After finding the truth, he didn't know how to feel about him anymore, he respected him as a Hokage, there was no doubt in him that he was the absolute pinnacle of the word 'Kage'. But as his father, he felt conflicted, because even if he gave his life to protect the village from the wrath of the Twelve-Wings alongside a woman named Kushina Uzumaki, who he also had a theory about his relation with her, he or they, ultimately gave him the fate of being the pariah and the focus of aggression for the whole village.

He knew what he carries inside of him as well, again, all it took to learn the truth was listening to the names the villagers use to call him, 'Demon Brat', 'Dragon Brat' and such, the latter being a good giveaway, but it clicked when somebody used the word 'Jinchūriki'. Not knowing what it meant, he snuck into the library and began searching for the term and after finding that it was used to refer to the containers of the Tailed Beasts, he just put two and two together and it all made sense, the names, the glares, the insults, the hate.

Maybe his father and probable mother thought that the village would love him and see him as a hero, thinking that the previous jinchūriki of the village, Kushina, the carrier of the Nine Tailed Fox, who was already a respected kunoichi known throughout the lands as 'The Red-Hot Habanero' before it became public knowledge that she carried the Nine-Tails, became a hero after working together with the fox and the Fourth to protect the village from the dragon, they might have believed that the reputation would be carried onto the newborn.

But, he still thought that they should have known that the people would hate the demon that brought them close to annihilation and that killed so many loved ones of the survivors of the attack, along with the fact that for some reason the knowledge of his heritage was to be kept hidden from the village. Instead of hopes for a bright future for their son, they should have known that it wasn't going to be that way, coupled with the fact that the Nine-Tails mysteriously disappeared from the world after the battle, adding the unwarranted hate brought by losing their biggest weapon to the dragon, they ultimately left him to pay for their decision, noble as it might have been, it still doomed him to be a 5 year old with over a dozen assassination attempts on his head. In the off chance that he was wrong and they weren't his parents, that just made them even worse persons in his eyes by sacrificing an abandoned newborn.

So that left him with an incredible bitter savor about his father, while it might have been the most difficult thing in the world to sacrifice your and your children's life to fulfill your duty to the village, he or her were not the ones trying to get away from the very ones that they protected.

"Stop running you damn demon!" An angry male villager screamed.

"Kill the dragon, kill him!" A female villager exclaimed while throwing rocks at the little blond.

"You won't escape the legacy of the Fourth, we will honor his sacrifice by finishing what he and Lady Kushina started." Another said proudly, as if he was not trying to kill a 5 year old.

Oh, the fucking irony, _'There's just no point anymore…'_ Naruto thought tiredly while making it look like he had tripped over some rocks, he then closed his eyes and just waited for his death.

He didn't have to wait long, as the villagers quickly surrounded him and started beating and spitting him all over the place. But not having enough, some of the villagers who were already wasted grabbed some kunai and began to stab him to finish him off once and for all.

Trying to ignore the pain and mentally cursing his parents and the village, he kept his mouth and eyes shut tight until eventually, he felt a huge pain in his heart and immediately all went dark.

Soon after, the villagers were starting to cheer and congratulate each other for a job well done, shouting the name of the Fourth to celebrate. It didn't last though, as they were quickly detained by mud. The villagers looked around for the caster of the jutsu and they saw an ANBU with white hair and a dog mask with his hands on the ground.

Soon after, a female ANBU with a cat mask and purple hair began to cuff them and knock them harshly, mentally cursing each and every one of them and herself, for falling on the diversion the villagers used to throw them off the chase.

A third ANBU with black hair and a weasel mask then appeared and quickly made his way towards the limp child, "God, what the fuck did you people just do!?" He shouted angrily towards the drunken shinobi among the villagers, the ones responsible for stabbing the boy.

"We saved the village, that's what we fucking did! Having that damn demon among us was an insult to us and the memory of the Fourth!" An angry drunken kunoichi answered back.

"He's just a child you fucking bitch!" The female ANBU said from behind her before knocking her out cold.

"Cat, Weasel! Keep your emotions for when you're alone…" The white haired ANBU reprimanded them before turning towards the other male ANBU to say, "Weasel, how is Naruto?" The dog masked ANBU asked with a hint of dread and sorrow in his voice.

"He's gone..." Weasel responded dryly, his voice seemingly devoid of emotion.

 _'_ _I failed you again sensei...'_ The white haired ANBU thought with great sorrow, "Take his body to a safe place and stay with him while we carry these scum to the Hokage." He ordered while making his way to transport the arrested villagers to the Hokage Tower. He turned around and saw the female ANBU looking transfixed at the body of the boy, he brought her attention back when he shouted, "Cat, get a move on!"

"Right, Captain!" The distracted ANBU answered and began to help her ANBU Captain with taking the unconscious people to the Hokage tower.

Weasel finished cleaning the body as best as he could from all the blood and then, he began to carry him towards the boy's house. He casted his gaze down on him and soon, a lone tear fell from his chin towards the body of the boy while saying, "Naruto, I'm so sorry..."

* * *

Naruto's eyes slowly opened from their slumber, he felt confused when after looking around a little, he found himself laying on the ground on a weird looking hall.

Getting on his feet, he realized that he was in some sort of sewer, "Hahaha, this is just fucking great! Either heaven is too overrated or hell is more comfortable than my own apartment!" Naruto said sarcastically. He then heard a grumble that sounded like something about 'Stupid loud brats' followed by a low roar that seemed to call on his name.

Naruto began to walk around, trying to follow the sound of the low roars until he arrived to a large room lit by two big candles with what seemed to be black fire. On the other end of the room, instead of being another wall, there were large metal bars with a seal on the middle, behind the bars all Naruto could see was nothing but darkness.

Until a bit further from the bars, one giant neon green eye with an equal neon red pupil with a golden slit in the middle shot open, quickly the other eye shot open as well and the creature which those frightening eyes belonged to made its way slowly towards the bars of its cage, revealing a terrifying yet beautiful and magnificent red dragon with some black markings around its body and on the membrane of its giant twelve wings, each one being smaller than the one on top. The mighty dragon then lowered its head to see eye to eye with the boy and let out a small breath that carried enough force to make Naruto stumble back a little.

Straightening himself up, he locked eyes with the dragon and began walking a little closer to it, seemingly unafraid, the two let some seconds pass with their eyes locked at each other before the silence was finally broken by the Uzumaki, "So you're the Twelve-Wings, huh?... The Twelve Winged Dragon that attacked the Leaf and lost to the Fourth and the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails?" Naruto said calmly.

 **"** ** _Grr_** **, You insolent brat! If it weren't for these damn bars I would eat you just to shit you later!... But, I got to give it to you boy, you really aren't as dumb as people give you the credit for, here I thought you would be crying and shitting yourself for being in my presence, even knowing that you already knew I was sealed inside you, you're indeed as interesting as I thought."** The being spoke with a low and divine sound to its voice.

"Wooo what? How do you know that I knew!?" Naruto replied with great surprise.

Letting a deep sigh, the dragon responded " **But maybe you're not that smart either**..." The dragon mocked just loud enough for Naruto to hear it, " **Our minds are connected, you fool! I can hear all of your thoughts, I know that you found out about me being sealed inside you and that your father was that blasted man that you call the 'Fourth', and also that the woman with him was probably your mother."** He added with annoyance.

"Right, then why can't I hear yours? Is it a one way connection?" The blonde asked while tilting his head to the side as a clear sign of confusion.

 **"No, you were just too weak to be able to communicate with me, your death forced me to do all I could to keep your soul here, along with keeping your body from decomposing."** The mighty beast replied dryly, showing a little bit of intrigue while waiting for the boy's reaction.

"Soooo, I'm in some sort of limbo then?" Uzumaki replied nonchalantly, appearing to be at peace with his own death.

Slightly lifting the scales above its right eye, making it look like as if it was arching an eyebrow, the dragon replied, **"You're taking this much lighter than I would've thought, but to answer your question, no, you died, I just brought you back."**

"Why?" The 5 year old asked sternly.

 **"** ** _Sigh,_** **Two reasons… First, if you die while I'm here inside you, I die with you… considering that I'm supposed to be immortal well… that would be just a bad look on my resume…"** The dragon then rested its giant head on its two front legs before continuing, **"And second, in truth, to give you somewhat of an apology, the fools in your village don't have the brains to differentiate between a 5 year old boy and an 100 meters tall red dragon, and because of that stupidity your people have poured all their fear and hatred for me, into you…"** That much was true, the dragon did felt a tiny bit of guilt for the boy's mistreatment from his own village, " **I might be the being on which your kin based the one you call 'Satan' off, but I am not someone that destroys shit just for laughs, my job is to oversee darkness and death in life, nothing more, nothing less.** " The red dragon finished, giving a small apologetic voice.

"I see…" Naruto said while nodding slightly. He then looked at the dragon again and added, "Well… thank you… but I honestly don't think you're the one that should be apologizing though..."

 **"Wha..."** Now, there is a tiny list of things that had shocked the mighty dragon and hearing the boy that has it sealed inside of him and that due to that has been treated even worse than shit to say that you shouldn't apologize for the treatment that should be directed to you, has been definitely added to that list, **"Why would you say that?"** It said, genuinely curious.

Seating on the flooded floor, Naruto realized that the water that surrounded him seemed to phase through him instead of soaking him, he looked up to the ceiling and elaborated, "Well, while you are indeed a frightening being to see… the way you talk, act and look lets me see that you are as much a prisoner to me as I am to you… plus, seeing you now directly, the 'Bloodthirsty beast that cares for nothing but death and destruction', does seems too far beneath the being I'm seeing right now." He finished with utmost conviction in his own deduction.

 ** _'_** ** _Yeah, I'm always right with my picks...'_** The dragon thought smugly, **"Again, you impressed me with your insight boy, even with all your knowledge, I thought you would lash out at me and blame me for everything…"** It said while adding mentally, ** _'Father knows you have the right…'_**

The small boy shook his head to the sides while saying, "Nope, I would have if you were the creature the world seems to think you are, but seeing you eye to eye and the fact that I don't even know your story, it would make me just as foolish as the villagers… that's why I only have one question for you regarding everything though…" He then locked his two blue eyes to the dragon's glowing eyes and asked calmly, "Why?"

 **"Elaborate brat."** The dragon replied dryly.

"Not being the mindless creature that people say you are… why did you attacked the village? It does seem a small thing for you to do." Naruto explained.

Sighing, the dragon rested its head above its massive claws and closed its eyes, letting some time pass to recollect its thoughts. It opened them again after some moments and answered, **"Yes, you are correct, I didn't attack the village for fun, I don't even care about the human world at all. But you see, before the attack on your village, I had a fight with my brother Arkam, you could say that he is my counterpart in life… The fight was large and in the end I left victorious, but not unscathed… with me leaving weak and distracted, I failed to realize that there was somebody lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity at whoever left with the win. When I realized his presence, it was already too late and with his damned eyes managed to influence me enough to attack your village, I could feel that he tried to control me but he was a mere mortal and did not had the power to control a being like me, but it was enough to suggest me to do it."**

Looking at his reflection on the water below, Naruto let the information sink in to recollect his thoughts and to find what he wanted to ask next. Looking up at the dragon again, he said, "I see, but if what you say about that mortals do not have the power to control you is true, then why are you imprisoned here in me? I don't doubt that the Fourth was strong but as I far as I know, he was human aswell… so what makes me any different than them as apparently I'm able to keep you locked here? I mean if we cannot control you, then I guess much less imprison you... inside... one... of... us..." Suddenly Naruto's eyes grew wide as a 9 months pregnant woman's belly when he realized why that might be. He then quickly directed his gaze at the dragon's eyes as if searching for confirmation of his theory.

The dragon just looked at the boy and let a small proud smirk for its container's deduction skills.

Naruto then answered himself later, "You are here because you want to..." Adding to the already mixed feelings about both his father and the dragon, Naruto felt even more confused at the implication that sealing the dragon wasn't a matter of a last effort to protect the village, but a decision that was part of a larger plan for who knows what. With a small spike of anger and confusion, he then asked, "Why? Why would you want to be sealed here? Why me!?"

 **"Answering your thoughts, your father had nothing to do with this. He, like most of humanity, believes that I am a 'Tailed Beast' as you call them, so he thought that I could be sealed inside you, he was able to do that with the help of the Fox and the Death God, who hates my guts if I may add, they were able to do it because as I said earlier, I was in a weakened state, but he did not know that I could have easily break free once I recovered my strength, which, would have taken me a couple of weeks at most."** The dragon replied simply, almost bored.

"But then why not break free once you could? What is the purpose of you being here!?" Naruto replied heatedly, still feeling really angry for apparently being used in a scheme he has no idea about.

 **"The reason for why I didn't broke free was because I felt something in you, call it a hunch if you want, but it is something I've been looking for some time now. And the purpose of me being here, is to prepare you for your future."** The Twelve-Wings explained.

"Why? What's in it that YOU want to prepare me? And what do you mean by 'prepare'?" The blond continued his interrogation.

With an annoyed tone in its voice and having its eyes closed as if bored, the dragon answered, **"What's in store for you is something that I will not reveal until I deem you ready and that is not debatable. And by 'prepare', I meant that I will train you, as a full-fledged warrior, you will learn how to fight as a true dragon would."**

Already forgetting almost everything after hearing the words 'I will train you', the blond stood up excitedly and with stars in his eyes, he said, "Hooo shit, really!? That's awesome!... but wait… how do dragons fight though?... I don't get that since… well… you know… I'm not one..."

 ** _'_** ** _So you think...'_** The dragon thought before replying, **"We dragons are the top of the chain on almost everything, especially pride and power, hence our fights always change landscapes. We prove to everybody that when it comes to fighting and power, there's no other kind like ours, so when I say that you'll learn how to fight like us, I mean that you'll fight with your fists, heart, flashy shit and untamable guts."** The dragon then flashed the boy a fierce smirk to make him more excited, which definitely did.

"Whoa, amma be a badass then!" Naruto claimed excitedly while punching the air as if kicking someone's sorry ass.

 **"** ** _Sigh,_** **Yes you very well might be, but if you show me that you also possess the intelligence and calculation of a leader, I might even let you lead my kin, that's why I also want you to get someone to teach you in the shinobi arts, since you will have to grow not just in power and mind, but in your position in the world as well.** " The beast said while narrowing its giant eyes, trying to give more seriousness to its words.

"Well now, that's going to be a little difficult since you know, everyone hates my guts… the Old Man and the three ANBU that have been taking care of me in the past year are the only ones that could give me such training, but I don't think they will do it, especially the Old Man since he seems to be somewhat uneasy with my wish of being a shinobi..." Naruto then sat cross legged on the floor again, pondering on who could teach him, that is, until some of the words of the dragon finally registered on his mind. He stood up quickly and looked up at the giant being while screaming, "YOUR KIN!? THERE ARE MORE OF YOU!? WHY NOBODY HAS SEEN THEM!? AND HOW WOULD I LEAD THEM!?"

The dragon let out a small low chuckle, amused at his outburst, before explaining, **"That is something that you will know in due time. As to how will you lead them, think of it as a summoning contract if you wish…"** The beast then let a tired sigh and added, **"Now, that's enough talk for now, I'm finishing the process of reconstructing your body from a cellular level, hence the long wait. I'm just finishing healing all your external wounds, only the scar that was done to you as a newborn is left to heal."**

"No, leave it as it is." Naruto replied with a stern voice that seemed to belong to an adult.

" **Why would you want that?"** The dragon asked, genuinely curious.

"So I don't forget..." The last Uzumaki replied dryly while looking down slightly.

 ** _'_** ** _Good…'_** The dragon thought, giving the boy a small smirk, understanding what he meant. It then replied, " **Very well, it is all done, just focus on the outside world and you'll wake up, from now on we'll be able to speak mentally with each other, I also took the liberty to allow myself to see through your eyes and feel what you feel. Get some rest because we will start your training tomorrow…"** The Twelve-Wings then added with irritation, **"Now go! I want to get back to my sleep and you've annoyed me enough already."**

Getting ready to leave, Naruto looked at the dragon and grinned before saying with a sweet tone, "Ah, it was lovely to speak with you as well. I see around then, nighty scaly ball!" He quickly focused on the outside of his mindscape to leave, which was proving difficult because he was laughing his ass off after seeing the grumpy look on the mighty beast's face and the claw trying to hit where he was standing followed by a grumbling about 'Disrespectful blond brats'. With that, he left the mindscape feeling more excited than ever in his life, eager to begin his training and to look for a shinobi willing to teach him.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, is a calm, wise and cheerful man loved by the whole village, usually going around and showing love to his people by giving them a kind warm smile for all to see, however, today was not the case, "This better be a joke because God help me..." Hiruzen muttered while trying to control his anger.

The Third was walking at a fast pace towards the holding cells of the Hokage tower, spreading enormous amount of killer intent after receiving the report that the villagers had apparently killed Naruto Uzumaki, who to the Third, was like a grandson.

Arriving to the cells, he looked around and saw the villagers and some of the shinobi with blood on their feet. The villagers just started to shiver in fear under the murderous glare that their leader was giving them all. The old timer then approached the ANBU Captain and ordered, "Hound, report."

Hound looked at the Hokage, his eyes showing a great amount of pain and regret when he explained, "Yes Lord Hokage… while me, Weasel and Cat were watching the boy from the roofs, we managed to catch sight of a mob that was gathering near Naruto's house, we started to get ready to escort the boy to his apartment, but we didn't realized that the mob was meant to keep us occupied while some of the shinobi that were with the mob threw smoke bombs to cloud our view, the time that they managed to delay us was enough for us to lose sight of Naruto and the mob, once we caught up with them, it was already too late..." Hound looked down trying to be as cold as he could to keep his pain in check. He looked back at the Hokage and finished, "When we arrived at the scene, we saw the villagers celebrating, I seized the chance and kept them in place with a mud jutsu while Cat cuffed and knocked them out, Weasel made his way to check on Naruto who wasn't moving when we arrived and... _sigh_ … he confirmed that Naruto was dead."

Some of the people that were in the cells showed joy at the news, while other were smiling smugly as if they were heroes, that was of course until an incredible amount of killing intent was released from the Third, so powerful was that it could be felt throughout the whole village, making the civilians practically shit themselves.

Steadying his breathing, the Third directed his gaze towards an uneasy Cat, who along with Hound and Weasel, made the team that started to take care of Naruto after the Third found that many of the ninjas that were assigned to keep an eye on the boy seemed to only interfere after the boy was already badly wounded, he chose the three that seemed to genuinely care for the boy as his guardians. Hound being one the students of Naruto's father and the only one with the knowledge of his heritage. Weasel, who felt bad after seeing that Naruto was always at the park just sitting on the grass watching the other kids play while their parents kept their gazes on Naruto to make sure he didn't came near their children. He started to take him to the park whenever he had a chance to, Naruto at first felt wary of the sudden show of kindness directed towards him but the feeling quickly turned into a brotherly love, which was returned by Weasel. And finally, Cat, who was one of Naruto's mother's students, although she didn't know for certain that the boy was Kushina's son, the Third had the feeling that she suspected it, since she became very protective of the boy.

The other only ninja that the Third could trust with Naruto's safety was Anko Mitarashi, another pariah of the village and Orochimaru's former student. She became Naruto's official 'Handler' for whenever he ran around causing mayhem throughout the village with his pranks, making the two form a bond thanks to the connection of being the 'outcasts' of the village and Anko always seemed too eager for Naruto's pranks to begin the chase. To this date, Naruto has never been caught doing a prank and not even the ANBU had been able to caught up with him, Anko is the only one that has achieved that, although, the Third had a feeling that Naruto did that on purpose just to prank Anko directly.

Hiruzen let out a painful sigh and asked, "Where did Weasel took Naruto?"

"To the boy's house." The ANBU Captain answered.

Turning around, Sarutobi started to walk through the cells when another ANBU asked, "What do we do with the detainees, Lord Third?"

The Third stopped near the exit door and looked over his shoulder towards the ANBU that spoke and ordered coldly, "Execute them, all."

"What!? Y-you can't do this!" A now scared ninja stuttered.

"We sa-saved the v-village from th-that d-demon!" A civilian woman screeched.

"We a-are just ci-civilians what about ou…" Another civilian was saying before a now sober shinobi cut him off.

"That is just unlawful, the council won't al..." The one that delivered the killing blow on Naruto said before being painfully interrupted by an enraged Third Hokage.

The Third jumped towards the shinobi that spoke last and grabbed him by the throat while stating with a cold and strong voice to everyone around, "I AM THE HOKAGE, MY WORD IS THE LAW, NOT THE ELDER'S, NOT THE COUNCIL'S, MINE! EXECUTE THEM OR I SWER I WI..."

Before anything else could be said, a huge power wave was felt throughout the village and a frightening known shiver along with it. The Third then quickly looked towards Hound and Cat and ordered them to go with him, praying to the gods above that the dragon hasn't escaped the seal.

* * *

Weasel got back on his feet after a powerful wave of energy was released from Naruto's body that pushed him to the wall, he looked in shock as a red bubbly substance surrounded the body of the boy, modifying it. The sound of bones breaking and fixing themselves covered the room, while Weasel almost could feel the pain by watching the boy's body growing in height and muscle mass, losing all of his baby-fat in the process, replacing it with pure muscle. His blond hair seems to be gaining like a golden glow and his aura started to flood the room with a feeling of authority, like if Weasel was in the presence of the biggest Alpha in the world.

That was the sight that the Third along with the two other ANBU walked into, both Hiruzen and Hound felt almost the same that Weasel was feeling from the boy while Cat looked uneasy as if aroused, which was weird for her since she had a boyfriend and Naruto was 5 years old, but it was like something immense was emanating from his presence.

After a couple of minutes, whatever was happening to Naruto stopped and he then opened his eyes abruptly. Those present in the room were startled when they could see that his blue eyes seemed to have gained an unnatural glow along with a golden slit that replaced the natural black dot of the pupil, his canines looked sharper as well. All in all, he had a more commanding and feral look.

"Ah! What the f..." Naruto said before closing his eyes quickly due to the pain that suddenly assaulted his head. He grabbed his throbbing head and started to feel dizzy, like if a whole library's worth of information was being poured violently into his mind. Feeling pained and confused, he heard the voice of the dragon inside his head explaining.

 ** _"_** ** _Relax brat. What you're feeling is your new enhanced senses, the confusion and pain is because your mind has to get used to the new range of them, think of it as if your whole body except your mind have been upgraded."_** The dragon mentally said to him with a bored tone.

 _"_ _Oh fuck!_ _I can even hear and feel the heart of the people around me! It's too much damn it! How do I control it!?"_ Naruto mentally replied frantically, trying to maintain his conscious on.

 ** _"_** ** _It will take some time to get used to, but in the meantime I'll focus my healing powers on your brain to help you process all the information that you are receiving until your brain gets accustomed to it. For now, just focus on your immediate surroundings and you'll be fine._** " The dragon answered calmly.

 ** _'_** _Alright, focus, focus, focus... mm, I can feel four presences around… three of them seem to be male and one female... mm… strange… the female seems flustered by something, her heart is beating like crazy!... the other three seem like frightened...'_ Naruto thought after focusing on his surroundings before he suddenly felt really warm while his head was being pushed into something soft and squishy. Opening his eyes, he saw that the softness and warmth came from the cat ANBU, more specifically, her breasts.

"You're alive! Thank God!" Cat said while embracing Naruto with all her might, suffocating him in the process, not that he minded going like this at all though.

"Umm, Cat?… I think he needs to breathe..." Hound said, while the others present were sweatdropping at the woman's sudden excitement.

"Ah! Right, sorry Naru..." She said while nervously giggling, blushing like mad behind her mask. She then reluctantly and carefully broke the embrace with the blond Uzumaki.

"Haha, don't worry about it, Cat." Naruto said with an equal mad blush and a nervous laugh.

" _Ahem_ … Naruto are you ok? What happened?" The Third asked him.

"Well, I honestly don't know Old Man, you tell me…" Naruto scratched his scruff and continued, "The last thing I remember was being surrounded by the villagers and then boom!... all went black… then well, here I am." He feigned ignorance.

"Naruto… you met IT, didn't you?" The ANBU Captain asked dryly, knowing that the boy was lying.

" _Sigh,_ I just can't fool you now can I, Kakashi?... hehe..." Naruto responded with a nervous laugh.

"Nope." Kakashi said while giving him an eye smile behind his mask, god knows how he does that.

"Well?" The Third said after some seconds of silence.

"Yeah I met the scaly ball…" Naruto replied, earning an annoyed grunt from his tenant at the nickname. Chuckling, Naruto continued, "I suppose that you're asking because of my new appearance? Well he said that its tenant cannot be a 'pathetic weak fool', so it made some 'adjustments' to my body so I can defend us both, since apparently if I die, so does it." He responded, keeping the real conversation as a secret.

"Hmm, did it tell you anything else?" The old Hokage inquired further.

"Nope, just 'Don't die again idiot!'." Naruto said, using a mock voice of the dragon, making those present chuckle at his upbeat attitude even in such circumstances.

"Haha, well then, I'm relieved to see that you are alright. Now, get some rest Naruto, you've earned it…" Sarutobi said while patting the boy's head. He then turned towards the raven haired ANBU and added, "Weasel will stay here to keep an eye on you for the rest of the night. Hound, Cat, come on, let's get back to the Hokage Tower, I'm sure that Koharu, Homura and Danzō are already there with the Council panicking over the energy wave." He said tiredly, _'Sigh, let's see with what nonsense they come up to try and lock Naruto away or to be trained by Danzō, those civilian and Elder fools are always going to extremes when it comes to Naruto. At least he's alive and I can feel great power now coming from him… just how far will your boy go, Minato and Kushina? I wonder...'_ The Third thought while saying goodnight to Naruto along with the others, with an added kiss on Naruto's cheek by Cat, making the Third chuckle at Naruto's red face.

After the Third and the ANBU left, Weasel approached Naruto and while ruffling his hair, he said, "You gave us quite the scare Naruto, I was afraid I was going to lose you, little brother, I'm sorry for not being there." The usually stoic ANBU said, showing a strange moment of emotion.

Naruto stood up from the bed and hugged Weasel tightly while saying, "There's nothing to be sorry, big brother Itachi! I'm sure you did everything you could, the important thing is that I survived and you can buy me that new ramen flavor that the old man Teuchi created!" He said excitedly at the thought of a new flavor of the food of the gods to taste.

"Haha, ok, ok... but still, given what happened today, I think it's appropriate that I give you special training so when you find yourself in these kind of situations by your own, you can protect yourself. Plus, with the 'improvements' that the Twelve-Wings made, I believe you can get very strong, even before you can go to the academy." Itachi said to a shocked Naruto, who only gave him a blanked look.

 _"_ _Well that was quick...",_ _ **"Tell me about it…"**_ Both Naruto and the Twelve-Wings mentally exclaimed before Naruto started jumping around, pumping fists in the air while saying, "Oh awesome! I'm going to be such a badass ninja! Just like you, big bro!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's the idea… now come on, go to bed and get some sleep, I'm gonna have to train you in secret so nobody interferes with us, so we'll have to do it at the earliest hour in the Forest of Death so you need to get some sleep… and no telling anyone about it alright!?" Itachi said.

"Sir, yes sir!" Naruto screamed with a mock salute, but stopped Itachi before he left the apartment, "Umm, but, Itachi? There's something I didn't tell you about my meeting with the dragon…" He said timidly while thinking _'Here we go...'_

Itachi turned to him with a questioning look due to the boy's sudden change in attitude before nodding and dragging a chair in front of Naruto's bed to listen to the real conversation with the Twelve Winged Dragon, needless to say, it was a long night...

* * *

 **A/N: So, that was the first chapter! I hope you lads liked it, I'll be trying to update this story weekly but no promises, remember to leave comments and I'll see ya lads next chappie, cheers!**


	2. Origins

**A/N: Thank you guys for all the interest you've shown to my story! Here's the second chapter but before we begin, let me say some stuff.**

 **About those who wanted me to change some things and such, I'm sorry, but most of the stuff here, I won't be able to change, the reason is because I already have most of the story thought out, I'm not writing this story on the go as I already have most of the overall arc done. That is also why I won't just add any girl since each girl has to be chosen for a specific reason, I don't want to add them just for show, the only thing I can say about this is to bear with me, everything has a purpose, even the smallest things.**

 **I suck at Japanese, so I won't even bother to use it unless it's something already established, (Character, some jutsus and locations, etc) for most of the story though, I will use English, I just don't want to insult the Japanese language with my none existent knowledge of it.**

 **An lastly, yes, some characters from DXD will appear later on, they actually have a big part in the story, but you'll have to wait and see.**

 **With that set, let's get to it.**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **Origins**

 _3 years later..._

For three years Naruto has been in a secret training with both the Twelve Wings and Itachi, if you can call getting his ass handed to him both physically and mentally by them 'training' that is.

But there's no doubt that he has improved greatly. He was now 8 years old and in terms of speed, strength and jutsus, he was easily nearing high-chūnin level. When it comes to taijutsu and power, he was without doubt a low-jōnin level. But his genjutsu while not abysmal, wasn't good at all, due to his giant chakra reserves he could never achieve the control necessary to cast them, but he was able to dispel them up to a high level C-rank, the ones above were dispelled by the dragon itself. The only reason he wasn't higher level was because he was still a child, so even if he did has a big ass dragon inside him and Kage chakra capacity levels, his body could only take so much, but according to his teachers, he had the potential to be the fastest man that has ever lived.

He has also changed physically, while not buffed, he was fit, gaining a lot popularity among the female population, which freaked him out because he knew that the dragon had something to do with it, but it always said that it will tell him when the time comes, much to Naruto's ire. He stopped wearing his signature orange jumpsuit in exchange for a black jacket with neon orange ornaments, a grey shirt with a red dragon face tribal design on the front, black ANBU pants with orange stripes on the sides and dark blue ninja sandals. His hair and eyes never lost the glow so Itachi taught him a basic genjutsu to hide the glow on both his eyes and hair, but he only used the one on his hair since to cover his eyes, he got himself some red shades in honor to his new idol.

Itachi is a man that rarely shows emotion, especially regret, there have been less than a few times when he showed such emotion, two of those times had to do with Naruto. The first, when he arrived too late three years ago and failed to save his life, after Naruto told him about what truly transpired between him and the Twelve-Wings, the regret grew more because Naruto had indeed died, but he turned that regret into determination to make his adoptive little brother a badass shinobi, so he won't ever be pushed around anymore. The other was the one that he regretted the most, on Naruto's seventh birthday, Itachi bought him a music player along with a forgotten record on the corner of the store, never in his right mind would've he thought that an album called 'Bit Mah Tongue' by 'The Mighty Killer Bee ft. B.I.G Cloud' would have such an impact on Naruto, an embarrassing one at that.

As soon as he finished listening the record, Naruto took on preaching about Killer Bee's abilities to rap, which to everyone but him were awful, the blonde Uzumaki also adopted a bit of his eccentric persona, thank God he hadn't started rapping around, or so Itachi hoped. After being revealed to him that Killer Bee was Cloud's jinchūriki, his admiration for the dark skinned rapper blew through the roofs, to the point where Naruto proclaimed that one day, he would become Bee's spiritual successor, much to the dread of those around him.

But the cheerful and kind knucklehead never changed, he only matured. His pranks where bigger in scale and not even Anko with the help of Ibiki had managed to trace a prank back to Naruto, lately, not even Anko was enough to give chase, so a new 'Handler' was added to help Anko, a kunoichi specialized in tracking, Hana Inuzuka.

The Inuzuka felt insulted at first for being put on 'babysitting' duty, but quickly grew fond of the blonde after one big chase where she almost caught him but lost track of him eventually. Hana felt really frustrated for losing him after chasing for a good part of the night, she hungrily got back home but was surprised when she found a note praising her for being the closest ever to caught up with him along with an 'All you can eat' coupon for her favorite BBQ restaurant, a gesture that greatly touched her.

Said Inuzuka was currently running through the trees in the Forest of Death on search for the blonde, who, for some reason, spend most of his time training inside the forest. She was looking for him to finish his training with his smell and hearing. After gaining his trust, Naruto explained what the Twelve-Wings had done to his body and how it had upgraded all of his senses, so he asked her if she could help him sharp his senses of smell and hearing, since those were the biggest advantages the Inuzuka had, she was stunned by the revelation but agreed none the less, so for the past months she has been helping him getting used to the smells and sounds around him, since the academy was due to start in a few days, she wanted to finish his training before he entered.

"Damn it Naruto, where are you!? I've been running around this fricking forest for over half an hour!" She angrily said to the winds.

Getting frustrated, she went deeper into the forest, to where a big lake was. It was one of the most dangerous places in the forest since giant grumpy crabs live there, but knowing Naruto and his ability to get into dangerous situations, she wouldn't be surprised to find him there, which the sounds of grunts and crab pincers closing proved her right. She then head closer to the river but she had to suddenly stop to avoid being hit by a black projectile that crashed on a near tree followed by a grunt.

"Oh shit that hurt! When did these shelled bastards learned how to use teamwork!? Yo, don't tell me that I made 'em fools evolve for fucks sake!" Naruto screamed while getting on his feet to prepare a counterattack against the crabs, that is, until he noticed Hana looking at him with a confused expression, "Yo Hani, what'cha doing here?" Naruto asked while squinting his eyes and tilting his head to the side.

"Umm… I-I've been looking for y-you dummy! I wanted to finish your training before the Academy's start but here I find you decimating the crabs!" Hana said after regaining her composure from the cute look that Naruto sent her way.

"Hey! Dem fools started it! Plus our feud is two years long and growing, I vowed that I will decimate these assholes and I will keep that vow! Leroy Jenkins!" Naruto said before giving a war-cry and jumping to engage the crabs once again.

Though he found himself being grabbed on the back of his jacket by an angry looking Hana who began to drag the boy out of the forest while screaming obscenities to the crabs.

"Jeez Naruto, can't you keep yourself out of trouble for at least a day!?" Hana retorted while shamelessly dragging the blond through the dirt.

"Hey! It's all just like what The Mighty says 'Don't fear the trouble, don't fear the dream! Make no grumble and make it legit!' Yeah!" Naruto said while crossing his arms in extravagant ways to make his point clearer.

" _Grr,_ Just what the hell does that even means!? It doesn't even make sense! Seriously stop listening to that guy's rap, it's just filling your head with nonsense!" Hana angrily replied while dragging Naruto through the village, now by the wrist at least.

" _Huff,_ Shame! There's just no love for true art! Hey, where are we going thou?" He said. He really felt sad to see such heresy from his precious people, he wanted them to understand the message The Mighty was giving, but they stubbornly continued to deny such enlightenment, poor fools.

She just sighed tiredly, she really liked the boy a lot but she will never understand his love for such nonsense, "To my clan's training grounds, I want to see how you use the knowledge I gave you in a spar against one of us." Hana responded.

"Umm, but wouldn't your clan be angry if they knew that you taught me some of your techniques?" The Uzumaki said while scratching his cheek.

"Yeah, they would, but before I started training you, I asked my mother if it was alright, she was hesitant at first until I told her that it was for you so she agreed, she's the head of the clan so nobody can go against her. Plus, we'll be in my family's private grounds, so nobody will be the wiser." Hana said when they reached the front doors of the Inuzuka compound.

As they walked towards the clan's head residence, Hana noticed that the dogs around the compound felt intimidated by Naruto's presence, some of the smaller dogs where even whimpering hiding behind their masters. They weren't the only ones affected though, the male Inuzuka members seem to be aggressive towards the boy, as if they felt their claimed territory was being threatened by the blond, while the females seem to be flustered as he walked past them, some of the younger ones were even blushing like mad which agitated the males even more.

They weren't the only females affected though, as Hana felt the same way when she met the boy for the first time, she might not be as feral as her clansmen since for some reason, she didn't inherited most of the traits and bloodlines of her clan, which bothered her greatly because of that, most of her clan tends to look down on her, she knows that if she weren't the clan's head daughter they would've likely kicked her out of the clan already. But she did possesses the basics of her clan, her smell, ability to understand dogs and their combination jutsus and their animalistic instincts, those same instincts are the ones that drives her mad with arousal whenever she is in the presence of Naruto, she had asked the Haimaru brothers if they've felt something special coming from Naruto once before, they answered that Naruto had a strange smell of an Alpha, but it was abnormally strong, they even said that if he got stronger through the years, they might even feel compelled to do as he bid, which was very strange to hear from such prideful dogs, the boy was a huge mystery indeed. Suddenly, the sound of her name being called broke her out of her thoughts.

"I'm sorry Naruto… what did you said?" Hana asked with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"I asked if I was going to fight you." He repeated, smirking internally after seeing the cute blush adorning the Inuzuka heiress' gorgeous face.

"Nope, you're strong, but I'm still better using my senses than you, so I really wouldn't be able to see how far you have come unless you fight someone at your level." Hana responded before arriving at the training ground.

"Then against who?" Naruto asked as he walked right behind her through the gates of the grounds. When they arrived, he noticed two boys sitting on a tree branch at the other side of the ground, one was a boy with a green coat covering almost all of his body, stopping just below the nose, he was wearing dark circular shades and had brown wild hair. The other one looked a lot like Hana, he had brown spiky hair, triangular red marks like the ones that Hana has just below his eyes, a grey sweatshirt with fur at the end of the sleeves and hoodie, and a white puppy on top of his head.

"Why, my little brother of course. Hey, come on!" Hana said with a smile as she urged the boys to come close.

As the boys approached, Hana said, "Naruto, this is my brother Kiba and his friend Shino. Kiba will be your opponent for this spar."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto." Shino said politely.

" _Pft,_ you want me to spar with this whelp!?" Kiba scoffed while looking at the Uzumaki as if he was nothing but a mere pest.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Kiba, my bugs feel agitated in his presence and as you can see, so does Akamaru." Shino stated while pointing towards the white pup.

"What!? Come on boy, he doesn't even look strong! We're going to end this quick!" Kiba stated with arrogance while petting the dog's head, who was hiding inside Kiba's sweatshirt.

"That arrogance of yours might get you killed someday Kiba! Stop barking and put some strength behind those words!" An equally gorgeous and more feral older version of Hana said behind the group, accompanied by a scary wolfish looking dog with black fur with a white underside and a patch on its right eye.

 **"Listen to your mother pup, this boy is no joke."** The dog said, surprising the Inuzuka trio, including Tsume.

"Well, if Kuromaru says that, then I guess I have to be serious with you." Kiba said while getting ready for the spar.

"So this is the infamous Naruto Uzumaki, huh? I've heard a lot about you boy, the name's Tsume, I am both Hana and Kiba's mother." Tsume said approaching the group. She froze though, as the moment she got close to Naruto, she felt a strong pull towards him and even felt slightly excited. Shocked, she glimpsed towards Hana who gave her a look as if saying _I feel the same_ , she then looked at Kuromaru who had eyes of respect towards the boy, confusing her even more.

"Alright enough chit-chat, let's begin this match..." Getting out of the shock for seeing her fierce mother in a similar situation as her and the Inuzuka females, Hana said while pulling out two bandannas from her pouch. She tied them around both boys' heads to block their eyes and after placing them on different spots, she added, "The rules of this spar are simple, you can only use taijutsu and you can only use your nose and ears to track your opponent, knock your opponent out or make him submit to win the spar."

"Roger." Both boys said, preparing their stances while the rest of the observers went to the sidelines.

Hana stepped forward and screamed, "Begin!"

Both combatants stood their ground without moving a muscle, trying to listen to the other's movements or locating the other's scent, that all changed when suddenly, Naruto jumped straight at Kiba with his fist at the front.

Kiba felt the hit coming at the very last moment, barely avoiding the fist directed to his jaw, however, he couldn't avoid Naruto's knee aimed at his stomach, sending him skidding backwards a little. The Inuzuka boy then clutched his stomach while giving a pained grunt, _'What the hell!? How did he found me so damn fast!?... I couldn't smell him or even hear his breath and it took him seconds to connect with me! This guy is definitely no joke...'_ Kiba thought while crouching and trying to find Naruto's presence.

On the sidelines, watching the spar on the side across from Shino, the Inuzuka mother and daughter watched as Naruto was easily fighting Kiba using only two senses. Hana then turned towards her mother and asked, "Mom, you felt it too right? When you got close to Naruto, his presence it's like, suffocating…"

Tsume then replied without losing her attention at the one sided spar, "I hate to admit it pup, but yes, the boy's presence it's indeed… arousing..." Hana was greatly surprised at her mother's admission. The Inuzuka clan head then added, "He's status as an Alpha it's already established, I cannot imagine how overwhelming his presence will be when he reaches maturity." It shocked Hana to hear a little bit of lust slipping into her mother's words as she said that.

"Yeah… do you think it's because of the dragon?" Hana asked, while bringing her brown eyes back to the spar.

 **"No, what you feel right now is entirely the boy's presence and it has huge potential, maybe in the future it could even compare to the dragon's. The Twelve-Wings' presence is something I've never felt in my life, not even my ancestor Fenrir has such commanding and frightening aura. If you want to feel what the dragon's feel, just focus deeper within the boy's aura and you'll feel a glimpse of the Twelve-Wing's presence**. **"** Kuromaru said, shocking both Inuzuka after hearing the proudest of the Inuzuka clan's dogs admitting a bigger Alpha.

Looking at the boy, both women did as Kuromaru said and started to focus on the presence within Naruto's aura, which was proving difficult due to the blond's powerful and thick aura. After a few moments of concentration, they felt an incredible amount of power course through their bodies, the presence was such that it even draw a bit of their animalistic instincts out, arousing both women to the point that they even felt their undergarments getting a little wet. Granted, Tsume had faced the mighty dragon on the day of its fierce attack, but back then, she only felt malice and foul presence, but now focusing on its aura, for the first time in her life she felt both aroused and frightened at the immense presence of the mighty beast.

"U-Unbelievable… I he-heard about how magnificent dragons were… b-but… this amount of authority it's j-just… unbelievable..." Tsume said shocked at the feeling, her body still shivering slightly after such intense presence.

"T-Tell me a-about it..." Hana weakly responded, doing a little worse than her mother since she was blushing and panting a little.

 **"You should dry yourselves, the spar has ended and they will notice your… excitement…"** Kuromaru said amused and gave them a low growl-like chuckle after seeing the Inuzuka women's red cheeks.

Back on the grounds, Kiba was getting on his feet slowly after yielding his defeat. He took the bandanna off and said heatedly, "Dammit! How the hell did you do that!? I couldn't land a single shot and you hit me five times!"

"Your breath, it wasn't easy to locate it, but you didn't concealed it very well, once I found that, I focused on your breath and as the spar went on, you got frustrated and started showing your presence, that's why I was able to make you submit." Naruto gave a calm reply while shrugging, angering the Inuzuka boy even more.

"Why you…" Kiba angrily said while approaching Naruto in a threating manner.

"Kiba that's enough! Accept your defeat and turn that embarrassment into motivation to get better! He beat you fair so own it!…" The Inuzuka Matriarch chided her son before she looked back at the boy that has peaked her curiosity, "And good match Naruto, your skills are quickly growing sharp." Tsume said while getting close to the boys, using a seductive tone when she praised the blond's growth, earning a small spark of jealousy from her daughter.

"Umm… th-thank you L-Lady Tsume… it w-wasn't easy but… I ap-appreciate the remark... hehe…" Naruto said while blushing at both the praise and the tone of her voice.

"Just Tsume, brat." Tsume said with a feral smile while waving her hand in dismissal.

" _Arg,_ Whatever…" Kiba said angrily before walking away, dragging Shino with him after the latter bid goodbye to those present.

" _Sigh,_ Prideful as ever, he definitely needs a humbling…" Hana said, disappointed of her little brother's arrogance. She then brought her gaze back to Naruto and added "Anyway, great match Naruto, seeing now, I can say, I have nothing more that I can teach you, as you grow up your senses will only get sharper so keep on training and don't hesitate on asking for my help." Hana showed a little glimpse of sadness and disappointment at the idea of not training the boy anymore.

Sensing her sadness, the blond said, "Thank you Hana! You helped me so much already! And don't feel sad, you're still one of my dreaded 'Handlers' along with Ko." Naruto gave a small laugh, trying to cheer the brunette a little.

"Haha, you're right, it won't take long for your next prank to come, I'm sure." Hana said with a brighter tone now.

"Well, thank you for your hospitality Hana and Tsume, I gotta go meet the Old Man though, so I gotta run, but I'll see ya both around, aight? Night!" He gave them a warm smile that made them both blush and then began to walk away.

Nodding and bidding him a good night, they stared at the retreating form of the boy, smiling while feeling their bodies still affected by his incredible aura.

"He's an interesting one…" Hana said to her mother, wearing a content smile.

"Indeed…" Tsume replied, still feeling a little flustered.

* * *

It was a cool night in the Village Hidden in the Leaves and Naruto was lazily walking through the streets with his hands behind his head, he was currently grumbling about the way the people in the Inuzuka compound were behaving around him.

 _"Damn it! Just what the hell did you do Ryū!? It's been three years and you haven't told me why people become either aggressive or aroused at my presence! And stop saying that is because I look better with the changes you made to my body! Even Hana's mother, who I know has a reputation of being one the toughest kunoichi around, had her heart beating erratically, so I know there's more to it!"_ Naruto heatedly asked the dragon through his mind.

 ** _'When he finds out why, he's either going to kiss my claws or lose his shit… hehe...'_** The dragon mischievously thought before answering, **_"Shut it brat! I already told you, when you are ready, you'll know everything that's changed and the why, so stop bothering me with your damn questions until then! Why is that so upsetting to you, anyways!? Don't you like the way you make females excite in your presence? Is it because you don't swing that way, perhaps?"_** It replied with an amused smirk after Naruto's ire aroused for questioning his sexuality.

 _"Oi! I'm not gay ya oversized lizard! I like'em girls! It wouldn't be a problem if only the women around me were affected, the males are the problem, ya fool! Most of 'em tend to be aggressive towards me, ya know!? And I can feel it's not because they have a grudge against you!"_ Naruto retorted back, remembering two certain Inuzuka's derrières.

 ** _"Firm, weren't they?... The struggle you had against your nosebleed was certainly entertaining..."_** Twelve-Wings said amused at Naruto's angry grunt, **_"Now enough with your complaints! You'll know when I see fit, no sooner, no later!"_** The mighty beast finished the discussion right there, making its annoyance clear.

Sighing in resignation, knowing that the beast will not say a thing about it anymore, he decided to let it go for now while he found himself on the corner of the roof of an opposite building from the Hokage Tower.

 ** _"So, you're really going through with this, huh?"_** The dragon asked, changing the subject.

 _"Yeah, it's been eating me ever since I found out, I really need confirmation thou..."_ He replied the dragon. Naruto then took a deep breath and jumped through the Hokage's office's window, sweatdropping after seeing his leader giggling perversely while reading a small orange book.

"Huhuhu… Yuna… you naughty girl..." The pervert known as the Third Hokage said, a mad blush on his wrinkled cheeks and a small drop of blood running down his nose all the while.

"Oi! Ya old pervert!" Naruto screamed, startling the perverted Hokage in the process, _'Seriously, he's always reading that smut...'_ He thought with annoyance at always seeing his adoptive grandfather reading that perverted book.

"Wha!?… oh… _ahem…_ N-Naruto, my boy… how are you doing?" The Third said after frantically hiding his book on a keyed drawer.

Naruto just walked to the couch that was below the Hokage pictures before answering, "Nothing special really, chillin, just wanted to chat."

"Oh, that's sounds good my boy. How's been your training with the Twelve-Wings, Itachi and Hana?" Hiruzen asked the blonde while signing some of the paperwork on his desk, he had already sent his ANBU guards a silent signal for them to leave Hiruzen alone with the blond, the old man had the feeling that his surrogate grandson wanted to discuss something private, so he allowed them complete privacy.

"Mmm, painful..." Naruto complained, earning a chuckle from the Third, "But I can't deny it has worked! Ryū has been teaching me how to fortify my mind to counter its power's ill will so I can begin to summon it without too much fear of losing mah mind…" He then added, "Big bro Itachi has been giving me hell with weights all over my body to improve mah physique and my speed while he kicks my ass…" He massaged his butt as if trying to get rid of some ghostly pain, "And my training of smell and hearing with Hana just ended today, she said that she had nothing more that she could teach me at the moment, so I guess that's it." Naruto finished while looking at his father's portrait.

"Mm that's sounds impressive Naruto, never thought the dragon would be so eager to help..." Hiruzen said, not missing the direction Naruto's eyes were looking at, "What about your jutsus?" He then asked, trying to avert the boy's attention from the pictures.

"Mm, well, I know some basic fire and earth jutsus, I've perfected the substitution and the henge, the clone jutsu I just can't seem to do it though, Itachi said that I just had too much chakra for that and genjutsu, but I cover it with the shadow clones you taught me Old Man… and Ryū has been teaching me how to blow true dragon's fire!" Naruto replied while puffing his chest with pride over his skills.

"True dragon's fire?" The Third asked in confusion.

"Yup, apparently, the fire that a true dragon blows is as hot as magma, so it has been teaching me how to do it." Naruto explained before getting back on his feet.

"Mm, that sounds impressive..." The Third said with a strange nervousness starting to creep up on his gut after seeing the serious look that Naruto was showing.

"Yeah..." Naruto said while giving his back to the Hokage. He then took a deep breath and asked, "Old Man? Did... did he hesitated that day?" His gaze was directed at the picture of Minato Namikaze.

"Who and what day?" The Third responded while dreading the answer he already knew.

Keeping his gaze at the picture of the Fourth Hokage, he said with more volume, "My father, the day Ryū attacked… did he hesitated when he sealed it in me?" He then looked at the Third straight in the eyes with a stern look not fit for an 8 year old.

"What!? Naruto, how did you knew that the Fourth…" Hiruzen exclaimed with his jaw on the floor.

"You just confirmed it, Old Man..." Naruto responded with a devilish smirk, "I had my suspicions since I was 5, it's not really hard to see my resemblance with my father, as long as you really look into it that is… plus, I found it hard to believe that the beloved _Fourth_ would just take an orphaned child and seal a big ass dragon inside him, not if he wasn't willing to do the same with his own son…" He looked back at the Hokage and continued. "Kushina Uzumaki, the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, she was my mother right?... don't lie to me Hiruzen, not anymore." He said with a harsh tone that demanded authority.

Wincing at the venom used on Minato's title and the harshness on his tone at the question relating Kushina, Hiruzen took a deep breath and answered resigned, "Yes Naruto… Minato and Kushina were your parents. The reason you weren't told was because of their enemies, especially your father's, if Rock were to know that the 'Yellow Flash' had a son, I don't doubt they would go as far as to wage war just to have payback on Minato for decimating their army in the Third Great War…" He said sadly and tiredly, he dreaded this conversation for so long now, but there was nothing to do now but to answer truthfully, "Your heritage was to be revealed to you when you either achieved the rank of jōnin or reached the age of 18… I… I'm so sorry Naruto… for lying to you..." The Hokage said apologetically while a lone tear traveled down his cheek.

With a heavy sigh, Naruto stared at the floor for a couple of seconds, processing all of the information he just received, _'Even having my suspicions for some years now… it's still not easy to hear the truth, damn...'_ He thought solemnly. He then looked back at the Hokage and said, "Aight, I understand... but, you didn't answered my question though… did they hesitated or not?" He said with a stern look and a harsher tone.

Giving a defeated look, the Third said, "I... I honestly don't know Naruto, that is something that only they could answer, but I'm sure that it was the most painful decision of their lives, I'm sure they didn't wan..." He couldn't finish though, because Naruto cut him off when he interjected bitterly.

"Yeah, yeah, that's sad and all… but it really doesn't matter anyway now does it…" Naruto's bitter voice could be heard saying while leaning on the window frame, looking at the village.

" _Sigh,_ I guess not... ho... how do you feel about them, Naruto?" Hiruzen asked with a painful sigh and a sorrowful look.

Naruto remained with his left shoulder leaned on the window and his eyes closed, he let some minutes go to recollect his thoughts and search for an answer. He then opened his eyes and while keeping his gaze on the distance, he said, "I don't know… _sigh_ … it's not hate, but it's not love either… I guess one day… maybe I'll know..." His voice was sour and distant.

 _'_ _I feared as much, I knew one way or another he would resent you Minato, Kushina, I just hope that resentment does not turn into hatred or it could lead him to a very dark path...'_ The Third thought with a sad look, feeling his real age for the first time in years, "I see…" He replied after some seconds of uncomfortable silence.

After some minutes of more silence, Naruto walked in front of the Hokage's desk and with arms crossed, asked, "Did they left anything for me? Something that could help me with my career?"

Nodding, the Third replied after a sigh, "Actually yes, they did..." The old timer then walked towards the previous Hokage pictures, he took the Fourth's picture and removed a hidden lock on the back, revealing a scroll, he took it and gave it to Naruto then while explaining, "They left this for you, I don't know all the contents, but Minato instructed to give it to you after you were told of your heritage."

"Hm, I see... is it all?" The blond took it and said after looking at it.

"No, your parents' fortune is yours, I believe the instructions to claim it are in the scroll. Your parents' house is yours as well, there might be some scrolls and books that'll help you on their library, but I'm afraid you won't be able to live there until you reach the chūnin rank, I could try and force th..." He was saying until Naruto cut him off again.

"Don't worry 'bout it, I'll just pick the stuff that can help me, I have no interest on that house or anything but the knowledge." Naruto said with a considerable amount of bitterness in his voice.

" _Sigh,_ I see… well, it's yours anyway so you can do with it whatever you want." Hiruzen replied with a sad smile when seeing Naruto's conflicted feelings for his parents.

"Aight, well, thanks Old Man, I better get going so I can go through the stuff in here, Itachi gave me the week to rest before the start of the Academy, so there might be something to do in here..." Naruto said while walking to the office's window, "Well, see you around Old Man!..." He said while getting ready to leave.

"Alright Naruto have a good night, I'll be here if you need me." The Third said with a grandfatherly smile.

With a slight nod, Naruto left for the roofs and headed to his apartment, leaving a Third Hokage to melt on his chair while looking at the ceiling, with a defeated feeling flooding his heart.

* * *

While the conversation between Naruto and the Hokage was taking place, a beautiful raven-haired woman was walking through the Uchiha compound towards the Council room, she could feel the tension brewing inside the clan and knew that whatever her husband and the rest of the clan's leadership were planning, could have dire consequences for the clan.

 _'_ _I just hope whatever it is, does not involves any of my boys...'_ She nervously thought.

The blackette arrived soon after at the Council room and could see that she was the last one to get there. She greeted those present and took her place next to her husband who was seated in the clan's head place. She was the original heiress to the clan but after an arranged marriage, Fugaku took Mikoto's place as clan head so she could take care of their children, or so they say, she knew that the rest of the Uchiha Elders didn't want someone as kind and warm as Mikoto to lead, since the Uchiha wanted to keep the appearance of a powerful and superior clan. Mikoto never saw herself or the other Uchiha as better than the rest of the village, ultimately, that cost her the head's seat, not that she minded at all anyway, as long as she had her sons, she didn't care for anything else, not even her husband.

"Very well, now that everyone is here, allow me to get to the reason why I called you all tonight..." Fugaku stated after seeing his wife on her place. He then crossed his fingers in front of his face while his elbows rested on the table and continued, "It is no secret that the Hokage and their advisors have been pushing us further and further from the village's matters, trying to isolate us on the corner of the village, forgetting the fact that we are also founders of this village!..." He said sternly but loud before continuing, "It was Madara who alongside Hashirama Senju made truce and together, founded this great village. But it was the same Madara that saw that the Senju were making sure that no Uchiha would take place as ruler of the Leaf, it went as far as even having the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, moving our compound to the corner of the village and giving us the task to form the Police Force, with the excuse that he could not trust anybody else with the protection of the village, and as the fools he believed us, we fell for those deceiving words, but not Madara, he saw through such lies of the Senju, he warned us, but we didn't listened, he warned that another Senju would take the place of Hashirama once he retired and we blindly trusted the Senju, we followed our rival clan's leader instead of our own! And even after Madara's death at the hands of the very one that we trusted, we kept our words to ourselves once Tobirama was chosen as the Second, we trusted him and he ended up pushing us to the corner, treating us like a second rate clan! He even made sure no Uchiha would ever be chosen to lead the village, even a clanless fool was chosen as the Fourth!" Fugaku heatedly stated.

Kano, one of the three Elders of the clan, stood and asked what was on everyone's mind, "We are very aware of our past mistakes and everything you're saying Fugaku, but what are you getting at here? I doubt you called us just to reminisce."

Fugaku stood and walked to the center of the room. Looking at those present, he replied, "Yes, I didn't called you to remember our misfortunes, I called you so we can take action! The Senju are gone, only one is left and she has no interest in the village! And now, even second rate clans like the Sarutobi and the Hyūga are taking the power that WE created, that is unacceptable!"

"What are you suggesting Fugaku?" Umi Uchiha, another Elder, asked.

Fugaku looked around the room and with a stern face and a serious tone, he replied, "That we claim our right, if they don't accede to it, then we take it by force if we must."

The room was deadly quiet, everyone was pondering on the Uchiha clan head's words. Seeing the dangers that such action could bring, Mikoto decided to be the voice of reason before her clan's own arrogance drives them to their own doom, "Fugaku! Think about what you're saying, this could lead the village to a civil war! We would be damaging our own home!" She countered frantically, hoping that her clansmen could see what such action would entail.

"The clan is our home Mikoto, don't forget that, there will be no need for a civil war if the village recognizes our claim, we are Uchiha first." Fugaku exclaimed coldly.

"Fugaku is right, we cannot tolerate this treatment anymore, the village is mainly feared because of us, it is only fair that one of us leads." An Uchiha councilor said.

"But how are you planning to go about this, Fugaku?" Eko Uchiha, the last of the Elders, questioned.

"Hiruzen is a wise man, he prefers peaceful action than one that will harm others, I will speak to him, I'll make sure he promises to choose his successor in one of us, if he refuses, we'll use Itachi's new spot as an ANBU Captain to spy on the Hokage so we can find a time to strike, either quietly or loud." Fugaku said, making Mikoto's heart break after hearing her husband's plan with their son, but before she could state her refusal, an Elder interrupted her.

"Will Itachi agree to this?" Umi questioned.

"He will, he's an Uchiha and my son, he won't refuse." Fugaku coldly stated before receiving the ok from the Council. He adjourned the meeting and proceeded to leave, leaving a shattered Mikoto alone in the room, confused at what to do next.

 _'_ _Damn it Fugaku! What am I supposed to do now!?...'_ Mikoto thought while grabbing her head to try and ease her migraine.

* * *

Naruto arrived to his apartment feeling anxious and still a bit troubled for the conversation he just had with the Third, seeing the front of the building and seeing the graffiti with insults towards him just made him bitterer at the thought of his parents' decision.

 _'_ _Seriously, just why would they even think that people will respect me?...'_ Naruto thought while opening his door. He got to the kitchen and cooked a cup of instant ramen while mentally preparing to open the scroll.

 _'_ _Aight, here goes nothing I guess...'_ He grabbed the scroll and sat on the floor. Grabbing a kunai, he cut his thumb and let a drop of his blood drop on the scroll, the scroll opened and it reveal three drawn squares with words written on them. The first one said 'Letters', the second one said 'Scrolls' while the last one said 'Inheritance'.

Focusing on the one that says 'Letters', he poured some chakra into it. It then revealed two scrolls, one was red while the other one was yellow. Grabbing the red one, Naruto saw that on the side had the name 'Kushina' written on it and after opening it, it revealed a letter which he began to read.

 _Dear Naruto_

 _Hello my beautiful baby, I am your mother, I don't know if I'm going to be able to be with you and watch you grow up, so in case I don't, let me tell you something about me so you can know me a bit. My name is Kushina Uzumaki and I was born in The Eddy Village in Whirlpool Country, but when I was 7, I was chosen to be the next jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, since Granny Mito was getting too old to hold it. Sadly, a few years after I got to Konoha, my home village was destroyed along with the rest of my clan, this was one of the reasons that set off the Third Great War, I would guess that by the time you read this, you'll be the last of the Uzumaki, but I know you won't be alone. You'll probably have my bloodlines as well, this are Lava and Boil Release, I left you some scrolls with all the knowledge I have about them, I'm sure you can find somebody to help you with them. I also leave you my katana, it's a special blade made by an expert of the Uzumaki clan. You don't know how much it pains me to leave you, when I found out that I was pregnant with you, me and your father where so happy, I was already imagining all the things that we would live as a family, but sadly, it appears that life had another plan for us, just know that I love you with all my heart and that you will always carry a peace of my soul with you my baby, remember that me and your father will always be watching you and we'll be waiting for you when your time comes. Live at the fullest and without regrets my boy, pay attention in school, don't stay up late and eat healthy, I love you so, so much Naruto, never doubt that..._

 _P.S.: Stay away from Ramen, your father was an addict to it but it's not good for your health, and also, when you find Kurama, take care of her, she might be a bitch at first but she's just lonely._

 _Love, your mommy, Kushina Uzumaki._

 _'_ _Hn, lava and boil release? That sounds cool… I wonder if I do have them?... and who the hell is Kurama!?...'_ Naruto thought, apparently not fazed by the dark spots on the letter that signaled that his mother was crying or even the letter at all. Grabbing the yellow scroll then, he saw that it also had a name on the side, although this one said 'Minato', so doing the same with it, he opened it and began to read it.

 _Yo Naruto_

 _Hey boy how is it going? I'm your old man! I know that there must be a lot of things going through your mind once you hear the truth of your heritage, whatever you feel right now my boy, know that leaving you is the hardest thing I can have ever go through, but I hope that in time, you come to understand our reasons, I know it won't be enough, but your mother and I will always be in your heart. Let me tell you a little bit about myself, my name is Minato Namikaze and I was an orphan, I never knew my parents or anybody who shared my last name, but Hiruzen took care of me when I left the Orphanage and went to the Academy, where I met you mother. I had the dream to become Hokage to protect everyone, especially you and your mother, a dream which I achieved when I was named the Fourth after the Third Great War, the reason that the knowledge of your heritage was kept hidden from you was because of the enemies I made in the war, especially Rock, the whole village loathes me, so I trust that now that you are strong, you can take on anything that is thrown at you. There's something about me that nobody else but your mother knows, I recently discovered that I have a bloodline, is called Magnetic Release, it's a rare bloodline possessed by a very few, mainly in the Land of Wind, along with my Wind affinity probably means that I hail from there, so I believe that you may inherit that along with your mother's bloodlines. I also left you my most precious jutsus, especially the Rasengan, which I believe you can finish it since I never got to do it, and the Flying Thunder God, which earned me the nickname of 'The Yellow Flash', I know you can take it even further that I could. Whatever you choose to become, know that I'll always be proud of you my boy and that I love you without measure, I'll be waiting with your mom when your time comes, be safe and live your life at the fullest._

 _With love, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and your father._

 _'_ _Another bloodline and those two jutsus!? Well now that'll certainly come in handy...'_ Naruto thought after finishing reading. He stored the letters in the scroll again and poured some of his chakra on the next square in the scroll, where after a poof of smoke, a medium sized wooden box appeared. Opening it, he found 8 green scrolls with the word 'Wind' on the sides, 8 white scrolls with the word 'Lightning' written on the sides, 4 creamed colored scrolls with the word 'Boil', 5 bright red scrolls with the word 'Lava', one dark grey with the word 'Magnetic' and 2 yellow scrolls, one with the word 'Rasengan' and the other 'Thunder'.

 _'_ _Oh this is cool! But I probably shouldn't try them until I show them to Big Bro...'_ Naruto thought. Storing them again, he then focused on the last square with the word 'Inheritance', pouring some chakra into it, it revealed a scroll with instructions on how to gain access to his parents' state and how to open the safe with all of their money and most precious possessions, and his mother's katana with its sheath.

Storing everything on the scroll and sealing it again, he went to his wardrobe where he moved his shoes out of the way and removed a piece of wood to hide the scroll in the hole below it. Moving back to his bed, he took his shoes and jacket off, laid on his bed and just stared at the moon trying to understand just what the hell were his feelings towards his parents until sleep eventually caught up with him and dozed off.

Inside his mindscape, the Twelve-Wings was silently watching everything through its container's eyes, deciding not to interfere and just let him figure everything out by himself. The dragon then closed its eyes and before sleep claimed it as well, it thought, **_'Mm, if he doesn't figures out what are his feelings for them, I'll need to step in before our curse seizes the confusion to claim him...'_**

* * *

Mikoto Uchiha was pacing around her home like crazy, she was going mad on her head trying to find a way out of this mess and she knew that she had to choose between her family and her village. On one hand, she didn't really care much for her clan, she has grown bitter towards them since she was a child, she hated to see how her clansmen treated others and hated how she got a reprimand every time she hung out with people outside her clan. But even so, her two sons were also part of the clan and they were her life, but the thought of sacrificing innocent people in a civil war just to show that they were the strongest clan, was unbearable.

 _'_ _Damn it! What do I do? What do I do!?...'_ Mikoto thought while trying to calm herself. Going to her backyard, she sat on the steps that led to the grass and stared at her younger son training with shuriken, _'Fugaku is even trying to turn Sasuke like him, an arrogant little prick, doesn't matter how much I try to make Sasuke understand that he can be his own person, he only cares for Fugaku's acknowledgement...'_ She thought bitterly, she hated to see her younger son like this.

"Mikoto..." Breaking out of her troubled thoughts, she turned around and saw her husband walking towards her. With a small frown on her face, she bid a good morning to him before he said, "Come, Itachi is waiting."

Getting up, she followed Fugaku to a room where Itachi was waiting for them. Kneeling in front of him, he took on a kneeling position as well and said, "Good morning father and mother, what is it that you wish to discuss with me?"

 _'_ _Itachi loves the village more than he loves the clan, I know that he won't go along with this, not willingly...'_ Mikoto thought with worry at the idea of her son being forced into this madness. She then looked at her husband with a hint of hate before he explained.

"Itachi, your clan needs you, you've seen how the Hokage and his Elders treat us, putting other clans ahead of us, cofounders of this village, denying our right at the Hokage seat. The clan, your family, cannot take this anymore, so we are going to act." Fugaku, strangely, was showing a little bit of eagerness.

 _'_ _Sigh, I knew this would happen...'_ Itachi kept his gaze to the ground as if processing the information he just received. Looking up at his father's eyes again, he replied with an expressionless look, "I understand father, what is it you wish me to do?"

 _'_ _What!? T-This can't be h-happening… n-not him too… p-please...'_ Mikoto was shocked at hearing her eldest son seemingly agreeing with the plot.

With a small smirk on his face, Fugaku said to his son, "Now that you've reached the ANBU Captain rank, you only answer to the ANBU Commander and the Hokage, so for the time being, just inform us of everything you see around, especially when you guard Hiruzen. When the time comes to make our move, I'll tell you what's next." Getting back on his feet, he looked down at Itachi, waiting for his answer.

Itachi stood up and turned to leave but before he did, he looked back over his shoulder and with a small nod, he said, "I understand." He then left the room with those words, followed shortly by Fugaku.

Mikoto felt despaired now, she could only look at the ground and with a small tear on her cheek, she thought, _'No… no… no… t-this can't be ha-happening… dammit!… What do I do now!?...'_ She desperately grabbed her hair trying to stop the headache. Thinking of a solution, she was able to come up with an idea, _'I... I c-can't betray my children… no matter what… t-they're my family and I cannot let them fall through this path, but...'_

Heading to her kitchen, she sat on a chair and looked at the sky through the window, thinking, _'But, I can at least warn Hiruzen, even if it is my family, the village does not deserve this… but how do I do that? I'm sure Fugaku knows I'm not ok with this so he'll be keeping an eye on me…'_ She dug her brain hard trying to come up with a way to warn the Third until it finally hit her, _'Naruto!...'_ She then quickly made her way to the bedroom and wrote on a small paper sheet and after finishing, she folded it and applied a seal. She then got back to her kitchen and prepared two small lunches.

Mikoto knew who the boy was of course, he looked exactly like his father at his age. She was best friends with Kushina and had a crush on Minato when they were young, but was a good friend to him as well. She could not take care of the boy because it would raise suspicion, so she put Itachi on the task, she felt relieved when Itachi began proclaiming that Naruto was his little brother, just like Sasuke, only she knew that of course. Once in a while, she would go and visit the blond and spend some time with him, the boy even developed a crush on her which she found cute, though, being around the boy made her strangely excited. But, since Fugaku knew of her visits to the jinchūriki, he says nothing about it since he knows of the boy's parents and Mikoto's friendship with them, so he has no reason to suspect.

 _'_ _He's close to Hiruzen and usually spends time with him in private, so he can deliver my message and Fugaku would not suspect anything… I'll have to leave Itachi's involvement out... I... I c-can't let anything happen to him… I'll just warn Hiruzen of the turmoil in the clan...'_ Packing everything she needed, she went and gave Sasuke a small kiss on his forehead and soon later, took off to the find the blond, _'I just hope everything works out in the end...'_

* * *

Naruto was laying on the ground, panting hard, he just finished training some taijutsu moves that he's been doing since the morning. Since the academy was just 2 days to start, he wanted to get sharper at everything he learnt in the three years he's been training with Itachi and the Twelve-Wings so that he can have a head start.

 _'_ _Oh shit, maybe if I show that I'm better than the Academy's students, the Old Man will let me graduate earlier, or even skip the academy altogether...'_ Standing up, he grabbed some water from the river and refreshed his hair and face.

"Hello Naruto…" He suddenly heard his name being called by an angelical voice. Turning around, he felt his heart skip a beat at seeing his crush, Mikoto Uchiha. Oh yeah, he had a big ass crush on the Uchiha matriarch, don't get him wrong though, he liked Cat, Anko and Hana as well, but Mikoto's lovely attitude and cooking just made him develop a crush on Itachi's mother, even more so when she once in a while came to spend some time with him.

 _'_ _What? Is... is his hair and eyes glowing!?...'_ She thought while looking at his hair and eyes. She then asked, "Naruto, sweetie, why is you hair and eyes glowing? Are you alright?" She kneeled down to comb his hair with her fingers and looked directly at his beautiful glowing blue eyes, feeling strangely swayed by them.

"Umm… _gulp…_ i-it was o-one of the ch-changes the Twelve-Wings did t-to me… M-Miko… I'm aight, don't worry… I j-just have to hide the changes to other people though, I guess I was so caught up wi-with mah training that I didn't realize you were here… hehe..." Naruto said with a mad blush and a heavy stutter due to seeing her so close to him, as well as the feel of her soft hands brushing his hair so delicately.

Standing up and fighting her blush down, Mikoto looked at the side while taking her hand to her chest and said, "Oh… r-right… we-well… it does look s-striking… _'and amazingly beautiful'…_ but if you say that is alright… t-then I'll believe you..." She said, giving him a gorgeous smile while having a battle within herself, _'Jeez Mikoto, what the hell is wrong with you!? He's a kid!… although… he'll grow up like his father...dammit, shut it!...'_

"R-Right… so what'cha doing here M-Miko? Not that I'm complaining though… hehe..." Naruto said with a nervous laugh.

Regaining her composure, Mikoto remembered the reason of her visit and responded, "What? I can't come to visit you any longer!?..." She said with a playful hurt tone on her voice, smiling at the boy's quick refusal waving his hand furiously to the sides. She then continued, "I'm kidding sweetie, don't worry, I came to bring you this..." She pointed to the lunches she brought, "So come on, let's go and eat them." She grabbed him by the wrist and took him to the side of the river, where they sat down resting below the shadow of a tree and started eating peacefully.

"Mmm… that was great Miko! I love your food! It's the best!" Naruto said while giving her a wide smile and a thumbs up.

Giggling at his enthusiasm and his ever present praise to her food, she said, "Well, I'm glad you liked it Naruto…" She then fidgeted a little and added, "Now, before I go, I... I w-wanted to ask you f-for a favor… i-if it's possible..." She said while giving him a cute look to convince him.

Which it worked immediately because the blond was giving her a smile and a blazing fire in his eyes while he quickly replied, "What!? Of course Miko! Whatever it is! You know that I will gladly walk through a river of lava while carrying a goat on fire if it makes you happy!" He exclaimed with a macho voice while flexing his muscles to impress her, not lying about what he would do for his love in the slightest.

Which it also worked since he wasn't wearing a shirt and along with his glowing eyes and hair, he definitely looked damn good, _'Dammit Mikoto, for God's sake, he's your late best friend's son, control yourself!..._ ' Fighting down her blush again, she giggled at his words and replied, "Now, now, there's no need to go that far sweetie, I just need you to deliver this to the Hokage next time you see him, just make sure that you are alone ok? It's very important that not even the ANBU are present, ok?" She handed him the folded sheet.

"You can count on me Miko! I'll make sure to deliver this to the Old Man when we're alone, but, it's everything alright?" Naruto grabbed the envelope and kept it on his backpack before asking with worry evident in his voice.

"Oh yes, everything it's alright sweetie, it's just something I need to discuss with him, that's all..." Getting on her feet, she dusted her dress from the dirt on the ground and gave him a loving kiss on his cheek, which lasted longer than she intended to, leaving an incredibly red Naruto in the way. Smiling after breaking the kiss, she said lovingly, "Well Naruto, I got to go now, don't overdo the training, alright? And good luck at the Academy, you know that whatever you need help with, you can just ask Itachi for me and I'll come right away…" She then flashed him a dazzling smile and added, "Well, I'll see you next week, bye sweetie!" She waved at him and left with a blush on her cheeks while thinking, _'I just hope that Hiruzen will be able to ease the clan...'_

 _'_ _Damn… she's soooo beautiful yo...'_ Naruto thought while touching the cheek that Mikoto kissed. Deciding to call it a night, he picked up his stuff and walked home, thinking about a dark haired beauty on the way back home.

* * *

Three figures walked towards the Hokage Tower, they were on a meeting with the civilian head councilor when an ANBU interrupted the meeting saying that they have been summoned by the Hokage to discuss an urgent matter.

"What could be so important to call us at this hour? Do you have any idea Danzō, Koharu?" Homura asked to his fellow Elders who were walking beside him.

"No idea, let's just hurry up and see what it is." Danzō replied dryly, keeping his cold demeanor.

Arriving at the tower, they headed to the Hokage's office and once outside of it, they knocked on the door. They heard the voice of the Hokage saying _come in_ and proceeded to open the door, after the three walked into the room, they noticed that the Third was there with Weasel at his side.

"We are here Lord Hokage, what is it that you wish to discuss so urgently with us?" Koharu asked after the three Elders stepped into the room.

Urging them to take a seat, Hiruzen motioned Weasel to come close and said, "Yes, Weasel, please inform them of everything you just told me."

"Very well..." Itachi removed his ANBU mask and began, "As you might know, my clan is currently in a turmoil, my father and the rest of the Council feel that we are not given the respect that we deserve, so they are planning to force Lord Third to choose his successor from the Uchiha clan, and if the Hokage is to refuse, they are planning to stage a coup to take control of the village by force. Also, they've asked me to spy on everything I see at ANBU HQ and whenever I guard Lord Hokage." He explained with a stern look.

"I knew that something was brewing inside the Uchiha clan, but to think they would go so far as to risk a civil war just to take the power of the village." Koharu said worriedly, she was a pacifist and she really didn't like where this was going.

"This is indeed very troubling Lord Hokage, what is that you intend to do?" Homura asked after fully registering Weasel's troubling words in his mind.

"I'm going to let Itachi report to his father and his clan, let them think we are oblivious to everything. Itachi said that Fugaku will come to try and convince me to oblige to their claims, I'll try to ease them then, I do not want things to spiral out of control." The Hokage said while massaging his temples, trying to ease his raging headache.

"We cannot let this go out of control, we need to assure that they pose no threat to our village, does everyone in the Uchiha clan feel the same as the Council?" Danzō said, on the outside he seemed calm and calculative as ever, but on the inside he was greatly interested in this development that could present great advantages for the old war hawk.

"I'm afraid so, everyone in my clan is taught to think as an Uchiha first, the village always comes second." Itachi said with a stoic face, not revealing the disappointment he feels towards his clan.

"And what about you? Why betray your clan and your father?" Homura asked the Uchiha.

"Because I love the village, I serve the Leaf first, it has always been that way." Itachi answered without a drop of doubt in his voice.

"Yes, thank you for your loyalty Itachi." The Third exclaimed with pride in his voice.

"But what do we do if the tension continues to rise? I don't believe they will easily accept to back down." Danzō said, with interest hidden in his words, an interest that both Hiruzen and Itachi managed to catch.

"I'll take care of it." Itachi responded without hesitation.

"What do you mean Itachi?" Hiruzen asked, not liking the sound of the Uchiha heir's ominous words.

"The problem is rooted deeply within the Uchiha's teachings, even if we were to assassinate the Uchiha Council, the idea to revolt will continue, the only way to avoid it, will be if there's no one left to revolt." Itachi replied coldly, as if what he was hinting at was not disturbing him one bit.

"You're surely not suggesting…" Koharu said with shock on her face, dreading the answer to come.

"Yes Elder Koharu, if push comes to shove, I will decimate my clan, but it will be me who does it, no one else." Itachi said without hesitation or remorse in his words.

"Are we crazy!? We are talking about slaughter here! An entire clan! Hiruzen you can't possibly support this!" Koharu exclaimed heatedly, this was madness, there was no excuse for slaughter.

With a heavy sigh and a giant headache, he thought, _'I'm definitely getting too old for this shit...'_ With closed eyes he then responded, "Itachi is right Koharu, as much as it pains me, if I have to choose between a civil war or the Uchiha clan, then I see no other way, they've been thinking this way since Tobirama-sensei took the position, they've always thought the Uchiha comes before the village." His voice was tired and the remorse was palpable.

" _Sigh,_ This is madness…" Koharu muttered dejectedly.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you take the right choice Hiruzen, although, I believe we shouldn't give them time to plan." Danzō said, urging for immediate action.

"No, the elimination is a last resort plan, I'm not going to go through with it if I can help it, I know that just like Itachi, there are Uchiha who are loyal to the village first..." The Third said while thinking, _'The message that Naruto gave me from Mikoto supports that, she's just a desperate mother protecting her children, I cannot deny them the chance to straighten their path...'_ Standing from his chair, Hiruzen looked at the village through his windows and said, "Then it's settled, we will continue normally, when the time comes, we'll proceed accordingly."

"Understood, Lord Hokage." The three Elders said in unison before stepping out of the office, leaving the Hokage alone with Itachi.

"I'm sorry about this Itachi, I cannot even fathom how hard it must be for you to do this…" The Third said to Itachi with an apologetic smile.

"It is not Lord Hokage, I love my village and I will do everything in my power to protect it, even if it pits me against my own blood, but, I only have one request…" Itachi said with stern eyes.

The old Hokage nodded and took a seat to listen to the Uchiha teenager's request, praying to God that things don't unnecessarily escalate.

* * *

"Oh man, what time is it..." Naruto muttered as he woke up at the morning light. Looking at his clock beside his bed, he freaked out saying, "Oh shit! I overslept, damn Big Bro's gon be mad!" Heading to his bathroom, he quickly brushed his teeth, grabbed an energy bar after, and ate it on his way towards the Forest of Death.

Running as fast as he could, he arrived at the clearing and looked around searching for Itachi. Not seeing him anywhere, he let out a breath of relief before going stiff at the sound of a voice that said, "You're 30 minutes late, little brother, you didn't get sloppy on me this week now did you?" Itachi said, coming out from behind a tree.

Scratching the back of his head, he said nervously, "What!? No, no, no! I just overslept, thinking about stuff, ya know!?… hehe..."

"Haha, ok, I'll give you a pass for today..." Itachi said while approaching him. He then sat down on the grass and asked Naruto, "So, did you spoke to the Hokage about your parents?"

Sitting down on the grass as well, Naruto replied, "Yeah, I spoke with him and yes, the Fourth and the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails were my parents..." Looking down at the ground, he grabbed a scroll from his backpack and the channeled some chakra into it, making the scroll open. Naruto then began to get all the contents out of it while saying, "This is what they left me, they also left me their house but I really have no interest in living there, I'll just go and take the stuff I need from the library and the vault."

"Mm, I see..." Itachi muttered before seeing the square with the word 'Letters' written on it, he figured that both Minato and Kushina left him some letters. Knowing his inner turmoil regarding his parents, he asked, "Did they wrote you some letters?..." Receiving a nod in confirmation he continued, "And how do you feel about it?"

Looking at the sky while taking a deep breath, Naruto answered, "I… I honestly don't now Big Bro, it's confusing really…"

Sighing heavily, Itachi said, "I see, well, you'll need to figure it out soon little brother, conflicting feelings can have a negative impact on one's path, especially yours, whether is love or hate doesn't matter, as long as you know ok?"

"Yeah, I understand, I'll figure it out, one way or another…" Naruto conceded. He then remembered something that was written on his mother's letter and looking back at Itachi, he asked, "Itachi, there was something weird on Kushina's letter, she said that I gotta find and take care of some girl named 'Kurama', do you know who that is?"

Confused, Itachi started to think if he knew anyone with that name but not finding anyone in his mind, he shook his head in the negative, he said, "Mm, there is a clan here in the Leaf with that name, they have a seat in the Council as well but I don't think she was talking about them… but a girl named 'Kurama'? I have no idea little brother, perhaps you should ask my mother, I believe she was close friends with Kushina and Minato, so maybe she knows who that is."

Surprised at the revelation of his crush's friendship with his parents, he nodded and took the scrolls and lay them on the ground as he said, "Well, they left me these scrolls as well, apparently I may have three bloodlines, Kushina had the Lava and Boil Release and Minato had the Magnetic Release, so they left me some scrolls for those in case I manage to activate them. Minato also left me these Wind and Lightning scrolls and the scrolls for the Rasengan and the Flying Thunder God!" Naruto said, excited at the last two legendary jutsus.

"Well now, that is impressive, the Magnetic Release is one of the rarest bloodlines there is, but we won't know if you have them until the next few years, bloodlines like those usually activate on the user's teenage years, so we'll focus on the wind jutsus for now. The Rasengan and the Thunder God will have to wait. The Rasengan is an A-rank jutsu so when you manage to perfect everything I've taught you, we'll work on that one. The Thunder God though, that's an S-class, so until you've perfected the Rasengan and everything else, you can focus on that, alright?" Itachi said while reading some of the scrolls.

"Ok, so what we'll be doing today!? I want to be the sharpest of my class so that maybe the Old Man would let me skip the academy and make me a shinobi already!" Naruto said while pumping his fist at the air with an ass kicking look.

Standing up, Itachi let a small chuckle at the blond's excitement and replied, "Now, one step at a time Naruto, I was actually going to tell you that you're gonna have to lay low, don't get too much attention to yourself little brother, you're already a chūnin-level ninja so you'll have no trouble with school, but keep it low, ok?" He ordered while ruffling his hair.

Looking at him, Naruto whined loudly, "What!? But why!? I don't wanna waste 5 years learning stuff I already know! I wanna go on mission and kick some ass, ya know!?"

Looking at him dead on the eyes, Itachi hit Naruto's forehead with two fingers and said with a voice that left no debate, "Now little brother, take this as an order from me, deception is a shinobi's biggest weapon, there is no need for you to show everything you know so early in the game, so keep a low profile, ok?"

" _Huff,_ Aight, I'll do as you say then." Naruto said with a pout while massaging the spot that Itachi hit. They then proceeded to train on Naruto's jutsus and one of the Wind jutsus that his father left him, the training went on for almost 5 hours and now both of them were eating lunch.

Getting ready to begin his shift, Itachi ruffled Naruto's hair and said, "Well I gotta go now, little brother, so rest for the remaining of the day so you can be fresh for tomorrow, ok?" Receiving a nod from the blond, he began to walk away but before he was gone, he looked back and said, "I believe my other little brother, Sasuke, will be in your class too, so do me a favor and try to befriend him, ok? He's a lone wolf like you so I believe you two would make good friends and who knows, if you two become best friends, you might be able to see my mother more often." Itachi then left with a chuckle at Naruto's red face.

Turning around, Naruto picked his stuff up and headed home while thinking dreamily, _'Can't deny that would be cool though...'_

* * *

The Academy's grounds were filled with children waiting for the beginning of the semester while the parents were glaring hard at the blonde jinchūriki who was sitting on a swing hanging from a tree, not that he was giving them a damn though.

 _'_ _Man 5 years in this place, what a drag...'_ Naruto thought while a pineapple head boy sneezed, mumbling something about somebody stealing his catchphrase. He then heard his name being called by a familiar loving voice and after turning around, he saw his crush, looking as beautiful as ever, "Miko! You're here to see Sasuke off?" Naruto said, excited as always to see the most beautiful woman in the world for him.

"Well, and to see you off as well sweetie, this is the beginning for my two boys to become men…" She said while giving him a hug. She then rested her hands on his shoulders and said, "I hope that you learn a lot and that you become the fine shinobi I know you'll be sweetie, and I also hope that you and my Sasuke become friends, that way you can have an excuse to come visit more often!" She then gave him a kiss on the forehead and said goodbye, leaving a dopey blond behind.

Getting out of his stupor, Naruto heard the bell ring and immediately headed towards his classroom. Once there, he headed to an empty seat near the window and after he sat on his spot, a raven-haired boy with a familiar face sat next to him soon after he claimed his seat, _'Hm, this must be Sasuke… he looks like a dick...'_ Naruto thought. He then surveyed his surroundings and saw Kiba who was looking at him with a challenging look, he was sitting next to the boy called Shino who gave him a nod and a cute blue haired girl with a cream-coloured hooded jacket who was looking at him through the corner of her lavender-coloured eyes with a mad blush all over her face. He saw that even on their first day, there were already girls looking at both him and Sasuke with dreamy eyes, a pink haired girl was looking hard at Sasuke while a blond haired girl was looking hard at him, _'Great, fangirls...'_ His thoughts were cut short though, when the door of the room was opened.

"Hello everyone, my name is Iruka Umino and I'll be your sensei for the next 5 years…" The teacher now identified as Iruka said before trailing off on all the things that they were to learn for the remaining of their stay in the Academy.

With a heavy sigh, Naruto looked through the classroom in boredom when he suddenly locked eyes with Sasuke, the two narrowed their eyes at each other and entered into a small staring contest before both boys looked the other way with angry grunts. Looking back at the window, Naruto thought annoyed, _'5 years here, yeah, this fucking sucks...'_

* * *

 **A/N: And that's another one for ya! Hope you guys liked it, keep the comments coming and I'll see ya lads later, cheers!**


	3. Broken Hearts

**A/N: Hi lads! Welcome to a new chapter! Since I really have nothing to say, let's get straight to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **Broken Hearts**

It was a cold night in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the village was quietly resting, unaware of the horror story that will occur on the next few days. A lone figure was currently standing in front of a large boulder at the foot of a hill, just on the outskirts of the village. The figure formed some hand signs that soon broke the barrier surrounding a door, the figure opened it and it revealed a dark tunnel that led to an underground base where as soon as he walked into the first lit room, two masked figures appeared and kneeled before him.

"Lord Danzō." The two figures said in unison.

"Let's go." Danzō replied dryly while not even looking at the two. The trio began walking further into the room until they passed through another door that led them to a corridor that he walked through with the two masked men behind. As Danzō walked, the old timer asked, "It's everything in order?"

One of the masked men replied, "Yes sir, the group you selected is ready to move as soon as you give the word, four men unit as you ordered, all of them with medical training."

"Very well…" Danzō replied while looking at the front. After receiving the dossiers of the squad mentioned and giving his approval, he continued his way towards the War Room of the Root base and while walking, he asked, "I trust that Ryū and Terai are back?"

"Yes sir, they are already waiting for you in the War Room." The Root ninja replied.

After a few more minutes of walking inside the maze of the base, they arrived at a large metal door and after the old man opened it, looked at his two most trusted soldiers and personal guards dutifully waiting for him inside, Ryū and Terai. Turning back at the two other ninja that were escorting him, he ordered them to leave the room and took his place at a seat that looked like a throne in front of the war table while the two Root members took a kneeling position in front of their leader.

"Report." Danzō said to his subordinates.

"Everything has developed as you expected, sir. The Uchiha revolt is inevitable, with all the false threats done using the two Elders Koharu and Homura and the attacks done by our people infiltrated in the Leaf's regular forces, they have become paranoid and are soon to begin the first stage of their coup in approximately the next month." The Root soldier with the codename of 'Ryū' answered. She had long silver hair with two medium ponytails on the front, two more on the back and a few hair strands that covered the top of her mask, she also had an exquisite figure and was wearing a mask with the shape of a dragon's face.

"Excellent…" Danzō replied with an excited but barely noticeable smirk on his stern face. He then added, "What about Shisui Uchiha? Did you succeeded in our objective?"

"Yes sir…" Terai replied this time. He was wearing a creamed coloured hooded coat and a mask with three red curved lines above both eyes. He then took out from inside his coat a jar containing two eyes with an onyx pupil, "We extracted Shisui Uchiha's eyes as you requested and put evidence that pointed at Itachi Uchiha as the responsible for the attack." He said while giving the jar with Shisui's eyes to Danzō.

Looking at the jar on his hand, Danzō said to his two most trusted men, "Excellent job. Now that we possess the Mangekyō Sharingan, we can begin to implant it in my blind eye…" Danzou said. He then stood up from the throne and walked towards the exit of the room with the two Root ninja following behind. Without looking back, he added, "Be ready to move with the special team that we've prepared, Sarutobi has called on an emergency meeting, so it appears that Itachi will make his move now. Your job is to make sure that he follows through with his plan, as soon as he's done, we make our move."

"Understood." The two soldiers replied robotically to the Root head.

* * *

"Is everyone ready to begin?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, asked those present in the room.

"Yes." Danzō, Koharu and Homura answered in unison to the village's leader.

"Very well, Itachi please begin your report." The Third said to the Uchiha ANBU Captain who was standing beside him.

"Yes sir…" Itachi replied. Walking to the center of the rom, he began, "The situation has reached a boiling point. Since Lord Hokage's talks with my father proved futile, now every Uchiha is preparing to stage the coup in the next month. As far as I know, my father will begin to look for allies in the coming weeks, the Aburame, Inuzuka and the Kurama clans are the prime candidates, they believe that they can convince them to join the coup with the promise of more power and say on the village's matters."

"Mm, I don't think that other clans will join them." Koharu said.

"Indeed, the Inuzuka are loyal to the village and would never go with this, the Aburame are reserved, but their relation with the Uchiha clan is formal at best so they won't risk so much for a clan they barely have contact with and the Kurama are too weak to pose any real threat even if they were to participate, which I doubt they will." The Third explained, feeling confident of the loyalty that most of the clans have towards the village.

"Indeed, I think that my father and the rest of the Council know this as well, that's why in the last two years since this started they have been making sure to turn every Uchiha to their beliefs, I'm probably one of the last few who fights for the village first." Itachi replied, with a distant tone in his voice.

"Then we have no other choice, we must act now Lord Hokage, before the rest of the village gets dragged into their foolish crusade." Danzō replied with an urgency that did not go unnoticed by the other experienced shinobi in the room.

 _'_ _Just what the hell are you up to Danzō?…'_ The Third thought, knowing very well that his old rival was scheming something. Closing his eyes and massaging his temples, Sarutobi said with a pained voice, "Yes, I'm afraid that we must take action... _sigh…_ Itachi? Are you really willing to go through with your plan?"

Itachi closed his eyes for a moment and after a few seconds, he opened them and with a stern voice that carried no doubt but with pain clear in his eyes, he responded, "Yes Lord Hokage, I see no other way, my clan's ambition will end up hurting the village more than help it, I will carry out the extermination of the clan myself."

 _'_ _Forgive me Hashirama-sensei…'_ The Hokage thought with sorrow at the idea of giving the green light to the massacre of one the founding clans of the village he swore to protect, "We will be forever in your debt Itachi, you truly are the greatest example of the 'The Will of Fire'… s _igh…_ do we all agree?" The Third asked to the Elders.

"Yes." Homura said.

"Yes." Danzō said while hiding a devious smirk.

"No, but it doesn't matter anymore, the only thing I can ask you Itachi, is that you do it as painless as you can." Koharu said with a defeated voice.

"Yes Elder Koharu, they are my family after all…" Itachi said with an expressionless face that hid the pain in his heart very well. He then continued, "The only thing I ask of you is that Sasuke lives, I know that he can bring honour to the Uchiha again and with the right people around him, he will bleed for this village as much as I did."

"Yes Itachi, we will protect Sasuke and honour your sacrifice to the very end…" The Hokage said with a sad smile to the Uchiha before continuing, "Then it's settled, take this days to take care of anything that you may have unfinished, you will act in one week from now." He looked at the Elders and called the meeting to an end, with the Elders leaving after a _thank you_ to the Uchiha, leaving Itachi alone with the Hokage.

"Hiruzen?" Itachi said, using his name as a signal that he wanted to ask something as a regular man rather that a ninja under his command. The Third understood and nodded at him to proceed, so Itachi said, "Naruto... s _igh…_ knowing him, he will come demanding for answers, he's smart so it won't be easy to fool him with the explanation of me just doing it to test my power, he cares deeply for my mother as well so he will dig into this as much as he can to find the truth, so please, find some way to stall him until we meet again, I will try to delay as much as a I can the movements of the Akatsuki, but we'll eventually meet and when we do, I'll tell him the truth." His eyes were starting to show the pain he was feeling for doing this but he quickly pushed those feelings aside, knowing that it was worth it.

"Are you truly willing to bear the hatred of both of your little brothers for that long?" Hiruzen asked Itachi in a sympathetic way, this was what pained the old Hokage the most, the hatred that will no doubt grow in both Naruto and Sasuke, it's something that disturbs him greatly.

Looking to Itachi who was looking down at the ground, the Third widened his eyes and felt his heart breaking for the first time in years at seeing a lone tear fall from the ever expressionless Uchiha's face to the ground. Looking up directly at the old timer's eyes, the raven-haired teenager said with conviction and utmost love, "If it means that both will be safe and will be able to make their dreams come to be, then yes, after all, they are my dream… and I know that if they both build a bond, it will take them further than anyone else has ever got…" Itachi then got serious again and added to the Hokage, "Also, be wary of Danzō, the death of Shisui was not my doing, but whoever did it, left a good trail back to me and I can only think of Root to do something like that, he's always been interested in the sharingan."

Turning towards the door, Itachi prepared to leave but stopped when he heard his leader say, "I may not be able to ever say this in public or to reveal the truth of the massacre, but know this Itachi…" The Uchiha turned his head to look at the Hokage when he said, "You are the greatest shinobi this village has ever given, don't ever forget that." The Third exclaimed while bowing to the Uchiha teenager, showing him how grateful he was at Itachi for such immense sacrifice.

Giving him a nod in thanks, Itachi left the room soon after, leaving a Third Hokage to look at the sleeping village while thinking sombrely, _'What a sad day…'_

* * *

"Alright that's enough, now let's see…" Iruka said to Sasuke and Naruto who were currently in the middle of a taijutsu spar. Looking at the board on his hands, Umino claimed while looking at Sasuke, "Well Sasuke, in your Ninjutsu you scored a 10, in Accuracy with kunai and shuriken, you scored a 9 and in Taijutsu you scored a 7, good job Sasuke."

"Hn." Sasuke only grunted in response among the cheers of his fangirls who were eagerly proclaiming him to be the best. He was paying them no mind however, since his mind was thinking with annoyance, _'Dammit! We've been two years in the Academy and the Dobe's been holding back on everything, you're not fooling me Naruto…'_

Looking at Naruto then, Iruka revealed his scores, "Now Naruto... well, in Ninjutsu you scored a 7, in Accuracy with kunai and shuriken you marked another 7 and Taijutsu an 8, not bad, but you can do better, so keep training." He said with a little bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Yes Iruka-sensei." Naruto replied among the cheers of his fans encouraging him to do better while thinking _'Grr, I hate this dammit! Having to act like a regular Joe! Hold it Naruto, just 3 years more… thou, I think the Teme knows that I'm holding back…'_

"Alright class you are dismissed for the day, remember to train your taijutsu skills since we'll keep sparring for the rest of the week…" Iruka said to the already fleeting kids who didn't even listened to him, " _Sigh,_ Kids…" He mumbled tiredly.

"Man, this seriously sucks! And I can't even use the shadow clones 'cause the Old Man won't lemme! 'You need to be there to spend some time with people of your age, Naruto'…" Naruto said to himself with a mock voice of the Third Hokage. Indeed, it's been two years since our favourite rap loving knucklehead entered the Academy and it's been boring! The fact that he cannot show them what he can really do and must hold back on everything to not catch everyone's attention just makes it worse. He used shadow clones once but the Third forbade him to use them so he could spend time with kids like him since the only people he ever interacted with were grownups, "Man I'm sure that only Sasuke would give me a run for my win, everyone else mostly suck…" He muttered angrily.

His rant was interrupted however, when a low roar coming from his stomach broke him out of his thoughts, "Mm, what'cha said?…" He asked his stomach that strangely roared back as if answering, "Ichiraku's huh? Well if you insist…" He replied happily, not paying any mind to the freaked out looks from the villagers around thinking he was talking to the Twelve-Wings.

He kept walking until he found a small stall that he approached and proceeded to move the curtains that stopped the dust from entering, he then sat on one of the bar stools and screamed, "Hey old man! Your favourite bottomless pit just arrived, fool!"

Soon after his greeting, a sound of stuff falling to the ground followed by some curses was heard before a middle-aged man popped his head out and said, "Wha!?… oh, Naruto my boy, how are you? How was school today, huh?" Teuchi Ichiraku replied with a wide smile aimed at his favourite costumer.

"I'm good thanks! And school was boring as usual…" Naruto replied with a huff and a pout before continuing, "Anyways, I'm hungry! You know what to do old man!" He enthusiastically exclaimed.

"Haha, alright, alright, let me go and make you your food… Ayame! Come, Naruto is here! You've been waiting for him all day so come and keep him company while I make his food." Teuchi screamed and then chuckled when he heard a squeal followed by a curse and the sound of someone running on the back.

A 14-year-old brunette girl with brown eyes appeared from the back of the stall screaming at the veteran chef, "Dad! Shut up! Wha-What if he hea…" She suddenly noticed that Naruto was there, watching the scene with amusement, seemingly enjoying the girl's distress, "Oh! Na-Naruto! H-hi!... sorry about umm... you know... that… hehe... ho-how was school today?" She nervously said, trying to change the subject while putting both arms behind her back, fidgeting her fingers and wearing a mad blush on her cute face.

 _'_ _Haha, she's so damn cute when she gets all flustered, though can't deny she's growing up…'_ Naruto thought while looking at the two mounts that were starting to show beneath her upper clothes, _'Shit, stop looking ya fool! Damn hormones…'_ He reprimanded himself then. Shaking his head from such lecherous thoughts, he replied while scratching below his nose, "Ah haha yeah... well umm… it was boring, ya know!? I really can't wait for the end of the damn Academy so I can go on missions and kick some ass like my big brother Itachi!" He said while jumping on his stool, flexing his muscles while doing poses that just made the poor girl more lost in her blooming teenage hormones.

 _'_ _Was... was he checking me out, there?…'_ She gave a hopeful thought when she saw where his eyes were looking at a moment ago. Lifting her arm and putting her finger on her lips, she responded, "Oh! Hehe... well, yes that sounds good but… umm… it's also very dangerous you know?" She said with worry in her voice, she wasn't very comfortable with her crush becoming a ninja.

"Ah you don't have to worry about me Aya!" He exclaimed, giving her a thumbs up and a wide smile before adding, "I'll be the strongest ninja that has ever lived so I can protect you and all of my precious people from anything that dares to harm you, y'all see!" Naruto's voice was full of confidence and a fire in his eyes that showed his unrelenting determination.

 _'_ _Yes! He cares about me!…'_ Ayame thought while mentally jumping with happiness after hearing her crush's words. Soon enough though, his first bowl was done and she brought it to him, "Haha… well thank you for caring about us Naru, I know that you'll become strong! Here's your bowl." She said with a happy smile on her face and a small blush on her cheeks.

 _'_ _Haha… can't believe me, a ten year old, can make a pretty fourteen year old blush like that…'_ Naruto thought with amusement. Giving her a warm smile back, he grabbed his bowl and said, "Of course I care, Aya! You can always count on me! Thanks!" He then began to happily devour bowl after bowl of the delicious food fit for any god.

"Mah, mah, Naruto… so young and already a master at wooing a lady, you certainly have grown." A silver-haired male wearing a standard jōnin uniform, a mask that covers most of his face and a Leaf headband that covers his left eye leaving only the right one visible said while taking the stool next to the blond jinchūriki.

Both Ayame and Naruto blushed at the comment, making Ayame excuse herself to the back of the bar to bring the jōnin's order along with the blond's next bowl. Naruto just looked at his bowl while trying to hide his blush from the silver-haired jōnin before saying, "Ah! Pa!... umm… I-I don't know w-what'cha talking 'bout…"

"Haha, sure thing little one, sure thing…" Kakashi answered amusedly to his surrogate son.

A year ago, Kakashi left the position of ANBU Commander and took on the position of jōnin again, per request of the Third Hokage, since it was the Hokage's wish that Kakashi would take on as Sensei of Naruto and Sasuke's team once they graduate, as the Third wanted to put the two of them in the same team and Kakashi was the best suited for the job as their Sensei, which he reluctantly accepted. Not because he disliked the boys in any way, Kakashi was very fond of the blond jinchūriki, while Itachi took on the job as his big brother, Kakashi took on a more father-like place in his life.

After he left the ANBU corps, he began to take more care of the boy, eventually Naruto trusted him as much as Itachi, revealing everything that had happened in his life, including his talks and training with the Twelve-Wings and Itachi, that he knew who his parents were, much to the surprise of the Copy Ninja and the sadness of the revelation about Naruto's bitterness towards his parents, which he could completely understand where the boy was coming from, but he still felt bad for his late Sensei and wife since their decision to make their son a jinchūriki, ultimately led said boy to not even consider them as relatives. And when it came to Sasuke, he certainly saw great potential in the boy, he knew that the only obstacle that Sasuke could have would be the Uchiha arrogance that led them to relay too much on their eyes, but take that away and you have a shinobi capable of great things.

The reason for why he wasn't too convinced with this team was because it was meant to be the next generation of Team 7, a number that has been haunted by both greatness and tragedy. The first generation was led by non-other than Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, and had as members Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, Danzō Shimura, Kagami Uchiha and Torifu Akimichi, the team produced a Hokage in Hiruzen Sarutobi but was struck by tragedy after a mission that cost the life of Kagami, who was one of the few that Danzō truly trusted. After Kagami's death, the team became hostile towards each other and after the death of the Second, got disbanded.

The second generation of Team 7 came to be after the induction of a three genin squad led by a jōnin as a standard model, it had Hiruzen Sarutobi as squad leader and was comprised by Tsunade Senju, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, the three went on to reach levels above almost all but the Kage, they got dubbed as the 'Three Legendary Sannin' by Hanzō of The Salamander during the Second Great War and became feared throughout the lands until Orochimaru was caught experimenting on civilians and betrayed the Leaf Village, becoming one of the most dangerous missing-nin in shinobi history.

The third incarnation of the team was led by Jiraiya of the Sannin and was comprised by Minato Namikaze, Fugaku Uchiha and Aiko Kurama. The team produced yet another Hokage in Minato but was struck by tragedy again when Aiko was captured and brutally murdered by a cult. Fugaku had made an arrogant mistake that almost got everyone caught but Aiko took a bullet for her team and paid the price, her death caused hostility between Minato and Fugaku and not even when the former became Hokage disappeared, it grew even more.

The fourth and last generation of Team 7 was led by Minato Namikaze and it consisted of Kakashi Hatake, Rin Nohara and Obito Uchiha. The team produced another legendary shinobi in Kakashi, but Obito perished in battle during the Third Great War and Rin was killed by Kakashi when she defected to Mist.

Hoping that the tradition would break with the next incarnation, he finished his bowl and said to Naruto, "Now, I have a message from Itachi to you…" He then gave a folded sheet of paper to the blond and bid goodbye.

"Huh, oh, okay, well, see ya later, Pa!" The jinchūriki replied to his father figure before he opened the sheet and read it.

 _Hey little brother, listen, I'm gonna have to cancel the next five days of your training with me, I have a mission so I won't be around, but I'll see you on Saturday, so use this days to rest and spend some time with your friends or my mother, don't get all lazy on me brother..._

 _'_ _Oh man! This sucks! Well I better find something to do, spending time with Miko does sounds gooood…'_ Naruto thought with a mad blush before paying for his food and saying his goodbyes to a blushing teenage girl and her amused father. He then headed to his apartment while thinking, _'Mm, maybe a prank spree? Yeah! I haven't made as much pranks as before, better make sure my 'Handlers' are not getting rusty…'_

* * *

Mikoto Uchiha was a mess, she could feel the tension building inside her home and her clan, and she was getting worried by the second. It has been 2 years since her husband's plan on taking over the village had been set in motion and despite the honest efforts from the Third Hokage to quell the hostilities, the arrogance of her clansmen prevailed and now they are to stage a coup in a month's time. She was devastated, her eldest son Itachi just seems colder and colder as the days go by since he accepted the task of spying on the village's leadership and her youngest son seems to be stressed about the clear indifference that Fugaku was giving him.

Her relationship with her husband was now practically inexistent. She pleaded, hell, she even begged on her knees to stop all of this, if not for her, for the sake of their sons, but the only replied she got was 'This is for our sons Mikoto, for all the Uchiha' and then he just left and kept brewing the conflict between the village and her clan, _'Damn arrogant fool…'_ She bitterly thought.

And to make matters even worse, she was forbidden to leave the compound now, it's been almost a month since she had been able to leave, _'That asshole, treating me like a stupid prisoner…'_ She was pacing around her home just thinking on what to do. She wanted to speak to Itachi to try and understand just why he would go along with this mad plan but he apparently left the village on a mission and would be gone for a few weeks. She was very worried about her eldest son as just a few days ago, Shisui Uchiha, Itachi's best friend and her nephew, was found murdered and had also lost both of his eyes, this caused tremendous alarm inside the clan, especially in the Council since only they knew that Shisui had somehow unlocked the legendary Mangekyō, so believing in the apparent way on how to unlock them, Itachi was put as the prime suspect. It even came to the point where he no longer talked to his father aside from his report on the Hokage and his advisors, heck, it had been weeks that even she had a normal conversation with him.

Leaving her home, she began to take a stroll around the compound and she was saddened by what she was seeing, there was just no joy around the clan anymore, the adults all seemed tense and she could see that many were conflicted with the direction that the clan would be taking in the coming days. And the kids, instead of playing and running around, they were all being prepared to fight, it broke her heart to see the clan's future being manipulated this way, just to make a bunch of arrogant pricks feel good with themselves. She knew that a reign under an Uchiha with that kind of mentality would be oppressive and it would take the village to a dark path, the kids of the future would be nothing but tools of war and she hated that. She knew that as a shinobi you are exactly that, a tool to be used by your Kage, but at least with the current system you had the chance to choose, a reign under an arrogant Uchiha would, with no doubt, take that choice away.

Returning to her home after her small stroll around the compound, she turned to see the wall with the Uchiha crest painted on. She could still see the crack that had formed for the kunai that Itachi embedded after his confrontation with Fugaku about Shisui's death. She couldn't help but feel a bad omen at seeing the haunting image of her clan's crest split by a crack that could very well signal the future of her clan and the village, _'Ah, fuck Fugaku! I'm taking a walk around the village tomorrow, whether he likes it or not…'_ Mikoto thought in frustration before she headed to her now personal room to turn in for the night.

* * *

Naruto woke up with a weird feeling in his gut, he could feel that Itachi has been troubled by something for the last few weeks. The fact that it has been almost a month since he last saw Mikoto just made him feel even more uneasy at the thought that something might be happening to her or her clan.

Stepping out of his shower, he dried his hair and had a quick glance at his reflection on his mirror, he was somewhat shocked though when he saw that his hair was losing its natural colour, he hadn't noticed since he usually carries the genjutsu on his hear to hide its glow, but now he could see that his usual bright yellow hair was paler, like the Yamanaka's, it still had the glow but it was paler as well. Pushing that thought to the back of his mind for now, he put the genjutsu on again and headed to his kitchen table where he grabbed a bowl and poured some cereal in to dig in. Oh yeah, he eats something more than ramen now, since he began his training with Itachi and the Twelve-Wings, both made him eat more than just ramen so he could have all the proteins he needed in his body, he complained at first, but eventually gave in. After finishing his breakfast, he cleaned the dish and walked to his room to put on his normal attire.

Stepping out of his apartment, he walked aimlessly around the village while thinking, _'Mm, what to do? What to do?… I really don't wanna go to the Academy today so…'_ He made some hand signs and created a shadow clone with enough chakra to last the whole day. Giving his clone's orders, he began to head towards the Forest of Death when a sight of a beautiful black hair caught his attention. Getting closer to the owner, he screamed happily, "Miko!"

"What?…" The Uchiha matriarch turned around to see who was calling her name. She immediately recognized the boy, "Naruto!" She then surprised him when she forcibly took him inside a store and then created a shadow clone of her. Waiting until she could no longer see the clone and the 'escorts' that were assigned to her, she looked at the confused boy and said, "Sorry about that… hehe… but my husband has some people guarding me and got tired of their presence…" She gave him a kiss on the cheek before realizing that he wasn't supposed to be here, "Naruto, why are you not at school!?" She said in a motherly tone.

Holding the cheek that was kissed, he shook his head and scratched below his nose before replying, "Haha… y-yeah… umm… that… w-well… I didn't wanted to go today so I made a shadow clone and sent it on my behalf so I could go and have my own training… hehe…" He nervously laughed while rubbing his scruff.

 _'_ _Shadow clones? How does he knows that technique? Oh, right, Kakashi trains him now and then…'_ She thought before she replied, "Mm, well, I hope you don't do this to often mister…" She scolded the jinchūriki who just shook his head nervously in the negative. She then continued, "Well, I guess that leaves you with some free time, huh?…" Getting a positive nod, she added, "Well then, come! Let's go and catch up!"

The two headed to a clearing behind the village's training grounds where they sat near the river after arriving and began to catch up with each other, Naruto asking with concern over the fact that he hadn't seen her for almost a month, she waved of the concern saying that she was just busy with clan problems, which was partially true.

While talking though, she realized just how much the little blond meant to her and it just pained her more to think that if the coup were to take place, he, as a jinchūriki, would be a big target for both sides to use as their trump card, _'Dammit, if that comes to be I… I'll might have to choose w-whether to protect h-him… or m-my sons…'_ The thought of her having to leave the boy alone on his own devices in order to protect her sons just made her heart break more if it was even possible, it made her arrive to the conclusion that she might need to take her distance on the boy so she could focus solely on protecting her sons, _'I'm so damn pathetic and weak, dammit! I… I'm so sorry N-Naruto…'_

Steeling her resolve, she stood up after chatting for a while with the boy that she hold so dear, said, "Well sweetie, I'm afraid I have to go back home now so…" She looked directly at his gorgeous glowing blue eyes with that haunting golden slit that looked at her with such love that it made it nearly impossible for her to walk away, but managed to continue never the less, "Sweetie, I… I want you to know that I care so much for you, not just for who your parents are, but for the amazing person that you have become, even after everything that you've been through, your still so warm and kind, so please, whatever you do, whatever life throws at you, don't ever change sweetie, this cursed world that we live in needs people like you to guide us towards a better world, so don't stop, keep striving to protect those you love, for that is the only way towards true strength, whatever happens, know that I'll always care…" She hugged him tightly and gave him a long kiss on his cheek. She quickly said her goodbye and began to walk away without waiting for an answer so he couldn't see that she was crying, when she was out of Naruto's reach she muttered, "I love you Naruto."

Naruto was just standing there, frozen, normally hearing that his crush held him so dear would make him scream in joy, but this time however, he knew that those words carried a sense of finality in them, _'She… why she sounded so sad and… why did it sound like… a final goodbye?…'_ He slumped to the ground and just stared at the spot where she just head off and sadly thought, _'Miko…'_

* * *

 _'_ _Dammit! Just what the hell is going on!?...'_ Naruto thought with frustration after his talk with Mikoto, who only left him more confused due to her words and her depressed demeanour. Sighing heavily, he mentally asked the dragon, _"Hey Ryū! You can also feel that something weird is going on, right?"_

 ** _'_** ** _Hm, his sensor abilities are expanding well I see…'_** The mighty beast thought before answering, **_"Yes hatchling, there is indeed a heavy tension growing around your village, and the conflicted emotions of both Itachi and that woman you like means it might have something to do with those damned Uchiha."_** It answered, with its ever-present anger towards the Uchiha. To this date, Naruto still doesn't know why it hates them so much, the only ones it seems to refer to in a calm way are Itachi and Mikoto, and whenever he asks why so much hate towards them, it only replies that the time for all his questions to be answered was close, irritating the blond more.

 _'_ _I knew it!...'_ Naruto thought with exasperation, _'But why none of them tells me anything!?... mmm… maybe the Old Man knows what's up…'_ He then headed towards the Hokage Tower, intending to figure this mess out.

Arriving in his usual style by jumping through the window, he was surprised to see that for once, the old man was not reading his usual small book, but he frowned after seeing that he too looked troubled by something. Thinking that it wouldn't hurt to ask, he made his presence known and said, "Hey Old Man! How's it going, huh!?"

Getting out of his stupor, the Third Hokage looked to the sound to see his surrogate grandson leaning against the window frame. Giving him the best smile that he could muster at the moment, he replied, "Ah, Naruto my boy!... good son, everything is alright, how about you? How's the Academy been for you? I've heard that you've made a good job with keeping a low profile."

Giving the Hokage a huff, with a pout he replied, "Yeah and it sucks! Having to act like if I could only do so much just makes being in a place learning stuff that I ALREADY KNOW more unbearable, ya know!?…" He said heatedly, with a verbal tick that made the Third remember a fierce red-headed female, "And you know what? I think that Sasuke actually knows that I'm holding back." He finished.

Raising an eyebrow, the old timer said, "I already told you Naruto, it's for your own good, you need to spend some time with kids your age… and whatever you mean by Sasuke knowing?"

Sitting on the couch inside the office, he looked at his leader and surrogate grandfather and responded, "Yeah, yeah, I know that, you say it every time…" Taking a deep breath to gather his words, he continued, "Well, at first, I could see that like almost everybody in my class, he saw me as just an average ninja that enjoyed pranks too much, but as time went on, I could see that he grew more interested in me after one day I beat some bullies that were picking on a Hyūga girl, I don't know if he saw me do it or if the girl spread the tale around, but immediately after that day, I could see that he became more wary of me."

"Mm, well, I don't think it will matter if he finds out, as long as he is your friend and doesn't go around telling, then I don't see the problem." The Third said while filling his pipe with tobacco.

"Well, that's the problem, he ain't my homie, homs!" Naruto said, standing up and opening his arms while tilting his head to the side.

Blinking in confusion, the Third said, "Umm, what?…"

"My friend, ya old timer! He ain't that, yo! He's mah rival at best!" He said while doing complicated hand signs that not even the 'Professor' could understand.

" _Sigh,_ And here I hoped that you'd stopped listening to that garbage you call music…" Hiruzen said, sweatdropping at the blond's antics.

"Nevah fool! The Mighty is a poet! A visionary! I'm just waiting for his next album to drop so I can hear his amazing words that drive me forward with determination!" The blond jinchūriki preached while dropping to his knees crying anime tears. Seeing that the Hokage's demeanour has lighten up a little, he regained his seriousness again and tackled the reason for his visit when he asked timidly, "Umm, Old Man, can… can I ask ya something?…"

Feeling his change of attitude weird, the Hokage responded with a raised eyebrow, "Sure my boy, you know you can ask me anything." He gave the blond a grandfatherly smile to reassure him.

"Right…" Getting on his feet again, Naruto took a deep breath to gather his thoughts and said, "Umm… well… is… is e-everything ok with the U-Uchiha clan?"

Hiruzen started to feel his heart accelerating a bit after the question, _'Dammit, I need to keep calm or he'll feel that something's wrong…'_ Tilting his head to the side as if confused, the Third said, "Mm? What do you mean, son?"

With a heavy sigh, Naruto responded, "Well, it's just that, I can see that Big Bro seems like more thoughtful than usual, ya know?... and Mikoto, well, I just talked with her and she seemed so sad and… like lost or something… plus the ambience around the village feels… like… heavy…" Naruto responded with sad eyes looking down at the floor, all the while thinking about Mikoto and what she had said to him just hours ago.

 _'_ _Well, Itachi was right, he is very good at sensing peoples' emotions… I need to keep him occupied with something…'_ Trashing his brain around for ideas, Hiruzen suddenly came up with something and said, "Oh well, the Uchiha are a powerful and big clan my boy, so problems are something that regularly occur… but about Itachi and Mikoto's behaviour, I would guess that Itachi's troubled by Shisui's death just 3 days ago, and I guess that Mikoto is just worried for her son."

"What!? Sh-Shisui-sensei… is… dead…" Naruto screamed. Since Shisui was Itachi's best friend, Naruto obviously knew who he was, he used to pop up occasionally during his training with Itachi and sometimes he was trained by Shisui whenever Itachi wasn't available, so hearing about his death hit him like a meteor.

"S _igh,_ Yes Naruto, I guess Itachi couldn't tell you because he had to leave on a mission immediately, I'm sorry, I know that Shisui was a good friend to you as well…" The Third said with pain at seeing his adoptive grandson's hurt eyes at the news, _'I just hope he is able to endure what's coming, I know he'll move on but… the hatred that will grow for Itachi could lead him or Sasuke to a dark place…'_ Hiruzen thought with regret.

"I see…" Naruto responded with a small tear running down his cheek. Looking at the ground for a few seconds, he looked back at the Hokage and said, "I guess that… t-that could be it…"

After a heavy sigh, the old Sarutobi said to Naruto, "I know it hurts Naruto, but the people that leave this world keep watching over us every day, the important thing is to never forget the things that made us care for them and carry on with our lives to honour them…" Seeing that his words helped to bring the blond's mood up a bit, he requested, "Hey Naruto, could you do me a favour?"

Squinting his eyes, confused as to what could the most powerful man in the Land of Fire ask of him, he replied, "Umm, sure I guess, what is that you need Old Man?"

"Well you see, my grandson, Konohamaru, has been pestering me for training, he's six years old and doesn't seem to understand that he still needs to wait two years to enter the Academy, but I thought that since you began to train at the age of five, you might be able to help him with the basic stuff so he can stop ticking me off all day about it, what do you say?" The Professor said with a smile.

Putting his finger on his chin, Naruto gave it some thought and saw that it couldn't hurt so agreed, "Well, sure why not, I'll teach the brat some stuff."

"Good, thank you son, who knows, maybe you can even a find a future apprentice in him, now here…" Sarutobi said with a smile while writing down something on a small paper, "He lives with my son Asuma, here's his address, stop by tomorrow after school and you can begin."

"Aight then, I'll better get going to prepare what I'll teach him, I have the week off after school since Big Bro is out on a mission, so I can teach him some stuff before he comes back…" He kept the sheet in his pocket and headed towards the window, saying before jumping out, "Well, I see ya around, Old Man, bye!" With that, he took off towards his apartment.

Waving goodbye at the boy, Hiruzen sighed for the thousand time in the week and while blowing some of the smoke from his pipe, he thought, _'I'm going to have to ask Kakashi to be more pending with Naruto, if I can at least ease his pain a bit, I'll be able to honour, if just a little, Itachi and Mikoto's sacrifice… forgive me Naruto…'_ Bringing his tired gaze down to the floor, the old Sarutobi took some minutes to clear his head and then returned to his paperwork.

* * *

A plant like figure was walking through a dark tunnel, the only thing that one could see, was the Venus flytrap outline of his shadow. After a few minutes of walk, he arrived to a partially destroyed castle on the top of a hill, the castle was surrounded by mountains and the heavy snow served to make it almost impossible for someone to stumble upon it unless you knew exactly how to get in, it was also protected by a magical barrier that stopped anyone and anything from teleporting inside.

Walking through the giant wooden doors, he soon arrived to the main hall, a huge room with a lone throne at the top of some stairs that where at the opposite side of the room. Looking at the roof, one could see that the castle was the site of a major attack, almost all the castle was destroyed, only the main hall had partially survived. The wall behind the throne was almost gone and one could see the mountains and the moon from the large hole in the wall. The light of the moon was lighting the hall from behind the throne but the partially demolished wall casted a shadow that managed to cover the throne and the top half of the stairs from view.

Arriving at the foot of the stairs, the plant like figure looked at the top and could see a lone slender figure wearing an armour that made him look like a Warrior King sitting with one leg crossed over the other, he was resting his head on his fist while resting the elbow on the armrest of the throne. At either side of the throne, there were two equally obscured figures, one appeared to be a tall man while the other seemed to be a short haired woman.

After a few seconds, the person sitting on the throne spoke with a playful voice, "Oh!… kukuku… Zetsu, my boy! I trust that everything is going according to our evil plans!" He moved his fingers excitedly.

 **"** **Yes, everything is moving as you planned…"** What it seemed to be like a black half of the figure said before the white half continued, "Tobi is already with Itachi, the massacre will soon take place."

"Ah! Good, good, good! Itachi might be a wildcard but he is important to our plans, make sure that he accepts the opportunity in Akatsuki… kukuku…" The man ordered.

 **"** **Yes, but, what if he betrays the Akatsuki?"** The black half asked.

Giving a childish laugh, the mysterious man replied, "Ah! Well, I couldn't care less, dear boy! Tobi is interested in him and to stop that fool from doing something stupid, we need to throw a candy at him so he keeps in line. The Akatsuki are means to an end and so is Tobi, but in the meantime, they need to stay focus and those stupid vengeances and wishes of grandeur will only waste more time…" The strange man then chuckled and added, "Finally we have all the things we need, so we must begin our moves now." He finished with a serious tone that countered his previous attitude.

"Yes, we understand, **we'll take our leave now."** Zetsu replied before turning to exit the castle.

After disappearing from sight, the female asked, "So, are we making our move now?"

"Oh, no my dear, not just yet, we'll let our little friends have their fun for a while, once they've accomplished their goal, we move… kukuku…" The man on the throne said, giving a playful laugh at the end while thinking, _'It's almost time granny, almost…'_

* * *

"Stupid school, stupid kids, stupid teachers…" Naruto mumbled while making his way to the Hokage's grandson's house, "Seriously, amma lose mah shit soon son…"

Shaking his head from his frustration, he arrived at the Sarutobi compound and began to search for the right house, "Aight, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen… Ah! There, sixteen, this gotta be the place." Knocking on the door, he gave a quick glace around the compound and thought, _'Mm, I thought the place would be bigger, even having a Sarutobi as Hokage, the clan doesn't seem that powerful outside the Old Man…'_ His thoughts where then cut short after the sound of the door opening was heard.

A bronze skinned man with black spiky hair and beard opened the door and said, "Oh, Naruto, I take it you're here for Konohamaru, right?…" Getting a nod in response, he added, "Alright, let me get him for you." He turned around and left for the back of the house. After a couple of minutes, Asuma reappeared along with a small boy wearing a yellow shirt with a leaf symbol on the front, he had a long blue scarf and a skullcap that only left a mesh of his brown hair out, he was whining that he needed no one to get strong.

" _Sigh,_ Just give it a try ok Kono? Naruto is strong, so you'll learn a lot from him and when you enter the Academy you'll have no problem." Asuma said before pushing Konohamaru out of the house. Naruto then grabbed the boy's shoulder and flickered out of the compound before he could whine more, leaving a stunned Asuma behind to think, _'What the!?… I know that Kakashi trains the boy occasionally but he already knows the body flicker? That's impressive…'_

* * *

Arriving at the middle of the Forest of Death, Naruto appeared on a puff of smoke while grabbing a stunned Konohamaru, but since he didn't wanted to acknowledge anybody, much less this blond, he freed himself from his grip and said, " _Huff,_ If you think that you've impressed me with that simple trick, you are wrong! I already told uncle Asuma, I don't need anybody's help! I'll defeat the Old Man by myself and I'll take the Hokage position so that everybody respects me!"

 _'_ _Jeez, is like looking at myself when I was younger…'_ The blonde Uzumaki thought with a drop of sweat on the back of his head. He then crossed his arms and said with an incredulous look, "Oh, really now? Think you can take the geezer down on your own, huh?"

Pointing at Naruto, Konohamaru said, "For sure! The old man stands no chance against me!"

Taking a few steps away from Konohamaru, Naruto took a fighting stance and said, "Well then, if you are so sure, then come at me, let's see if you can bite as hard as you bark, little boy." He was trying to make the boy lose his temper while doing a _come here_ hand gesture.

The taunt definitely worked since the boy got red out of rage and screamed, "I'm not a little boy! I'll show you!" Konohamaru ran straight at Naruto trying to land a punch, at which Naruto just sidestepped without any problems.

Taking the opportunity, Naruto quickly crouched behind Konohamaru and said, "Let me show you the most horrible forbidden jutsu of our village…" He closed his hands together with only the index and middle fingers pointed directly at Konohamaru's ass and said, "Hidden Leaf's Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" Using chakra to enhance the strength of the attack, he shot his fingers forward and successfully inserted the technique into Konohamaru's bottom, making him scream in pain thinking that nothing could be more painful that what had just happened to him.

Crashing a few meters away from Naruto, Konohamaru quickly began to rub his butt and with some tears in his eyes, screamed, "Hey! That hurt! What the hell was that!?"

"That, was me teaching you that you are not strong enough to beat the Old Man as you say." Naruto said while walking towards him.

"That… that's not true! It… it was just a fluke!" The small boy heatedly responded, still rubbing his sore butt.

With a heavy sigh, Naruto crouched in front of the Sarutobi boy and said, "Konohamaru, why do you want to be Hokage?"

Feeling a little confused by the sudden question, Konohamaru quickly jumped to his feet and said while pointing at Naruto, "Easy! So everyone will acknowledge me as Konohamaru and not as the 'honourable grandson'!"

Massaging his temples, Naruto retorted, "Do you even know what a Hokage does?"

"Of course! They are the strongest of the whole village and fight only the best!" Konohamaru said eagerly.

"Konohamaru, do you have people you love?" Naruto said.

"What? Ah, well yes!… umm… the Old Man and uncle Asuma!" The boy responded.

"And do you want to protect them?" Naruto asked quickly after the boy's response.

"Obviously!" Konohamaru said, not seeing where this was going.

"Well then, that'll make it easier for you to get this into that thick skull of yours…" Naruto said, laughing after seeing the taunt working in making the boy angry while thinking, _'Haha, yup, just like me…'_ He got closer to Konohamaru and put his hand on the boy's shoulder saying, "Kono, a Hokage is someone that protects the village with every drop of sweat he or she's got, to be Hokage you don't only have to be the strongest around, you have to be compassionate, wise, just, you must always see for the good of every person in the village, you must love the Leaf with everything you've got! Kono, your reasons to be Hokage are completely selfish, you wanna do it for yourself, not for the common good. Being Hokage, is being the most selfless person in the village, for you will always have to put the common good before your own desires… sometimes, even your own family." He said with bitterness at the last part of his speech.

Looking at Naruto with awe and a few tears in his eyes, Konohamaru whispered, "Ho… how would you know all that?"

Patting the boy's head, Naruto replied with a chuckle, "Because I was just like you!…" Earning a surprised look from the boy. Continuing, he added, "Yeah… haha… I had the same dream for the exact same reason, until my big brother told the same thing I just did and I finally understood what being Hokage truly meant…" Taking some steps away from the awed boy, he gave Konohamaru a confident smirk and asked, "So what do you say Kono, are you willing to work your ass off so ya can become a TRUE Hokage? There are no shortcuts for that, you'll sweat, cry and bleed to get there, but if you truly want that, then I have no doubt that one day, you'll take the hat from me!"

Wiping what was left of his tears, Konohamaru gave Naruto a wide smile and said with confidence and fire in his eyes, "You got it boss! I promise that I will work harder than anyone! I won't let you down, boss!"

"That's the attitude…" Naruto said with a smile after seeing his now new apprentice so focused on his dream.

* * *

For the next three days, that was Naruto's routine, he would go to the Academy in the morning, then he'll head to Ichiraku's for a quick bowl or a dozen, and then he would meet Konohamaru outside the Forest of Death to train him. The little Sarutobi had certainly grown on the jinchūriki, since their little talk the day they met, the boy has had a major change in attitude, he even stopped his 'assassination' attempts on the Third, much to the surprise and delight of the same, Naruto could see that if the boy kept this going, he would be the one that could become his protégé.

However, today, he was excited, today was Saturday and his big brother was to be back on the village. He took a shower, had a bowl of cereal and headed to the training ground that Itachi uses. As soon as he arrived, he suddenly felt his sense of danger go nuts so turning around, he saw a barrage of kunai heading straight at him. Seeing that he has no time to escape and nothing to substitute himself with, he made a small jump and after some hand signs, he screamed, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Aiming his mouth towards the ground, he blew a strong stream of wind, successfully propelling him out of harm's way, however, he didn't had any moment to catch his breath since as soon as his feet touched the ground, a large ball of fire was shot at him. Getting over his seconds of panic, he formed more hand sings and said, "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" He slammed his hands on the ground and a giant wall made of mud rouse from the soil, successfully stopping the fire attack. After the smoke from the fire died down, Naruto looked around trying to find his attacker when suddenly, the sky began to tint red and the ground started to shake and looking up, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets after seeing a big ass meteorite coming from the sky at a fast pace. Quickly regaining his wits, he thought, _'The fuck!? What the hell is this!?… a genjutsu? Yeah! That's it…'_ He then stopped the flow of his chakra and said "Release!" Releasing him from the genjutsu just in time to see that his attacker has decided to take the fight to the physical stage.

He immediately ducked a kunai that passed by him just millimetres above his head and quickly grabbed one from his pouch. Taking a few steps away from the attacker, Naruto threw some shuriken at his attacker and screamed, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" As those words left his mouth, the five shuriken he threw turned into 20 which forced the attacker to take a defensive stance to avoid being pierced by the sharp objects. Taking advantage of this, Naruto made some hand signs with incredible speed for a kid and said, "Fire Style: Fire Crow!" A medium sized crow made of fire made its way towards the attacker, but unfortunately for Naruto, the attacker was even faster than him.

Finishing his hand signs, the attacker said, "Fire Style: Fire Crow!" A slightly larger crow of fire appeared from his mouth and made its way towards the other fire crow, exploding the moment the two made contact.

After the smoke cleared from the field, the attacker said, "Very well little brother, is good to see that you didn't get sloppy while I was gone…" Itachi said before being stunned by the sudden bone crushing hug that the blond suddenly gave him. Patting his head, Itachi said with a chuckle, "Now, now, I've missed you too, little brother."

Not releasing the hug, Naruto said while having his head buried on Itachi's stomach, "Big Bro… I… I h-heard about… S-Shisui-sensei…"

With a sigh, Itachi gently released the hug and got to eye level with the jinchūriki. Resting his arm on the blonde's shoulder, he said, "Yes, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you myself, I had to leave on an urgent mission, but he died a week ago."

"I… I understand…" The boy said while looking down at the ground before he brought his gaze back at Itachi and continued, "But, ho-how are you?" He timidly asked.

With a strange smile that the Uchiha only showed to his little brothers, he said, " _Sigh,_ Well, it was hard, but I'm okay, I know that Shisui wouldn't want me to lose myself over his death, he would want me to move forward…" Itachi then stood up and hitting the blonde's forehead with two fingers, he added, "You actually remind me of him, you know?"

Massaging his forehead, he said with a surprised tone, "Re-really!? Why!?"

Placing his hand on his chin, the Uchiha teenager responded, "Well, he was just like you, he loved pranks, he was smart and always took on everything head on… and like you, he was fiercely loyal to his precious people and would stop at nothing to protect them…" Itachi said fondly while thinking about his late best friend. Looking at the blonde again, he continued, "But, even if he's gone now, it is our job to keep on living and to carry on with our dreams, just like he did until the very end."

With his eyes glued to the ground, Naruto thought over what Itachi said and after some moments, he looked back at his elder brother figure and said, "D-Did he… did h-he had a dream?"

"Ah yes, an amazing one, little brother…" Looking at the sky, the Uchiha continued, "You see, Shisui met a beautiful girl a couple of years ago on a mission that he did along with me. We were supposed to assassinate a corrupt judge in the Land of Claws, but apparently, Rock had the same idea, so they sent a kunoichi to do the job. After a 'friendly' fight, we decided to ally and work together to bring the judge and his mob down, but along the way, those two really hit it off and I guess that they sort of fell for each other…" Itachi sighed and added, "The problem was that the Leaf and Rock have the worst relationship out of the other villages due to the Fourth decimating a good portion of their army single handedly, in the midst of the Third Great War, so being together was not an option…" Looking back at the boy to see that he had his complete attention, he regained his breath and carried on with the story, "So after we said our goodbyes, he told me something on our way back home that I will never forget…"

 _Flashback:_

 _Itachi and Shisui Uchiha were hopping over tree branches after having successfully finished their mission in the Land of Claws, immediately after saying goodbye to the Rock kunoichi, they began their trek back to the Leaf._

 _"_ _You know Itachi…" Shisui said after the long silence._

 _"_ _What?" His stoic best friend replied._

 _"_ _I just lost the opportunity to be with an amazing woman and all because of this damn cycle of hate that just does not seems to stop, all around our continent and probably the whole world, countless of people are suffering for grudges that are older than even our own homes." Shisui explained with a small amount of anger in his voice._

 _Not really knowing what to say to his saddened best friend, Itachi looked back at the front and replied, "Yes, we do live in a cursed world…"_

 _"_ _I'm gonna change that." Shisui said with determination._

 _Surprised by his words, Itachi looked back at his best friend with a raised eyebrow and asked, "How?"_

 _Looking back to where they came from, Shisui took a deep breath and looked directly at Itachi's eyes when he replied, "I don't know, but if there is such a thing as peace and I mean a true peace, one where we can live together as humans, not as soldiers fighting for different flags, a peace where a Leaf boy can freely fall in love with a Rock girl and start a future together, if such a thing exists…" Turning his head forward, he said with a confident voice that held no doubts on his determination, "I will find it, no matter what."_

 _With a small smirk on his face, Itachi looked forward as well and asked his friend, "What was her name anyway?"_

 _With a small smile on his face, Shisui replied, "Kurotsuchi…"_

 _End Flashback_

"He had the dream that one day we would find a way to unite the people, so that nobody would ever be afraid to befriend someone from another village, but now, it's up to us little brother." Itachi finished his story and looked back at Naruto who had his face down in thought.

 _'_ _Kurotsuchi…'_ Naruto thought, finding it sad that maybe she'll never know what happened to Shisui. Gaining a new resolve, Naruto looked back at Itachi and with a sad smile but a fire burning like Itachi has never seen before in his eyes, he said, "I promise Big Bro! I will carry on with Shisui-sensei's dream and I'll find a way to unite us all! And if I ever meet this Kurotsuchi girl, I'll tell her, I'll tell her that Shisui never gave up!"

With an immense sense of pride flowing through Itachi at seeing his little brother carrying his best friend's dream forward, he looked at the sky and thought _'It is indeed worth it, Naruto and Sasuke are my dream, I have no doubts now that any sacrifice that comes, is worth it, for these two…'_ He then looked down at Naruto and said, "If somebody can carry on with that dream, it's you Naruto, I believe in you little brother."

With a wide smile, Naruto got back on his feet and asked what was bothering him for the whole week, "Umm Itachi…" Getting a hum from the Uchiha, he continued, "Is… is Mikoto ok? I-I mean, I saw her earlier this week b-but… she lo-looked so sad and… s-said things that sounded like… I don't know… weird… l-like… a final g-goodbye or something… at first I thought that she was just worried for you but, before that day, I hadn't seen her in almost a month and she just, looked so down ya know?…" Naruto said with worry evident in his voice.

Patting the blonde's head, Itachi waved off his concern saying, "Don't worry little brother, since she's the matriarch of my clan, she's just been stressed by some things that have been going on inside the clan, but mother's just tired that's all, she'll be back to normal soon, you'll see…" Seeing that his words alleviated the concern in the boy a little, he continued, "Now, after that spar that we just had, I am really proud to say that I have nothing left to teach you Naruto, you've grown into an amazing shinobi with a promising future, what you do from here on out, it's up to you, little brother."

"What!? Bu-but I… I don't know if that's true… I… I wouldn't know what to do…" Naruto said with great sadness as if thinking that he would be losing Itachi.

"Now, don't get so down bro, this is a point that every shinobi reaches one day, when they do, it's up to them to choose the path they will take and today, is your day, I will always be there to guide you…" He said with an incredible hidden sadness knowing that it was a lie, "But, it must be you the one that moves forward your own ambitions." Itachi finished with a proud smile.

Giving his brother an honest smile back, Naruto replied, "Aight! I understand now! I will work harder than anyone and I will grow strong so I can protect my precious people! And so I can make Shisui's dream, my dream, a reality!" His determination and conviction were back strong after hearing those words, relieving his elder brother.

"That's my brother…" Itachi said proudly to the blonde.

They spent the rest of the day talking and fooling around until eventually they had to take their separate ways. After a few minutes of saying goodbye to the blond, Itachi thought, _'Your path begins tomorrow, little brother, whatever life throws at you, including what I'm about to do, I know that you'll endure…'_

* * *

The next day, Naruto woke up feeling uneasy, he had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right, he could feel it everywhere. As he walked through the village, he could see that every shinobi was feeling uneasy as well, something big was about to happen and he knew it.

 _'_ _What is this feeling?...'_ Naruto thought while walking down the road that leads to Ichiraku's. Arriving at the ramen bar, he sat on his usual stool and said, "Hey! Somebody here!?"

Soon enough, Teuchi Ichiraku appeared from the back of the bar and said with a smile, "Ah! Naruto, is good to see you my boy, the usual?" Receiving an affirmative nod from the blond, he began to make his food when he heard Naruto saying.

"Hey old man? Do you feel that something's weird?" Naruto asked while scratching his cheek.

Looking thoughtful at first, the ramen cook kicked his rusty ninja skills on again and could feel that the blond was right, there was indeed something heavy on the air, "Now that you mention it, yes, the air around the village seems… heavier…" The veteran chef replied, putting the bowl of ramen in front of Naruto.

With a frown, Naruto took the bowl and said between slurps, "I knew it! Just what the hell is going on!?"

Taking a thoughtful stance, the old chef replied, "I don't know, my boy, but be careful, just in case."

"Yeah, I will…" He finished his bowl and with a goodbye to the Ichiraku, he left the stand to look around and see if something was amiss. He couldn't find anything though, the Third was not in his office today since usually on Sundays he would always do his work at home, he even searched for the girls he knew, Hana was out on a mission so he couldn't ask her anything, but both Anko and Yūgao said the same, that they too feel that something was wrong. Yūgao was the best sensor in the ANBU corps and she said that she could feel that all the shinobi around the village too felt anxious, but apparently, no one knew what was causing it and the Hokage hadn't given any alert or orders to be wary, so everything was just a big mystery.

Naruto spent the rest of his day fooling around with Shikamaru and Chōji until their parents came to pick them up, he stayed in the park for a couple of minutes just looking at the stars and then headed home. When he arrived at his apartment, he took a bowl and made a quick dinner and soon after a quick shower to refresh himself, headed straight to bed, feeling incredibly tired for running around the village trying to figure out what was going on. He dozed off so hard that he couldn't feel that someone was inside his apartment.

The figure walked stealthy towards the boy and then lifted the blond's shirt, the figure then channelled some chakra into the seal on the boy's stomach and after a few seconds, the figure felt his conscious being pulled into the seal.

* * *

Opening his eyes, he could see that he was pulled into a forest with giant trees, it was a large forest since it seemed to have no end wherever he looked at, but, he could hear waves hitting the coastline and soon after, a deep divine voice.

 **"** **Uchiha…"** The voice could be heard coming from the same direction that the waves were coming from. Itachi then made his way towards the sound and soon found himself looking at a beautiful sea and as he looked up, he could see that the clouds were grey but they didn't made the view sad, in fact, it made the ambience of the coast feel fresh and cool. Looking around, he saw a majestic beast, a beautiful 100 metres tall red dragon with black lines around its body, the dragon had twelve equally beautiful wings and was resting its giant head on its front legs. The best seemed to be peacefully relaxing with the cool breeze of the shore when without opening its eyes, the Twelve-Wings said, **"You called, Uchiha?"**

 _'_ _To be able to create such a beautiful place in your mind, you truly are amazing, little brother…'_ Itachi thought before bowing to the dragon while saying, "Yes, thank you for accepting to speak with me, Lord Ddraig."

Opening its giant eye in surprise, the mighty being said, **"Well… you're certainly different from your clansmen Itachi Uchiha, to be able to know my name, how did you know who I am boy?"** The now identified Ddraig asked the Uchiha teenager with genuine surprise.

Raising his head to meet the dragon's gaze, Itachi replied, "Well, I've always found interesting the subject of the Tailed Beasts and where they come from, the knowledge is scarce and their beginnings are unknown, but when you appeared, nobody knew what you were, so people labelled you as the tenth Tailed Beast due to your 12 wings, but I could see that you weren't that and I was not the only one, some people, to this date, still debate whether you are a Tailed Beast or not…" Regaining his breath, Itachi sat on the cool sand and continued, "But one day, I was sent on a mission at the border of the continent to recover some artefacts that a wealthy collector was interested in, then, I happened to stumble upon a beautiful village like I've never seen before, it was clearly a village built by refugees from the western continent since it is common knowledge that that continent is plagued by wars even fiercer than ours, so it is possible to find refuges in the border of our continent, but this happened to be a well hidden village since the moment I stepped in, the people noticed me, they were only wary though, since I was a foreigner, but then I thought that if nobody in my continent knows who you are, maybe these people knew…" Looking at the dragon, he saw that the dragon was intently listening to his tale so taking a deep breath to continue, he added, "So, I headed to a bookstore and asked the clerk if he knew anything about the Twelve-Wings, at first he was confused but when I described you, he immediately knew what I was talking about and went to grab a book and gave it to me saying that everything about you, was in that book."

 **"** **Mmm, really now? And what did it say?"** Ddraig said, genuinely intrigued by the story.

"The book is called 'The Gods That Watch Over Us' and it talks about the three Dragon Gods that balance the world, all three with the distinction that they all have twelve wings. The Golden Dragon Emperor Zekrom who is the God of the Underworld, The White Dragon Emperor Arkam who is the God of Light and The Red Dragon Emperor Ddraig who is the God of Darkness, is it true?" Itachi asked the mighty beast.

With a low chuckle, Ddraig said with a small smirk, **"Yes, it is true… striking to see, that humans can be so… perceptive…"** Closing its eyes, the dragon relaxed again to the sound of the waves and continued, **"However, those are titles given to us by humans, my true title, the one given by my father to me, it's different. My true title is 'The Absolute God of End', I balance everything that falls into that small word, death, darkness, hatred, fear, all those kind of things, I oversee that they exist so that my 'dear' brothers can exist as well…"** Opening its eye again to look at Itachi, Ddraig inquired, **"Now, why would you happen to be so interested in me, boy? I do hope that the book let you know that it is impossible to lie to me."** The dragon asked with a hint of suspicion at the Uchiha's motives.

"Naruto…" Itachi replied. Seeing the scales above the dragon's eye lift a bit as if confused, he elaborated, " _Sigh,_ My mother was a very good friend to both Naruto's parents, especially his mother Kushina, so after the news that both her and the Fourth died, my mother immediately wanted to adopt Naruto so he wouldn't be alone but the Third said that if she were to do that, it would raise too much suspicion about Naruto's true heritage, she still wanted to go through with the adoption until my father put a definite stop to that by forcing her with clan laws, promising that he would keep some of his men watching over Naruto…" The dragon snorted at that, seeing that the boy was never watched over until he was 5. Itachi then complied, "Yes, he never kept his word, my father is very bitter when it comes to Minato, so he had no intention on looking out for him, until the day that I met him in a park, he was alone and I had free time so I spent some time with him playing, when I told my mother about it she asked, no, she begged me to take care of him, I could see that she was desperate…" Itachi then gave a small smile and said, "She didn't had to tell me that though, the boy quickly grew on me and he became my little brother, and because I love him, I wanted to know everything about you, including how to kill you if you ever were to hurt him." Itachi finished with a voice that said that he would do anything to protect the boy.

Feeling impressed by the teenager's resolve and love towards its container, Ddraig replied, **"I'm impressed, boy, your resolve is quite admirable…"** The Dragon Emperor took a deep breath and added, **"Now, I believe that due to your words, you are about to do something large, maybe you are the reason there's a heavy feeling around the village."**

Looking down at the floor, Itachi sighed and responded, "Yes... my clan is staging a coup to take over and both Naruto and Sasuke are to be used in it, especially Naruto since he's a jinchūriki, so I will put a stop to it, I will not let anyone harm my brothers, not even my own clan."

The dragon took some seconds to look into Itachi's eyes to see the meaning of his words and after some time, it said, **"I understand your words boy, I believe you want this to be kept between us…"** Getting an affirmative nod from the Uchiha, it continued, **"Very well, because your sacrifice is noble and you are indeed a person worthy of my respect, I will keep this between us..."** After a bow in thanks from Itachi, Ddraig asked, **"Now, is that what you wished to speak with me?"**

"No, Lord Ddraig…" Getting on his knees, he bowed to the beast and said, "I came here to request two things of you…" Seeing that the dragon thought over his words for some seconds, he got a nod to proceed and added, "Since I won't be able to be around Naruto for a while, perhaps never again if he ends up hating me, I won't be able to look out for him so I wanted to know what your plans are for him?"

 **"** **Very well, however, this stays between us boy, Naruto will know in a few more years when he is ready, understood?"** Getting a nod in response, The Red Dragon Emperor told its plans for Naruto to Itachi. At the end of the explanation, Itachi was dumbfounded beyond belief, never in his life was he expecting this.

It took some good 15 minutes for Itachi to recover from the shock. Stammering, he said, "Is... is he really his transmigrant?…" Seeing the dragon nodding in affirmative, he continued, "And the other thing is why all the girls around…" Getting another nod in response, he took a deep breath while thinking, _'Wow Naruto, you do have a knack for extraordinary things…'_ He then said, "Thank you for telling me this, I do feel proud and at ease of his future. Now, for the last thing, I wanted to ask you to please, please watch over him, the dream he has now adopted it's a hard one and along the way there is more darkness than light, all I ask, is to please guide him and help him, he will need people that cares for him, he holds great power and I have no doubt that he could either become the greatest beacon of hope this world has ever seen or the one that will bring our annihilation."

Getting up from the sand, the dragon adjusted itself so that he could be face to face with Itachi and surprising the Uchiha, the God bowed and said, **"You are a worthy man Itachi, I will grant you your request, I will watch over him and guide him through whatever path he chooses."**

Itachi bowed gratefully to the God and said his thanks, he felt another pull and when he opened his eyes again, he was in his body looking at the still sleepy blond. Caressing his forehead, he whispered, "Farewell little brother…" He then walked to the kitchen and left a small note on the table before heading out from the boy's apartment, taking a deep breath as he looked at the stars and made his way towards the Uchiha compound.

* * *

However, Itachi did not counted with Naruto's loose bladder and that he usually wakes up in the middle of the night to take a piss. It has only been a few minutes since Itachi left and Naruto woke up, drowsily heading to the bathroom and after taking a piss, he felt his stomach grumble a bit.

"Hm… _yawn_ … maybe a quick snack…" He mumbled as he walked to his kitchen and turned on the lights and grabbed a grain bar while he sat on a chair and ate it peacefully. After finishing it, he realized that there was a note on his table, "What? That… that wasn't here before I went to sleep…" He mumbled to himself before taking the note and read it.

 _Dear little brother, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for all the pain that I have caused you, I'm sorry for having to leave you and for what I did, know that what I did had a purpose, you might never understand it, you might never forgive me, but whatever you do, whatever path you choose, I will always be proud of you…_

"Whatta!?…" Naruto said confused after seeing this note that was clearly from Itachi, "First Miko and then this…" He started to crack his brain trying to find out what the hell was going on, "Whatever you did?... maybe… ma-maybe I was supposed to find this in the morning… but that means that… shit!" He quickly grabbed his jacket and jumped through the window heading to the Uchiha compound, "Dammit Itachi, what the fuck are you going to do!?" He muttered, dreading the answer.

Running and jumping as fast as he could, he felt a chill running through his spine after the heavy smell of fresh blood assaulted his nose and after a few seconds, he arrived at the Uchiha compound, "No…" He whispered while looking at the gruesome sight of massacred people all around the compound, "No, no, no…" Getting out of his frozen state, he suddenly remembered his crush, "Miko!"

He ran towards the larger house of the compound and walked into it and once inside, he frantically began to search for her scent. He found it after a few seconds and after following it, it led him towards a door that he immediately opened and was horrified by the scene he was witnessing.

* * *

"Itachi! Why are you doing this!?" Mikoto screamed desperately at her eldest son after he stabbed his sword through Fugaku's heart.

"Because you were going to destroy my village, our village, Lord Third tried to negotiate but as spoiled brats, we refused, we wanted so bad to hold the power that we forgot that the village comes first…" Itachi said after extracting the sword from his father's body and looking at his mother, he added, "I had to stop you from using Naruto, my father had no problem with releasing the Twelve-Wings to rampage around the village…" Getting closer to his kneeling and crying mother, he rested the tip of his sword on her chest and said coldly, "I will not let ANY of my little brothers be used like that and I will always protect this village, even from you."

With a desperate look on Mikoto's eyes, not wanting to believe that this was real, she asked her son, "Why kill everyone!? You could've just killed us, the Council! You killed everyone, even the children!"

"Because the seed of revolt and arrogance are too deeply planted into the Uchiha's teachings, the only way to fix our clan's arrogance, is to destroy the clan as a whole…" He pulled his arm back a little and said as he lunged the sword, "I'm sorry mother, rest now." He then shot his arm forward but felt a shuriken stabbing his wrist. The attack managed to move his hand a little but it was not enough to avoid his mother's chest as the sword cut clean through her and Itachi looked towards the door to see a blond looking at him with confusion, horror and anger, _'Naruto!? Dammit…'_ He thought after seeing his brother.

Mikoto felt the cold metal pierce through her while thinking, _'I-I'm so p-pathetic… I f-failed everyone… Itachi… Sasuke… Naruto…'_ As she fell to the floor, she looked at the door and could see that the blond was looking at her with a horrified face and a well of tears falling from his eyes. Gathering the last of her strength, she tried to formulate some words to the boy, "Na… ru… to… I…" But she never got to end her sentence as her strength left her and finally lost the light in her eyes.

Naruto was completely frozen after witnessing the most important woman in his life being pierced through the heart by the sword of the most important person in his life, who was also her son, the only reason he threw the shuriken was due to his reflexes. Gathering strength to at least say some words, he whispered, "I-Itachi… wh-what… the fuck a-are you doing!?…" He looked at his older brother who could see that his normally glowing blue eyes were replaced by a neon red pupil with a golden slit that made him feel as if he was being judged by The Red Dragon Emperor himself. Naruto grabbed his kunai and screamed before lunging straight at Itachi, "Why!?"

"Foolish little brother…" While Naruto was incredibly fast, Itachi was still ten times better in every department than Naruto, he prepared to dodge the attack while thinking, _'I'm gonna have to push him a bit more…'_ Easily sidestepping the attack, Itachi used the hilt of his sword and hit Naruto on his back, sending him straight to the floor.

Feeling the pain running through his body from the hit, Naruto weakly got on his knees to see the lifeless body of the woman he loved so much. Looking back at Itachi, he said with hate filling his voice, "Why?…" He saw Itachi's eyes turning into a pattern he had never seen and before he casted his Tsukuyomi on him, he heard Itachi say 'For power' and then, he found himself looking at Itachi piercing Mikoto's chest over and over again before everything went dark.

Grabbing the unconscious boy, Itachi quickly flickered directly inside the Third's house before anyone could see that Naruto was there, startling the old man in the process.

"Itachi!? Did something go wr…" Hiruzen couldn't finish his sentence after he noticed the unconscious body of his surrogate grandson. He then asked with worry, "What happened!? Why is Naruto here!?"

Putting the boy down on the couch, Itachi replied, "Something must have woken him up a few minutes ago, so I believe he found the note I left him and went to look for me at the compound, he arrived just before I killed my mother."

Seeing the pain in the teenager's eyes at saying those words, the old Hokage realized that Itachi must have achieved in gaining the hatred from the blond. Sarutobi then said, "Then…"

"It's done, but I must return to confront Sasuke…" The Third heard him say before Itachi patted the blonde's head and saw Itachi's lips whispering something that broke the old man's heart. After that, Itachi jumped through the window without any word and after a few minutes, Hiruzen heard the alarms going off, indicating that the job was done and the Uchiha clan had been massacred.

The Third looked at the boy's sleeping form and heard somebody knocking on his, knowing it would be the ANBU, he went to answer the door while thinking sadly, _'I'm so sorry Itachi…'_

* * *

It has been two weeks since the Uchiha massacre and the whole village was still on a shocked state, nobody was feeling safe and the trust the villagers had for their own ninjas lowered since it was one of their own that decimated the village's most powerful clan in one night. Sasuke became even colder than ever but he also got better in the Academy, Naruto could see though, that it was all just a mask, even if he was arrogant, we was still a boy who just lost his parents by the hands of his own older brother.

Naruto was no different, in those two weeks, he rarely spoke to anybody, not even Kakashi could get more than a few words out of the blond. The people that knew about Naruto's relation with Itachi, the Third, Hana, Anko, Yūgao, Ayame, Teuchi and Kakashi, were worried sick about the boy, heck even Tsume went to check on the boy and the only thing she received was an 'I'll be fine, don't worry about it'. But everyone knew that the goofball knucklehead everyone loved, might be gone forever, and that saddened them greatly.

Naruto was currently staring at the window in his classroom, ignoring everything around, he just could not stop thinking about his talk with the Third after waking up in his house on that fateful day.

 _Flashback_

 _Naruto woke up jumping and soaked in sweat, he frantically looked around and he could see that he was no longer in the Uchiha compound. Looking around in more detail, he recognized the place as the Third's house as he tried to crack his brain trying to figure out how he got there, he wanted to believe everything was just a nightmare but he knew better. The sound of the door being opened broke him out of his thoughts._

 _"_ _Ah, Naruto my boy, I'm so relieved that you're alright." Hiruzen said to the boy while giving him a quick paternal hug._

 _Naruto broke the hug abruptly and frantically said, "Old Man, there's no time! I-Itachi… he-he's gone mad!… yo-you… you g-gotta stop him!" He had tears gathering in his eyes as he remembered Mikoto's death._

 _Seeing his surrogate grandson in this broken state was horrible for the old man, but he needed to be strong, Naruto could head to a dark path if there's no one there to guide him. The Hokage needed to make sure that no one, especially not Danzō, will take advantage of the boy's anger towards Itachi to manipulate him. Resting a hand on the jinchūriki's shoulder, the Third said with a grandfatherly voice, "Sigh, I-I'm sorry Naruto, but it's already over, Itachi is gone and only Sasuke survived the massacre."_

 _Naruto looked down at the ground and with tears streaming down his face, he weakly whispered, "Why w-would I-Itachi do this?… why?…"_

 _"_ _Sigh, I don't know my boy, I don't know…" The old Sarutobi responded, feeling guilty that once again, he was lying to the blond._

 _"_ _Be-before he put me in that genjutsu… tha-that… replayed Mi-miko's death…" Controlling his breath to stop the tears from falling, Naruto continued after calming down a bit, "I asked him that, I asked him why would he do this… and he said… 'For power'… he had such cold eyes when he said it…" Naruto stood silent for a few seconds, just processing everything. After some time, he looked at the Third who could see that his beautiful glowing blue slitted eyes had lost their glow and became a darker shade of blue while the golden slit took on a more threatening tone, the boy then said, "One day Old Man, one day I will find him and I will get the truth, I promise, on Miko's memory."_

 _The Third could do nothing but feel like a failure after hearing those words, the most loyal shinobi in the Leaf's history had to massacre his entire clan, a founder clan of this village, to protect the very same. And to make the young Uchiha's sacrifice even bigger, the teenager had to accept the hatred of the two people he loved the most. Then, like if that wasn't enough, the kindest boy the old man has ever met, the boy that despite all the hate that has received through the years never stopped protecting and helping those who needed it, had lost the glow in his eyes and seems to have become as cold as Itachi, he felt like a failure of a Hokage._

 _End Flashback_

Naruto stopped his recollection after he spotted Sasuke sitting at his usual place next to him. Since the day of the massacre, they haven't spoken a word to each other, granted, they rarely did, but they usually grunted at each other during the day but now, not even that could be heard from them and the whole class was feeling uneasy about it, to the point that not even their fangirls tried to get their attention, sensing the tension between the two.

Instead of words however, they did used their fists. Naruto has completely lost the care of hiding his skills, though he didn't showed his bigger cards, he hadn't let Sasuke win in anything that the two competed, it always ended on a tie.

After hearing the bell that signalled the end of the class he completely ignored, Naruto got up from his seat and left the room without a word to his friends, followed by Sasuke who did the same. After a few minutes of walking, Naruto found himself arriving at the small lake that Itachi used to take him whenever he felt down, he sat on the small pier and just stared at the sunset.

"Dobe." He suddenly heard, he knew who the owner of the voice was but he was still surprised to see he was here.

"Teme." Naruto replied without taking his eyes from the sunset.

Sitting next to Naruto, Sasuke stared at the sunset as well and said without stutter, "You are Itachi's apprentice, aren't you?"

Feeling surprised at the question and the calm tone in which the lone Uchiha spoke, he replied with the same calmness, "Yes, I am."

"Do you know why he did it or where he is?" Sasuke inquired with tranquillity.

With a heavy sigh, Naruto looked down at his reflection on the water and replied, "No."

A few minutes passed and the two just sat there in silence. Feeling a little uneasy about the silence, Naruto questioned, "How did you know?"

Looking at Naruto from the corner of his eye, Sasuke replied, "One day, three years ago, I saw you practicing taijutsu but what took my attention was that it was like seeing Itachi, your moves now may have changed but since I also trained with him, I know that some of your movements are from him, that's how I knew that you are his apprentice…" Sasuke then looked at his reflection on the water and continued, "But, I also know that he was as much a brother to you as he was to me…" He surprised the blond enough to make him look directly at Sasuke's face as he added, "Don't be so surprised, my mother always cared for you, even if she barely spoke about you, I could see the love in her eyes whenever your name popped up, just like whenever she looked at me or Itachi, that peaked my interest in you and then one day, I heard Shisui saying something about Itachi's other little brother, it confused me but one day I saw him playing with you at the park…" He took a deep breath and continued, "Your eyes said it all, the way you looked at him, it was the same way I looked at him." He then looked back at the sunset.

Feeling surprised at the declaration, Naruto stared at the sunset as well and getting his senses ready in case conflict arises, he said with a small chuckle, "You must hate me then, huh?"

Sasuke just closed his eyes and after some minutes, he opened them again and replied, "No…" Seeing that his answer really surprised the boy this time, he elaborated, " _Sigh,_ Right now, you… you are the only one that really understands my pain… Itachi might not have been your brother in blood, but I know whenever I look at you that his betrayal hurt you as much as me… and I think that I am the only one that understands your pain as well right now… you didn't stole my brother and mother since they never stopped caring the same for me, it is Itachi who I hate, not you." He finished with a calm voice.

Looking at Sasuke for some moments, Naruto looked at the distance again and said with the same calm voice that Sasuke used, "We'll find him one day, whatever his reasons were, we will find him, of that I'm sure…"

Looking at the same spot that Naruto was looking, Sasuke replied, "Yeah, we will…"

Both stayed there in silence for the rest of day, not aware that they were being looked at through a crystal ball belonging to the Third Hokage. The old man looked at the scene and with a small sad smile on his wrinkled face, murmured, " _Sigh,_ At least, they'll have each other to get through this…" Looking at the village through his windows, the Third finished his thought, "You would have been very happy right now… Itachi…"

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya go! Thanks for reading and see ya on the next chap! Cheers!**


	4. The Paths We Choose

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took me longer to get this chapter done, but since this chapter covers the talk between Naruto and Ddraig, I had to make sure it was as clear as possible, now, before we continue, I'll answer some stuff.**

 **To those mad about Mikoto, the only thing I can say is that you should listen to Kakashi...**

 **To those insulting and getting mad about the story, I can only say stop bitching, you're not paying to read this story, so if you don't like it, don't read, simple as that. I won't take any comments that insults me or the story into consideration, we're only in the fourth chapter and this story will be LONG, I mean it, I won't just give you every detail of what's to come just to ease your frustration, if you're used to short things, it's not my problem, so either be patient or stop reading.**

 **To those wondering about DXD, I made it clear in the first chapter, this story is COMPLETELY set in Naruto's world, so most of its elements come from Naruto. DXD and its elements WILL show up eventually so as I said, be patient.**

 **Now, this chapter is a little tedious since as stated before, it covers the talk between Naruto and Ddraig, but after this chapter, the overall arc begins, so to those continuing to show interest in my story, thank you and enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **The Paths We Choose**

It has been 3 years since the Uchiha massacre took place and a lot of things have changed. For one, the village seems to have been on edge out of the fear from a possible attack from one of the other mayor villages that might want to seize the confused state of the Leaf but surprisingly, no one attacked, not even Rock. To many, this was a testament that even without the Leaf's most powerful clan, they were still the strongest village, but to others, it might mean that the other villages were just waiting for when the Third would be at his weakest since even in his old age, he still was the strongest.

In terms of military strength, the Leaf did suffered a grave loss, even if the eradication of the Uchiha was for the good of the village, the fact that it was still a huge blow to its military prowess was undeniable, so to compensate that, the Academy's teachings received an update, a big one. There was no more flower arrangement or any other class that did not covered a necessity for a shinobi, now, whoever wanted to specialize in those or any other areas, would have to assist to a 'Specialization Class' that would be given to anyone with the rank of chūnin and above. The Academy was now stricter and because of that, many fangirls and fanboys dropped out since it became too hard to continue unless you truly had the resolve to become a ninja. The training for the village's current shinobi was upped as well and the results of these reforms have bear its fruits, since the Leaf was getting more missions than before due to the effectiveness of its shinobi.

But, what surprised almost everyone the most, were Naruto and Sasuke, the two became best friends, brothers even.

Since Itachi's betrayal and their talk at the lake, their rivalry grew to the point that it became friendship. Naruto was the only one that understood Sasuke's grunts and Sasuke was the only one that understood Naruto's awful rap remarks, so they became sort of the translators of each other, much to the relief of those that interacted with them, since it was almost impossible to get what they were saying. Naruto now no longer held back at the Academy, yes, he didn't show everything, but now he was tied with Sasuke as the number one of the class, but Sasuke was catching up to him quickly, in and out the class. After the conversation at the lake, Sasuke actually asked for Naruto's help and to shock the jinchūriki even more, he actually admitted that Naruto was stronger, so after thinking it over for a few days he agreed and since then, they always train together. Thanks to that, their teamwork was flawless and that allowed them to develop that brotherhood that shocked everyone so much.

What surprised more about the Uchiha though, was that he was no longer outright arrogant, he was still a prick but he kept it to himself now. The raven-haired boy was still as cold as ever though, and the only one that got more than grunts out of the Uchiha was Naruto, heck, people even saw him laugh a little once and it was kind of disturbing. But, what surprised the Third more about Sasuke was that when it came to Naruto, the last Uchiha never used his sharingan to copy the jinchūriki's moves and to the old man, that spoke greatly about the respect they have towards each other.

And to the relief of those that cared deeply for the Uzumaki, he did got out of his funk after he became friends with Sasuke and after a few months, he even started pulling pranks again, much to the delight of Anko and Hana, and to the dismay of the old Hokage due to all the paperwork his pranks caused, but he did became colder and more reserved though. When it came to power, he has gotten stronger, thanks to now being a 13-year-old, his body could now withstand harsher training from the dragon god and they were supposed to begin his training using the Twelve-Wings' power after he got placed in a team. His genjutsu though, still sucked, but now thanks to the dragon and his training with Sasuke using his two-tomoe sharingan, he was immune to all genjutsu below an S-Rank and the sharingan, although, he still did not know if it was enough to stop the Mangekyō. The Third even agreed to spar against Sasuke and Naruto once, they lost, but they managed to last 10 minutes against an offensive Kage. But, the greater change was physically, the glow he had on his hair and eyes dissipated, his eyes also became sharper, they were dark blue and the golden slit looked more threatening. He was also a bit taller and his figure was more athletic, making his female fandom to only kept growing, but since now he was a full teenager he didn't mind it that much. But the most noticeable change was his hair, his trademark golden-blond hair was gone, somehow, it turned dark-silver, but it was a beautiful haunting silver unlike anything else. The ex-blond was freaked out about this, not even the dragon knew why it happened, so he decided to live with it and embrace his new looks.

Now, our favourite silver haired jinchūriki was looking at his brand-new headband that signalled that he was finally an official Leaf shinobi, he finished his exam with flying colours, although, he had to change the normal clones for shadow clones since the normal clones were impossible for him to do. Thanks to that, he managed to beat Sasuke for the 'Rookie of The Year' title and to the surprise of everyone, and the dismay of Sasuke's fangirls, the Uchiha smirked at his rival when it was announced, now the only thing left, was to wait one week for the team placements. After eating a bowl of ramen with his best friend, the silverette jinchūriki headed home to rest but was stopped by one of his academy senseis.

"Hey Naruto!" Mizuki said with a friendly voice.

Which Naruto knew was completely false, _'Sigh, what does this fool wants?...'_ Mizuki was one of the many teachers that tried to halt Naruto's progress in the Academy but since Naruto was already a better shinobi than him since the moment he entered it, he saw through all the attempts the chūnin made, which made the instructor so mad that in the physical exam that required the students to spar one of their senseis, he fought with true intent to kill, but to his embarrassment, Naruto knocked him out of the fight in 2 minutes, "Ah, Mizuki-sensei? What can I do for ya?" Naruto asked while hiding his annoyance.

"Oh well, I came here to tell you about the special exam that is made to the 'ROTY'…" Mizuki said while mentally smirking seeing that it peaked the silver-haired teenager's interest. He then continued, "You see, if you manage to pass, you'll get an automatic nomination for the next Chūnin Exams."

 _'_ _Does this guy thinks I'm stupid!? Seriously, this is getting so pathetic… but, let's just see what he says…'_ Naruto thought, annoyed that after everything the white-haired instructor had tried to damage the boy, he still tries to do it even knowing that the silverette had seen through everything, it was insulting to Naruto's intelligence. Sighing mentally, he asked with fake excitement, "Oh really!? Then amma ace that bitch!... but, what am I supposed to do, thou?..."

 _'_ _Haha, this idiot fell for it, can't believe he beat the Uchiha…'_ Mizuki thought, believing that he had fooled the jinchūriki. He then replied, "Well, you have to extract the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage residence, you need to do that to prove that you have the ability required to infiltrate and steal information, so what do you say? Do you take it?" Mizuki finished with a smug smirk.

 _'_ _Hm, what would this fool do with the scroll?... thou, I might get something out of this, there are supposed to be really cool and dangerous jutsus there… might as well learn some…'_ Giving him his best imitation of an innocent smile, the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki replied, "Of course I do! But, what am I supposed to do once I get it!?"

"Take it here, it's a cabin on the outskirts of the village, I will meet you there in a few hours." He responded and after receiving a nod in confirmation, Mizuki left with a smug smirk on his face thinking, _'Idiot…'_

 _'_ _Pathetic fool…'_ Naruto thought with a watered mouth while thinking on all the cool jutsus he was going to see.

* * *

"Well, that was easier than I thought…" Naruto said to himself after successfully retrieving the scroll. Surprisingly, all it took was his Sexy Jutsu on the two perverted ANBU guarding the tower, knocking them out cold, and due to his exceptional skills in sneaking, he had no trouble extracting it from the vault, "This village is full of perverts…" He muttered almost disappointingly.

 ** _"_** ** _Tell me about it, to think that the people guarding the Hokage can get knocked out with a simple illusion like that, it is indeed shameful…"_** The dragon said inside his mind, with utter disbelief after seeing them fall like flies at the sight of a half-naked hot chick, **_"So much for prideful shinobi."_**

Mentally nodding to the Twelve-Wings in agreement, Naruto continued to make his way towards the cabin that Mizuki instructed him to go and after a few minutes of running, he arrived at the place. Using his new abilities as a sensor, he could see that nobody was near, _'Good, Mizuki must have thought it would take me longer to do it, I have time to see some moves…'_ Naruto then opened the scroll and began to see the forbidden techniques kept in it, he grabbed a scroll from his pouch and began to copy the techniques he found more useful for him.

After a few minutes, Iruka arrived at the place, "It's over Naruto." He said with a smile, amused at the boy's antics.

"Oh well… it was a cool exam! I really had fun, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said with an innocent voice.

Feeling confused, the academy instructor asked the ex-blonde, "What do you mean with 'exam' Naruto?"

"Well, Mizuki-sensei said that there was a special exam made to those chosen as 'ROTY' and that those that pass it will receive an automatic nomination for the upcoming Chūnin Exams!" The boy responded with fake excitement.

"What!?... Mizuki?..." Iruka asked confused until a smug laugh could be heard from behind him.

"Hahaha, what an idiot! I don't know how you became the ROTY… though I gotta give it to you, it took you far less time to do it than I expected!" Mizuki said with a smirk.

"Mizuki, what the hell is this!?" Iruka angrily asked him.

"What do you think, you idiot!? I'm taking the scroll to Lord Orochimaru! With the power he'll give me, I'll be invincible! And I'll finally be able to take revenge on this village and this damn demon!" Mizuki said.

"Mizuki stop! You know you can't speak about that!" Iruka desperately screamed at the white-haired man.

Looking at the jinchūriki who just stood there with a fake face of confusion, Mizuki smirked smugly and said, "That's what you are! You're nothing but a demon!... remember the Twelve-Wings? The Fourth never killed it! Instead, he sealed it inside an abandon new-born… you!... haha… everyone, including Iruka here, hates you! You killed his parents and many more!"

"No, this can't be…" Naruto whispered while dropping to his knees and staring blankly at the nothing with a sorrowful face. Mizuki was laughing madly while Iruka was trying to tell the boy that he was not the dragon, but after a few seconds, the ex-blond just screamed frustrated, "I'm such a fool! I left the fucking stove on! Maaaaan the gas bill gon be high as fuck!" He pulled his hair in frustration.

The other two were left completely stupefied by his words, "What!? Did you heard what I said!? You're a fucking demon!" Mizuki said angrily after seeing that the boy, just didn't seemed to care.

"I already know that ya fool! I've known since I was five!…" Naruto replied, shocking the other two. Naruto then stood up and with a smirk, said with a tone that sent shivers down their spines, "I'm just the container thou, but seeing as you are as stupid as 98% of the village, perhaps, you wanna meet the real one!?" After speaking those words, his eyes turned neon red and his chakra became visible, surrounding him like small red flames.

"Why you fu…" Mizuki never got to end that as in a matter of a second, the air got knocked out of him and immediately felt Naruto grabbing him by the neck, burning Mizuki in the process due to the jinchūriki's corrosive chakra.

After a few seconds of choking the proctor, Naruto let his unconscious body drop unceremoniously to the ground. Looking back at the other present, he let his chakra dissipate back to his body and said nonchalantly, "Well, that was fun!"

Getting out of his shock, Iruka said, "Na-Naruto, ho-how?…"

"I knew that Mizuki was trying something, I just didn't know what so I played his game until he declared his intentions, and well about me knowing about the dragon, that's an S-class secret Iruka-sensei, so I can't really talk about it…" Naruto replied while heading towards the downed body of the traitor. The silver-haired boy then picked up the body and added, "Well, if you excuse me Sensei, gotta take this fool back to the Old Man, see ya!" He gave the older man a thumbs up and disappeared in a flicker, leaving the already stupefied instructor even more shocked.

"The fuck just happened?…" Iruka muttered weakly while staring blankly at the spot where Naruto was standing a second ago.

* * *

Naruto suddenly appeared in the middle of the Hokage's office where he dropped the unconscious Mizuki on the ground and two ANBU quickly appeared and grabbed the body before disappearing. Naruto then handed the scroll back to the Cat ANBU, who bonked him on the head while saying that that was too reckless of him, to which he tearfully apologized.

After chuckling at the scene, the old Hokage said, "Well Naruto, can't say I approve the way you did it, but you did a fine job son…" Hiruzen gave the jinchūriki a pay check for a B-rank mission and then added, "I see that you've got some control over the dragon's power."

After massaging his head, Naruto cleared his tears from the bonk and replied, "I just recently began, I can only draw it out for now though, Ryū said that after I get placed in a team, it will teach me how to enter into the initial form."

"Initial form?" Hiruzen said confused.

"Yup, apparently depending on the tails that the respective Tailed Beast possess, the jinchūriki needs to access one tail at a time in order to avoid losing control, in my case is different though…" Taking a seat on the couch, he continued, "I have seven forms in total, the first stage, which is me just receiving a cloak surrounding my body made from Ryū's power. Then comes the winged forms, two-winged, four-winged, six-winged, eight-winged, ten-winged and finally twelve-winged, though I don't know how those forms look like, Ryū did told me that each form grants me something special and that as soon as I unlock the two-winged form, which is the one I'll be training next, I will be able to fly!" He finished, really excited about the prospect of flying.

"That is impressive my boy…" Hiruzen said with a smile but then tensed after remembering something the ex-blond told him years ago, "But, what about the ill will that the dragon's power carries?" He asked with worry.

"Well, it obviously increases with each form, that's why I need to strengthen my will to overpower it, is a good thing my ambition is huge…" Naruto answered with a chuckle.

With a proud smile while thinking about the jinchūriki's ambition, the Sarutobi replied, "Ah yes, it's good to see that your dream to achieve true peace in this world hasn't wavered."

"Never! I promised Miko, Shisui-sensei, myself and…" He sighed and continued, "Itachi… and whatever happened or happens, I will fulfil that promise, no matter what." He finished with immense determination, showing how serious he was with this.

The old man gave the boy a sad smile at the mention of the Uchiha teenager. Itachi managed to attain the hatred of both Sasuke and Naruto, although, the Third has noticed that Naruto suspects something, so his hatred towards his elder brother has receded somewhat, but finding Itachi was still a self-appointed mission that Naruto and Sasuke took, and the old man knew that one day, they'll find him, _'Whether they find him before or after knowing the truth about the massacre, they will be pissed off, big time…'_ Hiruzen thought, dreading the day his adoptive grandson discovers that he was lied to again, "That is good Naruto, that resolve will make you able to wield the Twelve-Wings' power without being controlled, just don't ever forget that dream." He said with a grandfatherly smile.

"You bet Old Man! I never go back on my word!" Naruto said with a thumbs up and a feral grin on his face. He then added, "Well, gotta go Old Man, I kinda left the stove on and if I'm lucky, the only thing I'll get will be a huge ass gas bill, if not, well, I just hope my posters survived the explosion… hehehe…" He said before jumping through the window, running through the roofs at blinding speed.

"I can't believe that boy can be both a genius and yet stupid as well…" The Third said, sweatdropping at the boy's usual antics.

* * *

The next day, Naruto woke up and after his morning routine, he headed towards the Uchiha compound in search of his rival and best friend. Arriving after a few minutes, he searched for the raven-haired boy's chakra signature and found it on the back field that is situated behind the main household, he went to the place and saw the last loyal Uchiha laying down in the grass while looking at the clouds.

"So, you went through with it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yup, you should've seen the bastard's face! It was hilarious when I knocked him out in 2 seconds!… hahaha…" Naruto said while sitting on the ground next to the Uchiha.

"Well, he did always saw you as an idiot, not that I blame him for that though…" Sasuke said with a teasing smirk at the end.

"Shut it!…" Naruto screamed, "Or I won't tell ya what I copied from the Scroll of Seals…" He finished with a smirk.

Raising an eyebrow, the Uchiha sat up and said, "Well and here I thought you wouldn't had the time to do it."

Taking a scroll from his pants, Naruto poured some chakra in it, causing it to pop open. Getting 4 smaller scrolls out of it, he said, "I looked through most of the scroll but the ones that caught my attention were these…" He then grabbed the first scroll and said, "This one's called 'Wind Style: Hurricane Blades', it creates a tornado of blades from the user's hands, is forbidden because it's a B-Rank that can go up to an S-Rank depending on the user and because if it's not perfected, the wind blades will slaughter your own hands…" He grabbed the next one and explained, "This one's called 'Imploding Shadow Clone' and as the name states, the clone is a variation of the exploding one, but this one implodes, creating a sort of a vacuum that drags whatever is near in it, it's forbidden because you need to master the shadow clone to perfection so the imploding clone doesn't go off the moment you summon it, pulling you in it…" Naruto grabbed the next scroll and added, "This one's for ya…" Seeing the raised eyebrow on the Uchiha's face, he said, "This is the 'Bringer-of-Darkness' genjutsu used by the Second, since I suck at the genjutsu I thought it was good for ya…" He gave the scroll to Sasuke who accepted and nodded his thanks, and then took the last one and finished, "This is the one that impressed me the most, is called 'Blood Clone', it's a clone that requires the user's own blood but the benefits are huge, they can last years even if enough power is put into them since they can only be dispelled either by the caster or by killing them, they can withstand even stabs and A-Rank jutsus."

"Well, you certainly were busy." Sasuke said and after a few minutes reading the scrolls, the two began a spar to start the day and after more minutes of spar, the two then laid down on the grass and stared at the clouds.

Following some seconds of comfortable silence, Naruto said, "Hey, do you… have you thought about the massacre?"

The Uchiha looked at the silver haired boy and asked, "Well… yeah but… I don't know what you mean…"

Letting a few seconds pass to recollect his thoughts, Naruto continued staring at the clouds and explained, "Well, the thing is, lately I've been thinking on what I saw that day."

"And?" Sasuke asked. Naruto had told him about Itachi's note that led the Uzumaki to the Uchiha compound and also told him how he arrived the moment that Mikoto was pierced by Itachi's sword. He told him after a year of friendship, Naruto thought that Sasuke deserved to know so he told him nervously but to his relief, the Uchiha didn't get mad and instead, thanked him for the confidence.

"Think about it, the bodies, they were assassinated, not slaughtered, Itachi told us both that he did it for power, but even in the middle of my shock I didn't saw a man driven by power, I saw the same Itachi I've always known." Naruto said while sitting up and looking at the Uchiha with stern eyes.

Looking at the silver-haired jinchūriki for some moments, Sasuke looked back at the sky and said, "You… you're right… but… what are you getting at?"

"I think there's more to it…" Naruto said with a conspirative tone, "I think that something happened behind the scenes, you told me that you also felt the tension inside the clan months before the massacre, I think that's related to the attack."

"Well yeah, the tension was big back then…" Focusing on his rival, Sasuke said, "But what do you think really happened?" He asked with interest in the ex-blond's theory.

Sighing heavily, Naruto looked at the sky and responded, "I… I don't know, I just got this feeling that the massacre was more than that… but the truth is… the only way we'll ever find out, is when we find Itachi." He said while laying back on the grass and closing his eyes.

Sasuke did the same and after closing his eyes as well, he murmured, "We will soon…" The two then dozed off on the ground after some minutes, trying to figure out what both now thought, was a ruse.

* * *

The rest of their week off went by quickly, Naruto spent his mornings training his protégé and his newly formed 'Konohamaru Corps', and the rest of the day either training with the Uchiha or fooling around with the boys.

Now the day that they were to be placed in teams finally arrived, Naruto was confident that Sasuke would be his teammate but he was intrigued at who would be the last third of the team, _'Man, I just hope is not a fangirl…'_ He thought, praying for the poor souls that would be placed with those.

Opening the door of the classroom, he was suddenly hugged by his number one fan, Ino Yamanaka. At the beginning of the academy, she used to be the queen of fangirls, she was obsessed with Naruto and was always trying to get his attention, Naruto hated the fact that she clearly didn't took her carrier seriously and knew that that could get her killed eventually, so when they advanced to the third year and the spars were now mixed between all the students and not just boys vs boys and girls vs girls, he got a spar against her and he kicked her ass without mercy, this shocked everyone since Naruto was not violent or rude against anyone but before Ino could ask why, Naruto told her 'You're training to be a kunoichi, Ino, not a super model, get your act together before your own naiveté gets you killed. I hate fangirls, they don't strive to protect those they care for, they strive to be protected by their knight in shining armour, so start taking yourself seriously'. After those words, Naruto and Ino's parents were pleased to see that she took them to heart, since she became the second best kunoichi in the class. Yeah, she still flirts with Naruto, but now that she was a serious kunoichi, he didn't mind at all.

"Good to see you're excited." Naruto said with a sexy smirk to the blonde.

"Well of course! We might get put into the same team and then we could work… _thoroughly on our teamwork…_ so how could I not be excited about that!?" She whispered to his ear with a seductive voice.

He was feeling hot, he was a 13-year-old boy and here was a gorgeous girl telling him inappropriate things, so of course he was going to be affected by his own hormones, which showed on his crimson cheeks, "Oh! Umm… yeah t-that… umm… s-sounds really cool… hehe…" He responded while getting a kiss on the cheek and a 'see you later' from the blonde.

Walking towards his usual seat, he looked to his left and saw his other loyal fan, Hinata Hyūga. She was the shyest girl Naruto has ever known and that made her too gentle for the shinobi life. But she is a Hyūga, so Naruto knew that she had potential, but her own shyness and massive crush on him where holding her back, so he took the matter into his own hands and one day, he asked her to spar with him, she was delighted to spend time with her crush but she then felt crushed when Naruto held nothing back, she was there when Naruto kicked some sense into Ino but being on the receiving end of the kicking was crushing, she thought that he hated her and because of that she didn't even defended herself, which made Naruto furious. He remembered walking towards the downed girl and after he placed his hands on her shoulders, he said to her, 'Hinata, you have every tool to become a strong kunoichi, your byakugan lets you see everything but your own flaws, stop letting yourself get kicked into the ground and fight, stop trying to impress your family or me, impress yourself, fight for those you care, be the heiress you're meant to be, so fight me!'. After those words, she stood up and fought harder than ever, actually managing to put Naruto on the defence for a while. Thanks to that, she beat Ino in the race for the title of 'Kunoichi of The Year', something that surprised everyone, mostly her father.

"Hello Naruto, how are you?" She said with a beautiful smile on her face.

 _'_ _So good to see her stutter gone, she has come far… though… that blush on her cheeks is always cute to see…'_ Giving her a feral smirk, he replied, "Well, I'm great Hina, thanks! How about ya!?"

"I'm great as well thanks…" She said before fidgeting her fingers and looking nervous again like she used to. She then asked, "Umm… l-listen Naruto… I… I-I wanted to…" She was cut off however, when the sound of the door opening was heard, _'Dammit…'_ She thought with a pout after the interruption. Naruto just said that they'll talk later and went to his seat next to Sasuke and his most loyal fangirl.

Naruto had to suppress a laugh at seeing his best friend's desperate look, Sakura was his most hard-core fan and unfortunately for everyone, she never really got out of that state. After Naruto declaring that he hated fangirls and Sasuke agreeing with him, most of the girls started to take their training seriously, even if it was just to impress them, they still took it seriously, but Sakura saw this as an opportunity to be the only one striving for Sasuke's love, which annoyed the Uchiha to no end, _'Poor of those who end up with her…'_ He thought while taking the seat that Sasuke saved for him, between the raven-haired male and his pink-haired fangirl. She wanted to protest loudly but before she could, the voice of their sensei was heard.

"Alright now, let me say something, I want you to know that I am very proud of you all, now is your moment to write your names in the history of our great village, go, protect, save and fight for the Leaf, make us all proud…" Iruka said while bowing to the new recruits. He then walked towards his desk and took a board before saying, "Alright, let's see your teams, Team 1…"

Naruto looked at the window, not caring at all until he could hear his name. After a few seconds, he felt Sasuke nudging his side to bring his attention back, "Team seven will be comprised of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha…" The two bumped their fists while sharing a smirk before their deepest fears came to be with the next sentence, "And Sakura Haruno." Earning a yell of victory from the pink-haired girl and a look of despair from her two new teammates.

"And your Sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Umino said before continuing with the rest of the teams.

"Well, at least Pa will be our sensei…" Naruto commented, earning a nod in agreement from the Uchiha. Kakashi has become to the silver-haired jinchūriki in all intents and purposes, his father. The ex-ANBU captain has been the one that has taken care of the boy since he was 3 so while Itachi became his big brother, Naruto saw Kakashi as his father figure, a place that the lazy jōnin happily took on.

"Alright, that's all, you must stay here and wait for your senseis to arrive, I'll see you guys around, and the best of luck in your careers!" Iruka said with a wide smile before leaving the classroom.

After a few minutes, all the senseis minus Kakashi arrived and Sakura was getting annoyed, she turned to see her teammates standing up and asked, "Where are you two going!? Our sensei hasn't arrived yet."

"Kakashi-sensei is always two hours late at the least in everything, he won't be here in a while, so we're gonna get something to eat, wanna come?" Naruto said, already used to Kakashi's lateness.

"You're nuts! I'll stay here!" She said while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Suit yourself." Naruto responded before walking off with Sasuke.

"Sasuke wait!" Sakura then said before running off after them.

* * *

After a quick stop at Ichiraku's, the new generation of Team 7 got back to the classroom, only to see that their sensei hadn't shown up yet, but before Sakura could complain, the door slid open and a silver-haired man popped his head out looking at the teens.

"Mm, you might survive, meet me at the roof." The jōnin said before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Shrugging, Naruto and Sasuke both shared a look and disappeared in the same fashion, leaving a stunned Sakura behind who quickly ran towards the stairs to the roof. She arrived a few moments later and sat next to Sasuke, who was just deep in his own thoughts next to Naruto who was telling Kakashi that the old man Teuchi was amid creating a new flavour of ramen.

"That's very good my boy…" Kakashi said to him with an eye smile. Seeing that the whole team was gathered now, he began, "Well, now that we're all here, why don't you introduce yourselves? Just tell your name, likes, dislikes and dreams."

Sakura had a confused look and made it known when she asked, "Can you do it first so we can see what you mean, sensei?"

 _'_ _Sigh, man, this girl is gonna take a lot of my time…'_ Kakashi thought tiredly at the prospect of trying to train a fangirl. He then put a finger on his chin and began, "Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes and dislikes are none of your business and my dreams…" He trailed off with a lazy tone, not even bothering to finish. He then looked back at his genin and said, "Why don't you start, pinky?"

 _'_ _So lazy…'_ Sakura thought, sweatdropping at her sensei's introduction. She then smiled and introduced herself, "My name is Sakura Haruno, I like…" She looked timidly at Sasuke and giggled before continuing, "I dislike Naruto because he's always trying to show Sasuke off! And my dream is to be happy with the man of my dreams…" She finished while looking at Sasuke with dreamy eyes, making everyone there let out a tired sigh.

 _'_ _So much work…'_ Kakashi thought, already feeling tired just thinking all it will take to knock the fangirl out of her. He then turned to Sasuke and said, "Alright emo, you're up."

Grunting at the nickname, the raven-haired teenager crossed his hands in front of his face and responded, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don't particularly like anything and I dislike many things, as for my dream, no, my goal, it's one I share with Naruto, to get some answers from someone." He declared with a stern voice.

 _'_ _Good to see his friendship with Naruto lessened his hate towards Itachi, vengeance could have drove him mad…'_ Kakashi thought, glad that Sasuke showed at least a bit of clarity and willingness to work as a team, which was something that worried the jōnin. Breathing in relief, he turned to his surrogate son and said, "Alright, you're last, spiky."

Naruto gave his sensei and surrogate father a grunt in annoyance for the nickname before saying, "Well my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen, mah friends and family, and pulling pranks, I dislike the time it takes to prepare ramen, fangirls, perverts and those damn crabs that live in the Forest of Death! As for my dreams, I wish to get answers from someone who betrayed me and Sasuke, to carry on the dream of a dear friend and to become the top ramen connoisseur in the world!" he said with fire in his eyes.

 _'_ _It's good to see your determination never wavered, my boy…'_ Kakashi thought with pride. He then grabbed his copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise' and said without looking at them, "Well, now that that's over, take the rest of the day off and I'll see you tomorrow at Seven-A.M. sharp for your test at training ground seven." He then disappeared in a flicker before anyone could ask what he was talking about.

"What?" Sakura froze there, confused about what her new sensei said. Looking at her new teammates, she saw that they just shrugged it off and stood up.

"Well then, I guess I see ya guys tomorrow." Naruto said, bumping fists with Sasuke and nodding Sakura goodbye before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

"Hn." Was all Sasuke said before disappearing in same fashion without a single word.

"Sasuke!..." Sakura screamed at the Uchiha, trying to start a conversation with the boy, "Damn! Doesn't matter, I won't give!" She said to herself with determination, day dreaming about a life with the Uchiha heir.

* * *

The next day came quickly and we could see a fuming pink haired girl pacing around the bridge they were told to wait for their sensei, but he was nowhere in sight, worse yet, neither Sasuke nor Naruto were around.

" _Grr,_ Where the hell is everyone!? Sensei said Seven-A.M. sharp and it's almost nine!..." She yelled in frustration before seeing two figures walking leisurely towards her, "Where have you been!? Kakashi-sensei said Seven-A.M.!" She retorted angrily.

"Well, I don't see him anywhere…" Naruto said with a shrug, "Plus, we told ya that he's always late, to everything."

"And how would you know that!?" She retorted back angrily.

"Because he trains me and Sasuke, so we already know him very well." Naruto responded with a bored look on his face.

"You two train together?…" She weakly responded, refusing to believe that those two were best friends even though it was already common knowledge that they were. She didn't liked that Sasuke spends almost all his free time with the silver-haired boy because she believed that the Uzumaki was purposely getting in her way towards the Uchiha heir, but before she could continue, a poof of smoke revealed their sensei and she screamed at him, "You're late!"

Scratching the back of his head, the jōnin replied sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry about that… I was on my way here when I saw this old lady with a lot bags and well, I couldn't just walk away… and then I just got lost on the road of life…" Naruto and Sasuke just shook their heads, already used to the silver-haired jōnin's lies, but Sakura was fuming. He then added, "Now, let's begin the test. Before you ask why you're going through another test, let me explain, the test you did to graduate from the Academy was exactly that, just to see if you were ready to leave, this test, is to see if you are ready for the shinobi life. Now, I have two bells here…" He then showed them two small bells and while tying them to his belt, he continued, "Your objective is to take them away from me, you must all get a bell to pass but as you can see, there are only two bells, so whoever doesn't get a bell, will be send back to the Academy, you have until noon, begin!" He finished, not leaving time for any questions.

The three quickly spread out and hid on the foliage surrounding the field, Sakura going to the right into the bushes while Naruto and Sasuke hid in the trees together. Whispering, Naruto said to Sasuke, "He wants to divide us, right?"

"Yeah, I think he wants to see if we will turn against each other, but this must be more a test for Sakura since he already knows that you and I work well together." Sasuke stated, both already figuring out the meaning of the test.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get Sakura then, so we can come up with a plan…" Naruto responded but before any of them could do any moves, they heard their female teammate's scream on the other side of the field. Sighing heavily, Naruto said, "Well, so much for that, huh?… let's just come up with something for now…" The pair began to discuss plans to take the bells from their sensei, ignoring for the moment their pink-haired teammate.

 _'_ _Well, Sakura is lucky that thanks to Naruto and Sasuke's flawless teamwork they've already passed, I'll just have to work harder with Sakura, but now, what are my two boys planning?…'_ Hatake thought while reading his book, knowing that the other two would make their move soon. Moments later, he had to move when he felt danger coming from behind him so quickly turning around, he saw 5 kunai coming his way before hearing Naruto scream 'Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!', forcing the jōnin to jump out of the way and making him lose his balance for a second, but that second was enough for Sasuke to finish his hand signs and to spit a massive fireball at him. Quickly making hand signs of his own, Kakashi smashed his hands on the ground and said "Water Style: Wave Wall!" The water from the lake behind Kakashi rushed towards the jōnin, creating a wall of water in front of him, successfully stopping the attack. Without losing a bit, Kakashi made more signs and screamed, "Fire Style: Fire Dragon!" A big fire dragon shot out of the jōnin's mouth aimed directly at the Uchiha.

Unable to move, Sasuke stood frozen at the oncoming dragon before feeling a push. Looking down to see what the push was, he saw Sakura who was screaming that nobody will harm her Sasuke but as soon as they touched the ground, 'Sasuke' disappeared in a poof of smoke, revealing it to be a mere clone.

This was enough for Kakashi to realize that the real Sasuke was below, so performing a quick substitution, he got out of the Uchiha's grasp just before he jumped out of the ground. Before anything more could be done, the jōnin then shook his hands to the sides, signalling the end of the test as he said, "Well done Naruto and Sasuke, that was a brilliant plan, had it not been for an unfortunate interference…" He said before looking accusingly at Sakura who was still on the ground confused at what just happened, "You would have grabbed me. Although Sakura, you're gonna have to work as a team, if this were to be a real situation, your actions could have cost the mission and your teammates' life, remember that those who leave, even one comrade behind, are worse than scum…" He said with a serious voice rarely heard from the jōnin, "But, that's fixable. For now, I'm proud to say team seven is official, take the rest of the day off and I'll meet you here tomorrow at the same hour so we can go on our first mission." He said with an eye smile before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Sharing a look, Sasuke and Naruto nodded at each other and began to walk away before being stopped by the voice of their female teammate, "Sasuke wait!... w-why don't you and I go to celebrate tha…" She was saying timidly before being abruptly stopped by a pissed off Sasuke.

"Dammit Sakura, shut up! You just ruined a perfect plan! You're a kunoichi for fucks sakes! Get your shit together because if you don't, you'll just die in the middle of a mission or worse, you'll get someone killed! I'm not gonna save you! Neither will Naruto! So grow the fuck up!" Sasuke said angrily, leaving a teary-eyed Sakura and a stunned Naruto at seeing his friend's outburst, normally he kept it to himself but the foolish actions of the girl pissed him off beyond belief.

Naruto just shrugged and went to catch up with his rival and best friend without saying a word to a devastated Sakura, who just slumped to the ground, thinking over her crush's words.

* * *

"Well that was uncharacteristic of you." Naruto said with his hands crossed behind his head.

"Yeah well, she needs to get her shit together before she gets killed for her own stupidity…" Sasuke replied before looking at his best friend and adding, "I'm surprised you didn't stopped my rant."

"Hey! I'm as mad as you, ya know!? That was a fine plan if I do say so mahself! And plus, I thought that maybe if you were the one to tell her that she's not a fucking princess that will be rescued all the time by you or anyone else, she might listen to you and start training seriously…" Naruto said, getting a grunt as response from the Uchiha. Changing topics, he turned to him and asked, "So, did you managed to do it already?"

"No, the 'Bringer-of-Darkness' is harder than I thought, there's something that I can't figure out how to do, no wonder only the Second could do it…" the Uchiha responded with frustration clear in his voice, "You think Kakashi-sensei will get mad if I ask for his help?" He then asked his brother.

"Nah, Pa already knows that I copied some stuff from the scroll, he only said that we should be very careful and that he should be with us whenever we tried those moves, so go for it." Naruto answered.

"Hn." Was all Sasuke said to the silver-haired boy before arriving at Ichiraku's to eat something. The pair just stayed there for a while, talking about random things and Naruto occasionally flirting with Ayame, who had her face deep crimson and speaking with a heavy stutter due to the silver-haired genin being more 'explicit' with his flirts, much to the amusement of the raven-haired boy.

* * *

Sakura was devastated, she could not stop crying over what her crush said to her, she was hurt but she was also angry because she could not find anything to deny what Sasuke said because she knew it was true, she was expecting that the Uchiha would be there to save her every time, but even knowing he was right, she was still sad that her crush thinks so little of her, nothing more than a nuisance.

"How could he say those things?… everything was supposed to be perfect…" She said while running through the village towards her home. Arriving after a few minutes, she opened the door and hastily made her way towards her room, locking herself up and crying her heart out.

"Sakura sweetie, is that you?…" Said a blonde woman from the kitchen that after hearing no response, went to her daughter's room and heard the sobs that were coming from inside. Opening the door forcibly, she sat by the rosette's side on the bed and gently put an arm around the young girl's shoulder, "Sweetie, what's wrong?" She asked, thinking that maybe she failed the genin test.

Calming herself a little, Sakura told her mother everything that happened on the test and what Sasuke had said to her, "I don't know why he said those things! I was just trying to save him! Maybe Naruto told him bad things about me! That idiot always get…" She said angrily before being stopped by a hard slap from her mother. Sakura just looked at her with wide eyes in shock, since she has never hit her before.

"I'm sorry sweetie but I needed to get those stupid thoughts out of your mind…" The blonde Haruno said with concern over her daughter's lack of realization as to what it is to be a kunoichi. Mebuki Haruno was a former kunoichi of the village and never in her life went on diets or focused on boys, she knew that one had to understand that you are putting your and others life on the line, and one needed to be completely committed to put the village's wellbeing before anything else. And she was also angry about her daughter's words towards the jinchūriki, she was teammates with Kushina Uzumaki and while they weren't close friends, they were still friends, she knew that the boy was her son and tried to push Mikoto Uchiha's adoption of the boy forward with her voice in the Council, but it was denied. Even so, she procured to take food to his apartment so he could eat well, knowing that the stores in the village always overpriced him with the food. She heard about the beating he gave to Ino Yamanaka and what his words inspired in her and most of the girls in his class, she was hoping that his words would inspire Sakura as well but Sakura never took her career seriously and all she wanted, was Sasuke Uchiha's attention, "Sakura stop! Open your eyes sweetie! While I do admit that what the Uchiha boy said was harsh, it was the truth! You've never taken your kunoichi training seriously! All I hear from you is how you will 'win' Sasuke's love' over and over again, but tell me something, how many times have you trained outside the Academy?" Mebuki asked angrily.

Getting out of her shock from her mother's anger, Sakura weakly replied, "W-Well… I-I trained occasionally on the weekends with the A-Academy's katas… a-and learned all the books given to us."

"What!? Sakura, do you even know what being a shinobi means!? You'll have to fight, you'll have to protect the village and your comrades, you'll have to kill! This is no game, no prince is going to come running to save you! If you keep this going, you'll either end up dead or you'll get your teammates or clients dead…" The elder Haruno said with frustration at her daughter's words. Mebuki then looked at Sakura dead on the eyes and said with a no jokes tone, "Do you really want to be a shinobi, Sakura? And answer me truthfully because I don't want to lose my baby due to your own stupidity… but if you do, you better not do it to impress a boy Sakura, your life is literally on the line."

Thinking over everything her mother, Sasuke and even Naruto had said, Sakura realized that she was indeed a joke of a kunoichi and that while neither Sasuke nor Naruto will just leave her there to die, they wouldn't always be there to help her, and knowing the things that befall kunoichi because they're usually captured to be raped or sold instead of killed, she knew that she had to make a choice. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and made her choice known, "Y-Yes mom, I… I u-understand now… I've been thinking of this as a game instead of what it truly is and normally, I would have said that I don't want to continue but…" She looked at her mother with fire in her eyes and declared, "I know I can be a great kunoichi, I might not be as strong as the others, but I'm interested in medical training so I know I can do good things there, and I'll do it for me and my team."

Feeling relieved at seeing her daughter's determination, Mebuki kissed her daughter's forehead and went to leave the room before saying, "And stop blaming Naruto for everything, he's a good man and it makes me feel safe knowing that he's your teammate, he's someone that would never let anyone behind and that helps even those who hurt him, so stop treating him like an enemy and start being his teammate." She left the room with those words, leaving a pensive Sakura behind.

* * *

A silver-haired woman with a dragon mask was making her way through a series of underground tunnels. She had been observing the test performed to Team 7 since she has been permanently assigned to Naruto Uzumaki to observe how strong he is becoming and if he is of any threat to the village.

After a few minutes of walk, she arrived to a large room that only had a stone throne on the middle of it. Kneeling in front of the figure seated there, she said, "I've completed the reconnaissance on team seven, Lord Danzō. The members of the team are Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, the team is led by Kakashi Hatake and they have passed their genin test."

"This is good, our priority is the jinchūriki but with the Uchiha in the same team, it does makes it easier to observe them both and if our information is correct, the 'leverage' we have against the Uchiha boy, could also be used against Uzumaki…" Danzō replied. Massaging his chin, he then added, "What can you tell me about their abilities?"

"The test didn't last long and they showed little of their skills, but from what I saw, Naruto Uzumaki is the powerhouse and mind of the team, Sasuke Uchiha was the rogue with his speed and sharingan, both showed perfect teamwork, Uzumaki being the middle range fighter with assisting the Uchiha while he was fighting in close range…" She said and then continued, "While Sakura Haruno was a joke, she fell for a D-Rank genjutsu, then, Uzumaki and Uchiha came up with a plan that almost worked had it not being for the girl jumping to save the Uchiha who was a shadow clone, ruining the plan and allowing Hatake to avoid being captured by the real Uchiha who was underground, I thought that he was going to fail them but I believe that due to Uzumaki and Uchiha's excellent teamwork, Hatake passed them." She concluded with mental distaste at the girl's poor performance.

"Understood, we'll see how far the new generation of my old team goes, we will continue our observation on the team but you will remain your focus on Naruto, keep an eye on Sasuke Uchiha as well but Uzumaki is your priority. As for the girl, she's of no interest, she will either die or drop out of the program." Danzō said before dismissing his subordinate.

"Yes sir." She said robotically before turning on her heel and leaving the room to continue her watch on the silver-haired jinchūriki.

* * *

The next day, Sakura arrived at training ground 7 at 7 am again, but this time not because she wanted to be on time since she knew that her sensei would be late again, she was there since early because she was steeling herself to apologize to her team and to try and make amends so that they can be a real team.

After almost two hours of pacing and nervous butterflies in her stomach, she saw the approaching forms of her two teammates. Taking a deep breath, she waited until the two boys and their sensei arrived so she could apologize, thankfully, the silver-haired jōnin arrived earlier and seeing that his pink-haired student wanted to say something, nodded at her to speak up, "Well I… I wa-wanted to say… I-I'm sorry!..." She said while bowing to the two boys, "After what Sasuke told me and remembering what Naruto said about fangirls, I-I understood that… this is not a joke, an-and th-that I can't be a burden to this team, the first moment we leave the village we'll be in danger and you need to know that I can watch your backs as much as you can watch mine, so I promise you all, I will step up my training and I won't be left behind." She finished and timidly looked at her team, not knowing what they would say.

Said team was stunned by her words, they were expecting same old Sakura but listening to her and seeing the fire in her eyes that showed her determination, made them feel relieved knowing that she truly meant it. Kakashi gave her an eye smile, Naruto gave her a small smile and a nod in recognition while Sasuke just grunted in response.

"He means that he appreciates the change in your attitude." Naruto translated his best friend's grunt.

She thanked them with a happy expression and turned to see their sensei who said, "Alright then, now, since I've been training Naruto and Sasuke for some years now, I'll be spending most of our training time with Sakura to work on her needs, then, we will all work on teamwork so Sakura can adjust to Naruto and Sasuke's teamwork…" Hatake then picked a scroll from his pocket and continued, "Here Sakura, take this, I want you to do the physical training written in this scroll, I'll be watching you while I help Sasuke with something he requested, but before I get to you two, let me have some words with Naruto." Sakura nodded, grabbing the scroll and heading towards the training ground to begin her new training. Sasuke looked at Naruto and shrugged before heading to a corner of the field to train on the 'Bringer-of-Darkness' genjutsu.

"What is it, Pa?" Naruto said while squinting his eyes.

"Now Naruto, when we're working call me 'Sensei', we don't want people to know such information, alright?…" He said, getting a nod in affirmative from the silver-haired boy. He then continued, "Well, the thing is, Naruto, there's not much else I can teach you, we'll continue to work on your rasengan but my specialty is ninjutsu and speed, and you're almost at my level already. You already know how to manipulate elemental chakra, although, we do have to see your affinity since he haven't check that out yet, but you don't seem to have any problem with different elements, which is strange…" He said, thinking about how the boy had no problem with elements at all. Believing it to be the dragon's doing for now, he continued, "Mm, let's see, you said that you won't use Kushina's katana, but you do want to learn Kenjutsu right?..." He asked with a bit of sadness at the boy's refusal on using his mother's last gift. After receiving a nod in confirmation, the jōnin explained, "Alright then, while I work with Sakura and continue to work on Sasuke's sharingan, I'll send you to work with two other jōnin. One is Hayate Gekko, he's the best swordsman in the village, I already talked to him and he's waiting for you on training ground fourteen. Here, a gift, my boy." He then gave Naruto a long black box.

Naruto eagerly opened the box and went shocked after seeing the beauty that was inside the box. It was a beautiful katana with a silver blade that had dark-golden symbols of the 5 elements across the blade, the hilt was pitch black and the guard were two black dragon wings, "Whoa Pa! This is so cool!" He said before jumping at the jōnin for a bear-hug.

"Glad you like it, my boy…" Kakashi said while patting his back. Releasing the hug, he then explained, "Now, that sword has a special blade. As you can see, it has the symbols for the five elements, those symbols indicate that any chakra type can be channelled through the sword, just focus your chakra in it and it'll lit up."

Naruto then channelled fire chakra into the sword and saw how the symbol for fire lit up, the blade then suddenly turned dark crimson and flames began to appear from the sword, "Whoa… cool son…" he said, transfixed by the sword. He then turned towards his sensei and father figure and asked, "You said there was another jōnin that will train me?"

"Ah yes, your taijutsu is high-chūnin level and your physical strength is outstanding, so I want you to take full advantage of that since I believe that taijutsu could be your strongest area, I will ask my friend Might Guy to train you since he is the best taijutsu user I've ever met, with what he can teach you, whatever style the Twelve-Wings teaches you will be easier to grasp."

"Wait! Ya don't mean Bushier Brows-sensei do you!?…" Getting a nod from the silver-haired jōnin, Naruto said with a whine, "Man! Can't deny he's the best but, listening to his talk about 'youth' all the time will suck!"

"Now, now, I know is hard Naruto but you'll learn a lot from him, no pain no gain and all… now go with Hayate and come back here in two hours so we can train on teamwork." He said while ruffling the teenager's hair.

With that, Naruto took off towards training ground 14, excited about learning kenjutsu, _'Man, dis gon be so cool son!...'_

* * *

Naruto arrived excited at training ground 14, where he immediately looked around and saw his new sensei sitting on the grass relaxing. Approaching him, the silverette bowed and greeted, "Hello Hayate-sensei, thank you for accepting to teach me."

Opening his eyes, Hayate looked at his new student and smiling, greeted back, "The pleasure is mine Naruto, lately there aren't many people interested in swordsmanship, so it is good to see that you want to learn the art."

"Are ya kidding me!? Swordsmanship is so cool! And you can do more damage with a sword than a fist!" Naruto replied excitedly.

Chuckling at the boy's enthusiasm, Hayate stood up and agreed, "Indeed, but it is also the most honourable of arts Naruto, so you must learn to respect any swordsman you come across with and fight them with all you've got…" Walking a few feet away from the jinchūriki, he asked, "Now, are you familiar with any particular style?"

"Yes, but it's still raw since Ryū and I just recently came up with it." Naruto said nonchalantly.

 _'_ _Ryū? Wait! He means…'_ With wide eyes, Hayate carefully asked, "Umm… Naruto… what do you mean by 'Ryū'?"

Squinting his eyes, Naruto replied without care, "Well the Twelve-Wings of course! Who else!?"

"So you know about it huh?" Hayate said surprised.

"Well yeah, I've known since I was five, it is an asshole, but it's cool too…" Looking at Hayate's expression, Naruto thought that maybe he had a problem with the dragon, so he said, "It's not controlling me or anything, it's just been training me for a while now, thanks to it I've survived but, if you have a problem with it, I'll understand if you won't continue my training, sensei." He did felt sad but he was already used to it.

Getting out of his shock, Hayate remembered what his girlfriend told him about the abuse the boy suffered throughout most his life and personally, Hayate really liked the boy. His pranks were amazing and funny, and he was a genius, _'Yūgao loves this kid so much, now I see why, he's definitely something else…'_ He would be jealous if not for the fact that as far as he knew, they had a sister/brother relationship. Shaking his head to the sides, he realized he went some time without saying anything and saw that that made the boy uncomfortable, probably thinking he hated him, "No! No Naruto, I was just surprised to hear you knew, I would be proud to be your teacher." He said with a smile.

Sighing in relief, the silver-haired boy bowed and gratefully said, "Thank you sensei, I would be honoured to be your student."

"Now, explain me your style." Hayate requested.

Releasing his sword from its sheath, Naruto grabbed the hilt but instead of directing the blade onwards like everyone else, he positioned the blade backwards, looking as if he was holding a trench knife. Seeing the confused look on his teacher, Naruto explained, "I know it looks… unorthodox… hehe… but Ryū knows me better than anyone, so he and I spent some time coming up with a style of my own and after the day I got my first sword, I found it more comfortable holding it backwards… and with its help, I came up with this style."

"Well, it is indeed… unique…" Hayate commented, intrigued about this new style, _'I think he does have potential to become one of the top swordsman in the Elemental Nations if this style of his works…'_ He thought. Holding his katana, Hayate then said to the boy, "Now, let's have a spar so I can see that style in action, no jutsus, just our speed, strength and swords…" Getting a nod in response, Hayate then said, "Alright, begin!"

Hayate was surprised to see the boy's speed since he suddenly had to block Naruto's slash who was within seconds in front of him, clashing his sword with Hayate's katana, _'Damn! The kid's not just fast, he's strong as well…'_ He thought after feeling the push from the attack.

Jumping back from the silver-haired Uzumaki, Hayate went on to the offense and with a series of slashes, managed to put Naruto at the defence this time, but could not land a single cut on the boy thanks to his speed, _'His style's speed is amazing, I never thought he would be able to defend with his backwards grip…'_ He thought, impressed by the boy's ability with the sword and his unique style.

Yes, Hayate was holding back, but it was still amazing to see this boy making the best swordsman in the village sweat. He was surprised again when he saw Naruto taking advantage of his backward grip to use the sword as a hook. Stabbing the ground, Naruto used the sword as a slingshot and in seconds was in front of Hayate trying to deliver a blow, Hayate was impressed by his versatility but he was not the best swordsman in the Leaf for naught, so ducking the slash fast, he used the grip of his katana to land a blow on the jinchūriki's stomach while he was flying above him, knocking the air out of the boy in the process.

Sheathing his katana back, Hayate said with a smile, "I am very impressed Naruto, I wasn't convinced about your style at first but seeing it in action, I can see it has potential to be the deadliest for your speed."

Massaging his sore stomach, Naruto got on his feet and replied, "Thanks sensei, although, I can see it's still not good enough…" He finished with a slight depressed tone.

"Don't get down Naruto, with enough training we'll get there, you need to learn how to fight with your sword alone first, that is how a true swordsman begins, once I see you've master your style without any chakra, we'll advance with some kenjutsu techniques, ok?" Hayate said to his new student, eager to teach the boy and see how far he would go.

Brighting up at Hayate's words, Naruto replied with a wide smile, "Yes Haya-sensei!"

The pair continued on their training for the next two hours, unaware of the presence of Naruto's silver-haired Root member shadow, _'So the boy knows about the Twelve-Wings and it has even been training him, this is troubling…'_

* * *

And the rest of the week for the newly formed Team 7 was hell, they were stuck doing meaningless missions like painting fences, cutting grass and catching a demonic cat that even put the mighty Twelve-Wings on edge. But the team was starting to become a solid one, Sakura was keeping her word and was taking her training seriously and was now willing to work with her two teammates, the team was assembled to be an assault team and it was starting to shape that way nicely.

Our favourite ex-blond could be seen walking through the village with his hands resting behind his head, completely ignoring the glares that were sent to him by the villagers, who now knew better than to attack the boy openly, a poor fool did just that three days ago and he was found completely naked tied up to the statue of Tobirama Senju placed in the center of the village and since most of the ANBU liked the boy even if they were his favourite prank victims, they left him there for a whole day before tossing him into a cell for attacking a Leaf shinobi, so now the villagers were afraid because the boy would not just take the beatings anymore and for how it looked, he could take care of almost anything that was thrown at him.

After walking for a while, Naruto found the place he was looking for, the Promised Land, Ichiraku's Ramen. Moving the strands of cloth aside, he sat on his usual stool and saw a beautiful brunette cutting vegetables in front of him, oblivious to the presence of her crush. Looking at her bottom for a bit, Naruto could feel those damn teenage hormones having their way with him and with all of his strength, pushed his lecherous thoughts aside and said, "Hey gorgeous, not that I mind seeing you from behind but, could you look at me?" He had a playful smirk plastered on his face after seeing her go all stiff at the sound of his voice.

Frantically turning around, Ayame saw her crush looking at her and after registering his words, a mad blush appeared on her face before saying with some stutter, "Na-Naruto! Hi! I-I'm so-sorry… I… w-was… umm… distracted with the… umm…" She continued to sputter meaningless words that only made the silver-haired teenager chuckle at her flustered state.

"Haha… it's ok Aya, I'm just messing with ya…" He said with a warm smile. Patting his stomach, he then asked, "Do you mind making me some of your art? I'm seriously starving!"

Shaking her head, she regained her composure and replied, "Of course Naru, anything for you…" She said with a hidden seductive tone that made the jinchūriki smirk, "So, how's been your life as a shinobi?" She asked while making his food.

"So far it has sucked! All we do is paint stupid fences, cut grass, heck, we were even hired to clean a barn that was messed up by a sick cow! It… it was horrible…" He responded, shuddering at the memory of the rather, brownish place.

"I… I-I don't w-wanna know that… thanks…" She said, a little disgusted at the 'mission'. She then put the bowl of ramen in front of Naruto who happily began to dig in without restraint and the pair just spent almost all afternoon enjoying the company of each other. Just before the dusk, Naruto kissed her cheek goodbye and headed home.

Arriving at his apartment, he took his jacket off and melted on the couch but just before he dozed off in blissful sleep, he heard a voice in his head.

 ** _"_** ** _Naruto, is there anything you need to do for the rest of the day?"_** The Twelve Winged Dragon suddenly asked.

 _"_ _Hm? Umm no, I'm free for the rest of the day, why?"_ Naruto asked back.

 ** _"_** ** _Good, because is time for us to have our long-awaited talk."_** The Red Dragon Emperor replied.

Immediately opening his eyes and forgetting everything else, he closed his eyes again and focused on his seal and after feeling the pull from it, he found himself on the shore surrounded by the rock hills he created per the request of the dragon. Turning to his side, he saw the mighty beast peacefully resting on the sand, just watching the water move. Approaching it, he sat on the sand next to him and said, "So, you're finally going to respond mah questions, huh?" His voice was etched with excitement for finally knowing just what the hell has he gotten himself into.

Chuckling at his excitement, which the dragon couldn't blame the boy for since he's been waiting for 7 years, the dragon replied, **"Yes hatchling, it's time for you to know everything, so why don't you ask what you want to know first and if necessary, I'll cover what you didn't asked."**

Nodding at the beast, Naruto put his finger on his chin, thinking on what to ask since there were so many things. Taking a deep breath, he then started, "What is your name? I really doubt is 'Twelve-Wings'."

Giving the boy a small smirk, the dragon replied, **"Clever, that is not my name indeed… my real name, is Ddraig."**

With a small smile, Naruto continued, "Ok Ddraig, what are you really?" He asked.

 ** _'_** ** _Hm, could he have sensed the difference in my power? This sensory skills of his are impressive indeed…'_** The beast thought, **"What do you mean with that, Naruto?"** He asked, wanting to know his reason.

"Well, I've been thinking about it for a while, since I unlocked my sensory skill…" The son of the Red Hot Habanero looked at the sea and continued, "I can feel everyone's chakra, I can feel their emotions, their movements and such, yet, when I use your power or I come here to see you, I can't feel a thing from you. What I'm saying is that Tailed Beasts are supposed to be alive concentrations of chakra, yet, I can't feel a single drop of chakra in you, but I feel something even stronger, so what really are you?"

 ** _'_** ** _Excellent deduction boy…'_** Ddraig thought impressed. Looking at the boy, he then responded, **"It's good to see that you don't only have great moments of stupidity, but of ingenuity as well…"** He said with tease, earning a huff in response from the silver-haired boy. With a low chuckle, he continued, **"As you explained, I am not a 'Tailed Beast' as your foolish kind believes, I am an Absolute God, Naruto, and the reason you can't feel my power, is because only another Absolute God can feel it since our power does not come from chakra, but from its 'mother', the 'essence'."**

Naruto was left completely stupefied, of all the things he expected the dragon to be, never in his right mind had the thought of a GOD crossed him. Regaining his shit after some moments, Naruto shook his head and frantically asked, "WHAT!? A-A GOD! Hooo shit! I-I thought yo-you were the King of dragons or something like that b-b-but… a GOD!?… w-what do you mean with 'Absolute God'? And what is 'The Essence'?"

 **"** **Relax boy…"** Ddraig said, a bit annoyed by the outburst. Getting a sorry from the boy, the dragon sighed and replied, **"Now, sit down because this will require your full attention…"** The boy sat down and nodded at the dragon to continue, **"Ok first, you must know the hierarchy of life. Below all, there are the 'Mortals', humanity, animals and summons, in summary, all those who will die eventually, no matter what. Above them, there are the 'Reincarnated', devils, demons, angels and fallen angels, they are the workers of the gods, although humanity mistakes them as enemies and fear demons and devils, they actually work together as guardians of the laws of life, angels reward and protect the souls of those that are resting peacefully, fallen angels hunt rogue reincarnates and gods, devils hunt those that have broken the divine laws and demons punish them, while they are not mortals since they are not alive, they are near immortals thanks to their life span of 10,000 years, but they can be killed by mortals…"** Ddraig brought his scary gaze at the boy to see that he had his full attention. He then looked back at the sea and continued, **"Above, we have the 'Demi-Gods', these are beings that achieved immortality and strength that equals that of a true god with their own prowess, the difference being that while truly immortal, they can still be killed by gods or mortals, there has only been a few of them in history, the most known are the Sage Of Six Paths, his mother, brother and three sons, and of course the Tailed Beasts. Above them, there are the 'Gods', truly immortal beings that rule over all the things that construct life, the elements, species, beliefs and such, there are many and most have been alive since the beginning of life, and they can only be killed by gods. And above them, there is us, the 'Absolute Gods', we rule over all that is life and there are only three, 'The Absolute God of Beginning' or also known as 'The White Dragon Emperor', my brother Arkam…"** Seeing that the boy recognized the name, he answered his question before he could ask, **"Yes, the one that I had my little 'brawl' with, he is the one that oversees everything that falls into the light of life, happiness, joy, hope, love, light and life itself, all those things are drawn from him and he makes sure they exist to balance the positive side of life. Next, is 'The Absolute God of Traverse', mostly known as 'The Golden Dragon Emperor', my youngest brother Zekrom, he oversees time, space and gravity, he controls dimensions and life spans and he makes sure that time and dimensions don't get disrupted since it would prove catastrophic for all life in the universe. And lastly, there is me, 'The Absolute God of End' or 'The Red Dragon Emperor', as you might have guessed, I am the opposite of Arkam, I oversee death, darkness, hate, anger, fear, despair and such. Because of this, people created the tale of 'Satan' and believe me to be a creature of evil, but they don't understand that without hate there is no love, without anger there is no peace, without darkness there is no light and without death there is no life."**

"Amazing…" Naruto said, completely awed at what he was hearing, never in his life had to put his brain to work so hard as now to register all that was said, and he was fascinated and amazed by the complexity of life itself. Getting out of his stupor, Naruto then asked, "Is there anyone above you and your brothers?"

Glad to see that the boy managed to digest all the information, the dragon god said, **"Yes, my father, God himself, the creator of everything there is, he is the only being both omnipotent and omnipresent and the only one that cannot be killed by anything, even us Absolute Gods can be killed, of course, only by another Absolute God, but father cannot. My mother is above us aswell, you could say she is another Absolute God but she prefers to just stay by my father's side and watch, your people call her 'Kami'."**

"I thought a being like that existed, but it's still amazing to hear…" Naruto said weakly, shocked by every word spoken to him by the god in front of him, "And what is this 'essence' you said your power draws from?"

 **"** **Ah that, boy, is the essence of life itself. You see, each three of us have different abilities due to our duties as gods, Arkam has the ability of 'Creation', he can create entire worlds and use the powers of those who follow the light at his wish. Zekrom has the ability of 'Distortion', he can bend time and space at his wish and merge, divide and travel through all dimensions and time. And I, have the ability of 'Destruction', as you may guess, I basically have the power to destroy life itself. Once every civilization, the three of us merge some of our powers to create the thing you call 'Yin-Yang Release' and we gift it to someone worthy. In the past civilization, that person was the Sage of Six Paths."** Ddraig explained to the boy.

"Whoa, that sounds cool…" Naruto said, amazed again but confused as well, so he asked, "Umm… I've heard about ying and yang techniques but, what is this 'Ying-Yang Release' thingy?"

 **"** **The power of creation and destruction, it allows the user to create whatever it is on his/her mind, whether it be organic or inorganic. It also allows them to break the laws of life, such as bring people back from the Underworld, the realm where souls go after death. However, if we see that the gifted abuses this power, we remove it from them, as there must be a good reason to break the divine laws."** The Red Dragon Emperor responded.

"Wow, that's cool…" Naruto said. Closing his eyes, he went through his mind for the next question and after a few moments, he opened them again to say, "Alright, what happened to me? Why does my body feels so different and why does people react so much at my presence?"

 ** _'_** ** _Hehe, the moment of the truth, he will either hate me or love me after this…'_** Ddraig thought with a chuckle. Opening his eyes, he looked at the boy and replied, **"You better prepare for what's next boy, because what I'm about to say, will change everything for you…"** Seeing that the boy took some deep breaths to mentally prepare for whatever is to come, Ddraig continued after seeing his head nod, **"You remember that I told you that you actually died right?"** Naruto nodded and then, the dragon continued, **"Well, I never brought you back to life, I granted you divinity."**

Naruto was again, stupefied, _'Di-Divinity? Wh-what the!?…'_ Looking at the dragon, he stuttered, "E-explain please…"

 **"** **You're no longer a human, hatchling. You see, in order to grant you my power, you needed to be a god, if you were to be a regular human, every time you'd use my power you would be using your life span as well due to the fact that the essence can only be used by gods, say a rasengan made with my essence, would have been incredibly powerful yes, but it would've cost five to ten years of your life..."** Ddraig said with a small sense of sadness at seeing that the boy realized what that implied, **"They didn't knew, boy, your parents thought of me as a Tailed Beast, so they thought my power wasn't going to harm you."** He said softly, trying to ease the boy's pain.

"It doesn't make it any easier though…" Naruto responded. Pushing his pain aside, he asked, "Is that all you did?"

 **"** **No, to grant you divinity, I needed to reconstruct your body from scratch, so contemplating our needs, I reconstructed your body as that of a dragon using my own flesh, you are now a humanoid dragon."** Ddraig said, waiting on the boy for his reaction.

All Naruto could do was close and open his mouth like a fish out of the water. Regaining his composure after some minutes, he managed to say, "Dr-dragon? Bu-but my-my bo-body is the s-same…"

 **"** **That's because I reconstruct it like that, your body might resemble that of a human, but everything in you, your skin, your organs, your aura, everything is that of a dragon. Because of that, divinity was granted to you. That is also the reason people react the way they do around you."** The dragon said.

After a few minutes of taking deep breaths, Naruto managed to calm himself and asked, "I don't understand how me being a dragon now affects people?"

Closing his giant eyes, the god rested his head on his frontal legs and explained, **"Your mere presence screams power and authority, all dragons are divinities, so whenever mortals or most gods are around one, they get overwhelmed by our presence, you need to remember that deep inside everyone, including us immortals, we are animals that live by instinct, so when a female feels your presence, her instincts are screaming at her that you are the best mate there is, and when a male feels your presence, his instincts tell him to prove the others around his strength by fighting you. It is a gift because your mere presence could grant you anything, but it is also a curse because power attracts power, and the stronger you get in your life, the stronger the beings will be that want to test their power against you."**

"So that's why they act like that, even the strongest females like Tsume…" He said, finally everything clicked.

 **"** **Yes, your pheromones are too strong, and since your appearance and age is now irrelevant to you since you can change it however it pleases you, you can become whatever you need to move on with your plans, making you more irresistible to those around you."** Ddraig said to his container.

"Wait what!? What do you mean that I can do that!? Then why am I growing up normally like everyone else!?" Naruto asked confused.

Opening his eyes, the dragon god replied, **"You're not, I've been controlling your growth to keep up with appearances on the outside world, you can change your looks at your wish, however, you only have two true forms, how you look now, which you could say is your human form, and your dragon form, which we'll test after you manage to unlock my winged forms."**

Looking at the sand of the shore, Naruto stood there just thinking on how this changes things for him. Suddenly thinking of something, he asked, "Wait, wh-what would happen if… umm… ya know… I s-sleep with someone? W-Would it be harmful for them?"

Smirking at the boy, the dragon answered, **"No, but you must know, from now on, there is no such thing as a 'one night stand' with you…"** Seeing the confusion on the silver-haired teenager's face, he explained, **"You see, we dragons do not care about age, species or power when it comes to mates, we care about what both will get out of the union, be it power, political standing, yes we dragons and gods also have forms of government and clans, or simply because we wish it to be. Dragons and most gods do not believe in monogamy, most divine beings possess multiple partners to gather more power, but the difference between all other species and dragons, is that when a dragon chooses a mate, the moment that they copulate, the weaker of the two suffers a change in his/her body that adjusts it to the necessities of the strongest, that way, the weaker of the two can become a good partner for the strongest, no matter the background of the weakest…"** Seeing that the boy was still confused, the dragon decided to use a more comprehensible example, **"Mm, think of the Inuzuka matriarch woman that you like, she is at least three times your age, right? Well, if you were to seduce her and have sex with her, since you are a divinity and a dragon, by default you are the strongest of the two, so your essence will spread the moment you penetrate her, it will make her young again to when she was in her prime, she will also gain immortality but not divinity, since that can only be given by Absolute Gods or Father, but she would also gain a boost in all of her abilities. This is so she can keep up with you and not become a weakness to you, this was developed throughout the ages due to we dragons always fighting, so our bodies adjust to the one, or the strongest of the many if you take on multiple partners, we are bound to, so our enemies won't have it easy if they decide to attack our mates."**

"Oh I get it now, so I guess that the opposite will apply if I were to take on a younger lover, nah? Her body would grow to her prime and all…" Seeing the dragon nod in affirmative, he was relieved that he wouldn't have to worry so much about whoever he took as mate since she would be able to protect herself. Remembering something, he asked, "You said that I couldn't have occasional sex, why?"

 **"** **Ah, that's the catch, the moment you copulate with someone, it will bound them to you for eternity, and the strongest of the two will gain the ability to control the other, they'd be obliged to follow your every command no matter what it is, even if you command them to end their own lives, they will be obliged by your presence to do it, because the moment you bound someone to you, a part of you remains in them…"** Ddraig said while looking at the boy's reaction before continuing, **"Of course you could have sex with a girl and just abandon her, but while she might be able to move on and have a new life, she will remain bound to you no matter what, and knowing you, I know that even if you took on someone by accident, you will take care of them for eternity, that's why I said you can't sleep with anyone unless you're sure to also commit to them for life, because even if you can force them to do your will, mortals can do amazing things when their freedom is taking away from them, maybe even finding a way to destroy your control, so I know you would rather have their true loyalty and love instead."**

"Yeah that's true, even if my ambition to unite us all is strong, I would give it up if even one of my loved ones needs to suffer for it." Naruto said, knowing that he would take care of whoever he bounds to him.

Stretching a bit, the dragon god got up and added, **"You must also know that there is a big drawback in being a dragon."**

"Hm? What is it?" Naruto asked while squinting his eyes.

 **"** **You are cursed now, as every dragon in existence, including me and my brothers."** Ddraig said calmly.

Jumping on his feet, Naruto said while pointing at the god, "Oi! What'cha mean 'cursed', ya fool!?"

Sighing, the dragon looked at the boy and explained, **"At the beginning of time, my father and mother created me, soon after me, 4 more dragons followed. Father made the three eldest of us 'Absolute Gods' to help him govern over life, while the two youngest where charged with creating the dragon species, the youngest where Arkam and Zekrom. As you might have figured it out, they are now 'Absolute Gods' as well, but that was not always the case, the original 'Absolute God of Beginning' was my second brother, Albion, my arch rival, the only one truly capable to go toe to toe against me, and the original 'Absolute God of Traverse' was my third brother, Crom Cruach. After some millennia, Cruach became unstable, he grew hungry for power and secretly granted power boosts to his six followers to stage an attack against our father, Cruach along with his followers managed to bring the first civilization of life into chaos and forced me and Albion to act, our fight was brutal and it cost the existence of the first civilization, but eventually, Cruach was defeated, but as his final act he managed to kill Albion, leaving the universe in chaos…"** Ddraig then looked at the clouded sky as if remembering his battle with his brother and then continued, **"Needless to say, our Father was angered as never before, and seeing that the immense power that dragons possessed was starting to become a problem, a fail-safe had to be established in us, so he created the 'Corruption Curse'…"** He looked back at Naruto to give him some seconds to catch up. After receiving a nod from his container, the dragon god continued, **"You see, darkness and light are living beings, they are both the will of God, they have no real intelligence, they only follow the will implanted in them, but they are as strong as God himself, so he implanted in every dragon a piece of darkness to ensure that if a dragon is to lose him/herself into his/her own ambitions, hatred, arrogance or vices, the piece of darkness sealed in us will begin the corruption process, once is done, we become nothing but mindless husks at the service of darkness. No dragon is immune to this, not even I."** He finished with a serious tone.

Laying on the sand, Naruto stared at the sky and said, "So that's what you meant with your power's 'ill will', right?"

 **"** **Yes, but know this boy, you must be careful with your feelings, while right now you're not strong, you do have the potential to achieve immense power and if you lose yourself in hate, you could become as destructive as Cruach, you know why I'm telling you this."** Ddraig said with seriousness to boy.

"Yeah, yeah, you mean my feelings towards my parents, Itachi and the village, I know…" The last Namikaze whined a little. Closing his eyes, he thought over everything the dragon has told him so far and asked, "So, why doing this? Why me? What is your goal?" That was the biggest question that has been pestering him for seven years.

Focusing his eyes on the boy's, the dragon god said with a stern voice, **"Because, I've chosen you as my successor."**

Naruto widened his eyes for a second before closing them and whined, "I shouldn't even be surprised after everything you said but, could you elaborate?" He asked.

Resting his giant head on the sand again, Ddraig closed his eyes and explained, **"I'm old, hatchling, more than you can imagine, and I am tired of this job, I want to retire to Drakunia and spend the rest of my days watching the new universe from afar…"** Taking a deep breath, the dragon then continued, **"You see, I had already chosen a successor some centuries ago, the only human I ever considered a friend before you, he was the only one to ever be granted permission to fight alongside dragons and to call on them whenever needed, but his destiny was another one and so, it could not be. However, he did said that when the time comes I would find the one to inherit his will and dreams. I spent all these centuries looking at humans trying to find his transmigrant, until I finally found him thirteen years ago, you Naruto."**

"Transmigrant!? Isn't that like, sort of reincarnation or something?..." He asked confused. Getting a nod in affirmative from the mighty beast, he then asked, "Who was this guy then? Who am I the reincarnation of?"

Opening his eyes, he locked them to Naruto's and said, **"Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths."**

Now that was definitely another big shock for the silver-haired jinchūriki and it showed in his wide opened eyes and his jaw practically hitting the ground. Taking some deep breaths, Naruto said, "Wo wo wo! You're telling me that I'M the reincarnation of the SAGE OF SIX PATHS!? The father of Ninshū!?..." Ddraig just nodded with a shrug like if it was nothing. Dropping on his butt, Naruto just stared at the ground, lost completely in thought. The dragon gave him time to adjust to all of this, his life was now completely different and he now knew that his actions will have a greater impact over life than ever. Knowing that this meant that he needed to get stronger, he looked at Ddraig and said with a smirk, " _Sigh,_ So, where do we go from now then?"

 ** _'_** ** _You have matured Naruto, I now see I made the right choice…'_** Ddraig thought with pride at seeing that the boy seemed now more motivated than ever, **"Well like I said, there is still a lot to do. You may be a god, but you are not even the strongest in your village, you will have to grow first in your world, it will be easier for you to grow stronger if you focus on this ambition of yours, so from now on, you must perfect all my winged forms. First, we will work on the initial state, which you are close to perfect, then, we'll go with the two-winged form, this form grants you a by-two boost on all your abilities, mental and physically as well. Then comes the four-winged state, this one gives you a by-four boost and unlocks my true healing ability, which is faster than the speed in which you heal now. Next, is the six-winged one, it gives a by-six boost and unlocks your true dragon form, you will be able to switch between my form and yours, although, it will not be complete, you will be a small version of my true form, five metres tall more or less. Then comes the eight-winged form, gives you a by-eight boost and unlocks the 'Ying-Yang Release' gifted to you as well as half of my true size in both dragon forms. Next is the ten-winged, a by-ten boost and my complete dragon form will be unlocked along with yours, however, in order to unlock this one, you'll have to become a Dragon Sage, when the time comes, you'll go to Drakunia and train in the Sage Arts there, once you've master it, you'll be able to unlock the ten-winged form…"** Opening his eyes to see Naruto, the god continued, **"And finally, the twelve-winged form, this is the form that will signal your ascension and mark the beginning of your time as the next 'Absolute God of End', in order to unlock it, you will have to come to terms with who you really are and which path will you choose, whether you become the guide to true peace or the ultimate destruction of all there is, it's up to you, but before you can make my full power yours, you must answer those questions since you will have to prove that you can defeat your 'Corruption Curse'."** Ddraig finished his explanation.

 _'_ _Now I kinda understand Shikamaru's 'troublesome' remarks, this is too damn troublesome…'_ Naruto said, already feeling tired at all there is to come. Looking at the dragon, he replied, "Alright Ddraig, I will not let you down, I'll become your successor and I'll work harder than ever to achieve it!" Naruto exclaimed with fire in his eyes.

With a smirk, Ddraig thought **_'Hehe, I have a feeling this kid may surpass me, we'll see…'_** He then looked at Naruto and said, **"You better kid, only my father and mother are stronger than I, it would be embarrassing if you don't prove your strength!"**

"You don't have to worry about it, scaly ball! I'll show'em all what I can do!..." Naruto said with a good guy pose before continuing, "What do I do in the meantime though!?"

 **"** **Focus on your dream to unite the world boy, it is a big ambition, but it is one worthy of my successor…"** Ddraig responded. Narrowing his eyes at the boy, he then asked, **"Do you even know how to achieve it?"**

Looking at the dragon for good 5 minutes, Naruto squinted his eyes and replied sheepishly, "Nope."

The dragon actually face planted at the boy's stupidity. With an annoyed roar, the dragon said, **"Stupid brat! Lucky you that I've been thinking on a way to do it then."** Ddraig then gave him a devious smirk.

"Oi! I just graduated a week ago! I was going to plan how to!..." Naruto heatedly replied before saying, "Alright, you damn oversized lizard, what's yo plan?"

With a small huff at the nickname, Ddraig gave the boy a feral smirk and said, " **Women."**

Scratching below his nose in confusion, Naruto deadpanned, "I beg your pardon?"

With a low chuckle, Ddraig explained his idea to his host, **"Think about it boy, females are starting to become powerful in your world, more and more there are females rising to power, make them fall for you, increase your influence around the world, make them believe in your cause. Your powerful pheromones will give you the ability to make them easier to seduce, but if you truly want them to believe in you and your ambition, you'll have to make them fall for you, but if you do it right, you'll be able to shape the events of the world at your wish."**

Naruto was completely dumbfounded after the dragon's suggestion, "YO-YOU PE-PERVERTED GOD! YOU'RE LITERALLY SUGGESTING ME TO FUCK MY WAY TO PEACE, ARE YOU NOT!?" Seeing the smirk on the dragon, Naruto grabbed his hear in exasperation but thinking it over, he actually saw some truth in his words. Falling on his back, he took his hands to cover his face and said with frustration, "I can't believe such a being like you would suggest something like that! And worse, I can't believe I actually think it could work!" Taking a deep breath, Naruto sat back and said, "But how can you even expect they will be willing to share!? Women are too possessive, ya know!?"

 **"** **Yes, it will be hard, but if you seduce them and prove your loyalty to them, I'm sure they will follow you to the end, don't forget the moment you bed them, they will fall in your control, but like I said, I know you won't force them so just prove your loyalty and I believe most, if not all of those you target, will willingly follow you. Remember, they will receive immortality and a huge boost to their powers, so besides peace, they have a lot more to gain as well."** Ddraig replied calmly.

" _Sigh_ , I can't believe you actually make sense, the only way to truly unite us all would be if we are willing to work together and like you said, women are gaining a lot of power… just in the Leaf you have Tsume, the head of a powerful clan as well as Ino and Hinata who are heiresses to other powerful clans… if I manage to convince them to my ambition, we might be able to shape the world from the shadows…" Naruto said in realization at the dragon's plan, it did made sense. Naruto knew that if he were to use someone as a puppet, eventually, they'll retaliate, so the best way was to give them in return what he always wanted, unconditional love, _'My ambition will be to achieve a global understanding, but my duty, my only true duty, will be to the women I choose, my family, I will not put them in second place, I will prove them that they come first…'_ Naruto thought with conviction. Looking back at the dragon, he claimed, "You're right Ddraig, I will begin here in the Leaf and then, when I have a way to do it, I'll spread my influence, no, my family, to the other villages, I will not fail Ddraig, I will bring peace, but I will do it with them by my side."

 ** _'_** ** _I actually believe you're the only that could pull it off boy…'_** Ddraig thought with pride over the boy. He then said, **"Then it's settled, we'll begin looking for candidates that'll help you with your ambition while you carry out your shinobi duties. Now go, I'm tired, I've never spoke so much in my life."**

"Hehe, I'm with ya there! Aight, we'll talk in the morning, see ya Ddraig!" Naruto said before focusing on the outside world. Seeing his apartment again, he stretched his legs and went to his balcony and looked at the sleeping village while thinking, _'This is my path and I will not fail, believe it…'_

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya lads have it, I hope you guys enjoyed it and that Ddraig's explanation was clear enough, see ya later! Cheers!**


	5. The Tempting (Part 1)

**A/N: Hey guys, thanks for your constant interest! I leave ya lads the next chapter, enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **The Tempting (Part 1)**

"Arg! I have no idea how to do this shit, yo!" Naruto screamed with frustration, waving around a small book in his hands.

It has been three days since his talk with Ddraig and he's been cracking up his brain thinking just how the hell he was going to seduce and make women fall for him. No, he wasn't oblivious to such themes, his father figure was a well-known pervert and whenever Naruto stayed at Kakashi's place, he would sneak into his room to look at his precious books. The first time he did it, it was when he was 8, Naruto was intrigued to know just what the hell were those books about since it kept the silver-haired jōnin so interested, so he snuck into the Copy-Ninja's room while he was away on a mission and took a look to the books.

Now, while Naruto might be a genius, he was still innocent in most aspects, so reading such, graphic things, was a bit much for the little boy, he quickly rushed back to his room and hid behind the covers like if shielding himself from a monster, in this case, this strange new feeling of embarrassment. Still, he was a curious boy, so he kept doing it until Kakashi caught him and after a few minutes of laughter from his father, the silver-haired ninja gave him the talk, and it was damn embarrassing.

But now that he needed the knowledge to drive his ambition forward, he needed to gather more information about the act, so he used a henge to make himself look older in order to buy a copy of 'Icha Icha Tactics'. He's been reading the book for the past three days before going to sleep and he has certainly learned some things about sex, but he just couldn't find names to drive his ambition forward.

 ** _"_** ** _Hatchling, stop pacing around so much, you don't need to begin right away, while you are immortal now, your mind's still young, so it doesn't have to be your focus, for now, just mark them."_** Ddraig said to his container.

 _"_ _I know! I won't be able to do anything for at least two years, but I still need to prepare..."_ Naruto answered. Laying on the floor of his balcony and looking at the stars, he asked the beast, " _What do you mean with 'mark' them?"_

 ** _"_** ** _Well, as you said, you won't be able to actually seduce them for some years since to them, you're still a thirteen year old boy, but you can find a way to implant a small amount of your essence into your targets, this will make them… 'eager' to you…"_** The dragon replied.

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto sat up and mentally replied, " _Mm, like to make them more susceptive to me in the future? Won't it be dangerous for them?"_

 ** _"_** ** _No, it would be like an annoying itch that only you would be able to scratch."_** The god replied with a chuckle.

 _"_ _Damn, I would have normally call you a pervert but since I'm going along with this, it would be hypocritical on my part…"_ Naruto replied, shaking his head at the dragon's sexual innuendo, " _Still, I have no idea who to mark though."_

 ** _"_** ** _Is not that hard, target the women that hold power in your village, the current clan heads or the heiresses of the clans."_** Ddraig replied simply.

 _"_ _Mm, Tsume is the Inuzuka clan head, Hana is the heiress, so those two will be on my list…"_ Naruto said while writing down the names of the two Inuzuka females, _"Mm, who else? The only other ones that come to my mind right now are Ino, she's the heiress of the Yamanaka clan, and Hinata, she's the heiress of the Hyūga, although, as far as I know, there is some resentment from her father and might even choose Hinata's younger sister over her."_

 ** _"_** ** _Kid, remember that not everything is about clans, they are not the only thing you'll need to influence, you'll need 'agents' on many places, the civilian side, people where you can get classified information like the intelligence departments, ANBU and such. Also, common people will help you with information gathering, if you want to shape things from the shadows, you'll need to have as many ears as possible, so target women you like as well, like the waitress, people usually spill information on the streets, so that could be useful, even the Elder of this village will be useful."_** Ddraig said to his jinchūriki, snickering at the last part.

 _"_ _What!? The others I understand but, Elder Koharu? I know that she will get younger if I target her, but how in the hell am I supposed to seduce her, you oversized lizard!?"_ Naruto heatedly replied to the dragon.

With a sigh, the dragon answered, **_"I told you, the seduction is something you'll have to worry later, you need to build a name for yourself to attract more attention to you first. For now, do the same thing to her that you'll do to the others, inject her with some of your essence and when the time comes, claim her, the one that will represent a big problem is the Inuzuka woman, Tsume. The Inuzuka have strong senses, so while you have an advantage thanks to your pheromones, it will also put them on edge, since it would be like challenging her territory."_**

 _"_ _Mm, I guess you're right, I'll have to do some scouting though, I'll just have to seize these days that Team 7 is out of duty…"_ Naruto said while walking back inside his home to get some rest before thinking, _'Can't believe I've turned into such a pervert, it's all Pa's fault!...'_

* * *

The next day, Naruto woke up feeling already tired at all the things he had to find out, _'Damn, Pa and Shikamaru are rubbing off on me…'_ He lazily got out of his bed and headed straight to the shower, hoping that the cold water will wake him up fully. After the shower he went to his kitchen to prepare some breakfast while thinking what to do for the rest of the week since Kakashi had been called on an urgent mission, so Team 7 activities had been postponed for the week, "Well, that does gives me time to scout on targets and info of the village." Naruto muttered to himself.

In the last weeks since the formation of Team 7 and Sakura's newly found resolution, the team was starting to look incredibly promising. Sakura had fitted perfectly as team medic and support, Sasuke and Naruto's spot was now interchangeable, if the mission required finesse, Sasuke would take on the spot as the front man since he was the fastest, had better chakra control than the others and of course, had the sharingan, but if the mission required a juggernaut, then Naruto would take on the frontline position since when it came to raw strength and power, he was the best. His fierce taijutsu along with his deadly kenjutsu that was quickly taking on a fiercer look thanks to its speed and unpredictability made the team starting to live up to the legendary status of the name 'Team 7', which had everyone happy to see that the team was shaping up to greatness like its predecessors, but it also had them worried that like the past Team 7, tragedy would strike the team one day.

After finishing his breakfast, Naruto looked at his special 'Bingo Book' and said to himself, "Mm, aight, let's see…" Opening the book, Naruto wrote at the top of the first page and said, "Ino Yamanaka, she's the heiress of the clan, loves flowers, gossip and taking care of her image, and what a fine image, yo…" Cleaning the drool from his mouth courtesy of the blonde kunoichi, he continued, "Her clan is part of the Shinobi Council… mmm… I don't think I'll have problems with her, she already got the hots for me, but I'll still mark her just in case."

Flipping to the next page, Naruto wrote, "Hinata Hyūga, heiress of the Hyūga clan… hmm, I don't really know much about her, only that she has some problems with her father, she used to have confidence problems as well but as far as I can see, I think she got over them now, the problem is what if her sister becomes the next head instead of Hinata?…" Naruto then hit himself for thinking that way and added, "What the fuck am I saying!? I would be such a dickhead if I only cared about that, I like her so it wouldn't matter if she's not clan head, we could still gather some strength from the Hyūga clan even then."

Continuing onto the next page, he wrote, "Ayame Ichiraku, now, she's the important one of course, how could I move forward without ramen!?…" He said chuckling, "On the serious note, with my fortune we could make Ichiraku's bigger, if what Ddraig says is true, then people will spill some stuff that could benefit our cause while enjoying that delicious dish, I don't think I'll have many problems with her since I know she likes me."

"Aight, who's next…" Naruto said while flipping the page, "Hana Inuzuka, she's supposed to take over from her mother unless Kiba challenges her I think, if I'm targeting Tsume as well, I may won't need Hana since I doubt Tsume will retire any time soon, but…" He began thinking on the younger Inuzuka and couldn't help but drool at the thought of the girl, "I'll definitely try… I like her very much, thank you."

"Aight next, Tsume Inuzuka, the matriarch of the clan and probably the most difficult target… First off, I really don't know much about her… at least I'm acquainted with her… from what I know, her ex-husband left her and has been single ever since, the thing will be getting close enough to her to infuse some of my essence in her, if I do even the slightest wrong move, she'll know something's up and it could definitely fuck everything up." Naruto said with a slight shiver at thinking on getting on her bad side.

"Who else? Who else?…" With a finger on his chin, Naruto remembered the names the dragon gave him the other night, "I can't believe I'm targeting her but… Ddraig's right… having her will definitely be beneficial, but how in the hell am I gon get close to her!?... she's never been bad with me on the few times we've been in the same room but still, she's like 70 or 80 years old, Elder Koharu's definitely the hardest target but can't deny the benefits… and if the pictures I've seen of her during the First Great War say something, she was definitely hot." He finished pondering about the village Elder.

"Well, I think that's it for now…" He said before remembering some other names, "Oh shit, Anko! She's supposed to be the next head of the T&I dep.! Having that kind of information will be essential, plus, I gotta a promise to keep…" He wrote her name with a smile while thinking about the promise he made her when he was 6.

 _Flashback:_

 _A 6 year old Naruto was jumping through the branches of the trees in the Forest of Death, he had just finished some of the intense training that the Twelve-Wings gave him and was heading back home._

 _"_ _Those damn shelled bastards, I swear they're getting smarter…" He said to himself._

 _After a few hops, the sound of quiet sobbing attracted his attention. Heading cautiously towards the sound, he saw a familiar silhouette of a woman with pineapple hair. Approaching slowly, he said to the woman, "Ko!? A-are you okay?"_

 _Turning around, Anko saw the boy she loved to chase around the village looking at her with worry and replied, "N-Naru!? Y-Yes I'm fine don't worry… sigh… what are you doing here at this hour?" She replied, trying to shift the focus of the jinchūriki at something other than her tears._

 _Noticing the change of topic, he answered, "I was finishing some of the Academy katas, I like to come here because it's quiet when you know where to go…" Jumping to a branch next to her, he added, "Please Ko, don't try to change the subject, what's wrong?"_

 _'_ _Sigh, he always knows when I'm lying…' Anko thought fondly after seeing the boy's genuine concern for her. She then replied, "Sigh, Ok it's just… I just get t-too lonely sometimes… I have f-friends that love me, but they have people to come home to… Kurenai has Asuma… Yūgao has Hayate… and Hana has her family… i-i-it's… i-it's just hard sometimes… I know y-you understand but… it's st-still hard… that snake b-bastard doomed me to be always an outcast…" She said, not caring with hiding her tears anymore._

 _The boy then surprised her when he jumped to her branch and put his small body between her legs, he rested his head on her breasts and hugged her tightly while saying, "That's not true Ko, you can always come home to me, I will always be there for you."_

 _Getting out of her initial shock at the boy's actions, 'Stupid lovable brat…' She thought before hugging him tightly while resting her chin on his head and said, "You promise?"_

 _"_ _I promise." Naruto replied._

 _After a few minutes of hugging, Anko realized that the boy had fallen asleep in her arms and just stayed there, brushing his hair gently while whispering, "You truly bring me joy, Naru…"_

 _End Flashback_

"People think she's sadistic and an overall bitch, but while that might be half true, she's just afraid of people abandoning her, her true self, it's a gentle girl." He finished with a smile while thinking on his purple haired 'Handler'.

Closing the book, he kept it on a shelf and muttered "I guess that's it for now, I would love to add Yūgao but she's Hayate-sensei's girlfriend and I don't wanna be a home-wrecker." He then picked his jacket up and headed towards the door to begin his scouting on the girls that would help move his ambition forward.

* * *

"So let me get this straight…" Sasuke said to his best friend after hearing his explanation of what the Red Dragon Emperor told him, "You actually died eight years ago and the Twelve-Wings brought you back, but he had to turn you into a humanoid dragon so you could handle his power and that's why your presence is so… notorious?" He added amusedly.

 _"_ _Why am I lying to my brother again, Ddraig? I kinda don't get it…"_ Naruto mentally asked the dragon.

 ** _"_** ** _Sigh…_** _ **Obnoxious brat, I told you already! Mortals cannot know about the existence of divinities, it's a breach to the divine laws, so unless you want me to come out and take the Uchiha's soul for knowing things he's not supposed to, you better keep quiet about who I am, what you truly are and your ambition."**_ The dragon god replied with annoyance.

 _"_ _Alright, alright, I get it, jeez you don't have to get all bitchy about it, fool…"_ Naruto replied to Ddraig before turning to his best friend saying, "Yup, that's exactly it, never in my life have I been so freaked out about something but, it's kinda cool though, he said that eventually I might even develop immunity to fire!"

"Nothing can be easy with you, huh?…" Sasuke replied amused. After some more walking, the two arrived deep into the Forest of Death where Naruto usually trains and once the two settled in different spots, Sasuke asked his brother with unease, "You sure that it'll work? Not gonna lie, I'm kinda on the fence with this."

 _"_ _So, you sure Ddraig!?"_ Naruto mentally asked the dragon.

Thinking for a few moments for any flaws, the dragon replied to the silver-haired jinchūriki, **_"Yes, it is risky, but it will work, his sharingan should be enough to stop you long enough if you start to lose control for the initial state, but remember, DO NOT lose focus, once you draw my power, the curse will try to take over so you must not overdo it, once you're ready for the two-winged state, I'll let you know."_**

"Well, he says that it is risky, but it'll work as long as I don't lose mah shit… so stop being a scaredy cat and let's do this!" Naruto replied to Sasuke while taking a sitting position on the grass.

"Alright then." Sasuke said while activating his 2 tomoe sharingan. He then gave Naruto a nod to start and waited to see if he needed to intervene.

Naruto closed his eyes and began meditating, after a few seconds of calming breaths, he felt relaxed enough to call on Ddraig's power and began to draw it out. Since he had his eyes closed, he couldn't see that his body was starting to be coated with crimson flames, his silver hair was waving wildly and small tornado was starting to form around him. Once he opened his eyes, one could see that they were no longer blue, the iris became neon red and the golden slit became a bit wider, his eyes caught an unnatural glow and the pressure coming off of him was huge, even for the Uchiha.

 _'_ _Holy shit, this pressure is incredible but… I can't feel chakra… what the hell!?…'_ Sasuke thought confused since his sharingan could not register any trace of chakra in his brother's power, "Dobe, are you in control?" He asked cautiously, keeping his guard up in case the dragon's power had taken over.

 _'_ _Fuck, this is amazing! I can sense everything in at least a five hundred metres radio…'_ Naruto thought, amazed at the power he could feel flowing through his body. Looking at his hands, he could see that the essence cloak that surrounded his body had taken on the shape of claws on his hands. Looking back at his rival, the silver-haired boy replied, "Yeah it's me Teme don't worry, this feels amazing, son!"

"What is this power though? My sharingan cannot register any hint of chakra in it, so what is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, the Twelve-Wings said that this is a dragon's natural power, since he's not really a Tailed Beast he doesn't need chakra, but I think this power is even more potent." Naruto lied to Sasuke to cover up the truth behind the dragon and his power.

"It definitely feels that way…" Sasuke replied before adjusting his stance. He then said, "Alright, now move, let's see how much your skills have augmented."

"Aight, here I go." Naruto said before disappearing in a burst of speed. Coming close to Sasuke, he cocked his fist back to try and punch the raven-haired teenager's gut but at the last second, Sasuke managed to catch the punch but was surprised when it hurt like a bitch and had to jump back away from the Uzumaki.

"Damn, your strength definitely increased, that hurt like a bitch." Sasuke said while shaking his hands.

"Yeah, I can feel the strength… what about the speed though? You managed to stop my hit but was it instinct or could you see it coming?" Naruto asked.

"Both, but mostly instinct, you actually were a blur to my eyes, but I still could see you enough to let my senses kick in to stop the punch. How much can you hold this state?" Sasuke inquired.

Squinting his eyes, Naruto massaged his chin while saying, "Mmm, I think I can hold it for at least twenty more minutes, let's keep training until I feel that I can't continue."

The duo continued to train for the next 20 minutes and both could see wonders from this form, Naruto's speed and strength was at least doubled and as the training went by, Sasuke had more and more trouble keeping up with his movements even with his sharingan on. After the training, the two of them laid on the grass panting heavily when suddenly, Naruto realized that there was something off on the surroundings, _'Whatta?… there's a presence around but… it doesn't feel familiar… It's not ANBU… whoever it is… is suppressing their presence even more than the ANBU so they definitely don't wanna be found…'_

 ** _"_** ** _I see you've finally realized."_** The dragon suddenly told him.

 _"_ _What!? Ya knew!? What is it? Why didn't you tell me?"_ Naruto replied.

 ** _"_** ** _I was allowing your sensor abilities to grow and whoever this presence is, it's been tailing you ever since you graduated."_** Ddraig told him.

 _"_ _Mm, what should I do? Should I tell Pa or the Old Man!?"_ Naruto asked the beast.

 ** _"_** ** _I think it would be wiser to let it play, whoever this is, definitely knows what is doing."_** Ddraig told his container.

 _"_ _Alright then, we'll just let it play, see where it goes…"_ Naruto replied and after some more minutes of resting, he sat up and nodded to Sasuke. The pair then stood up and headed towards Ichiraku's to have some lunch and continue their day.

* * *

The two soon arrived to the ramen stand, both with hungry gazes, but Naruto had a more mischievous look.

 _'_ _Oh! I think that I should seize this chance with Ayame, if someone can help me gather info on females, is her…'_ He thought with a devilish smirk while rubbing his hands mischievously.

"What's up with you, Dobe? And what's that smell?" Sasuke said with a raised eyebrow while sniffing the strange smell.

 _'_ _Shit, I forgot Sasuke was here, need to lower my pheromones or he will smell them…'_ Naruto thought before replying, "Oi! Ya know how excited I get when it comes to ramen! I just can't help it Teme!"

"Hn." Was all he got from the last loyal Uchiha.

Sitting on their usual stools, the two waited there until a familiar brunette girl appeared from the back carrying some ingredients. Placing them down on the counter, she turned around and said, "Hello what can I… Oh! Naru, Sasuke, is good to see you, the usual?" She asked with a beaming smile and a small pink tint on her cheeks.

"You know it Aya!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. As she started to prepare their dishes, Naruto and Sasuke talked about random things while waiting for the food, but mentally, Naruto was devilishly scheming, _'Mm, aight, she could help me a lot in my quest if I lay it all now, out of everyone I know she's the one that has the strongest feelings for me so I don't really need to seduce her… sigh… I just hope she doesn't freaks out…'_ He thought.

After a few moments, Ayame finished the dishes and settled them in front of the two hungry boys who after nodding their thanks, began to devour the bowls, even Sasuke, which was a strange sight since he's usually stoic but ever since he formed a brotherhood with the Uzumaki, he really seemed to appreciate more and more the dish. After finishing their dose of ramen, the pair said their goodbyes to each other but before Ayame could say goodbye to her crush, he said, "Hey Aya! Where's the old man?"

"Ah, dad is not in the Leaf right now, he went to Sand…" She said. Seeing the confusion in the jinchūriki's eyes, she explained, "You see, dad's been wanting to expand our business so he went to talk to some old friend of his to see if it was possible to maybe establish another stand over there, so for the rest of the week, it'll be just me."

 _'_ _This good luck of mine…'_ He thought with a devilish smirk before saying, "Oh no you're not! I'll help ya for the rest of the week, I'll stay here with ya until you close and I'll help then too!"

With a surprised look and a rapidly darkening shade of red on her face, she took a deep breath and stuttered, "Na-Naru you d-don't ha-have to! It's f-fine rea-really…" She was trying to sound coherent, although inside her mind she really wanted the boy to not listen to her.

"Nonsense! I wanna spend more time with you, ya know!? Plus, I got the rest of the week off since Pa is out on a mission, so I'll come here after my trainings and help you close!" He said with a beaming smile, leaving no room for discussion.

To which the brunette waitress was definitely not going to oppose the idea since she was mentally dancing, _'Oh my, this is so awesome!...'_ She thought excitedly, "O-ok Nar-u, if you'd be s-so ki-kind…" She added timidly with a heavy blush on her face.

"Believe it!" He threw his catchphrase while giving her a beaming smile and a thumbs up.

Naruto then spent the rest of the day helping Ayame on the ramen shop, cleaning the stools and tables, washing dishes or cutting vegetables. The now 17 year old waitress was trying hard but failing none the less with keeping her blush and arousal down at being so close to the object of her affections, that unbeknownst to her, was releasing pheromones around her so that she would be more susceptive to his words since he planned to tell Ayame the whole truth, he was afraid that she might get mad at him so he was doing his best to smooth things enough to explain his ambition.

Closing time eventually came and the pair were cleaning the place up, but Naruto was starting to feel very anxious.

 ** _"_** ** _Relax hatchling! You've been releasing pheromones the whole time, I can smell her arousal, even if she doesn't agree, we can make her forget about the conversation."_** Ddraig said to the ex-blond.

 _"_ _Is not easy, ya know!? I really don't wanna lose her but, I have to do this…"_ He replied a little insecure.

After some minutes of cleaning in silence, the silver-haired jinchūriki steeled himself and called the brown-haired waitress, "Hey Aya! Can you come back here for a minute!?"

Said brunette appeared after a few seconds, Naruto could smell her arousal and could hear that the beats of her heart were faster than normal, "Yeah, what is it Naru!?" She said with a cute voice.

 _'_ _Damn she's so cute… ah focus Naruto!'_ The '13 year old' Uzumaki took some deep breaths and requested, "Can you sit, Aya?"

"Amm, sure…" She did as she was told and took a seat on the closest chair she could find. Looking at Naruto with clear confusion, she asked while feeling a little nervous, "Umm… wh-what is i-it, Naru?… i-is eve-everything okay?"

"Well, we'll see in a moment won't we?…" He said, making the girl even more confused and nervous. Taking a seat in front of her, Naruto locked eyes with her and asked with a stern voice that hid well his nervousness, "Aya… do you… do you know what I hold?"

Tilting her head to the side, she pondered his words thinking on what could he mean, _'What he holds?... Wait! He… he means the Tw-Twelve-Wings!?...'_ Composing herself a bit after her realization, she gulped loudly and said warily, "Umm… yo-you mean th-the… umm…" Looking down at the floor, she fidgeted her fingers and added with a voice that was almost a whisper, "T-Twelve-Wings?"

Smiling tenderly at the nervous girl, he replied, "Yes Aya, the dragon…" She looked back at Naruto and only gave him a small nod, seeing that she already answered the question. Sighing, Naruto looked at her eyes and said, "Even knowing that, do you still feel the same about me?"

Shooting her head up quickly, she widened her eyes and thought, _'He-he kn-knows how I-I feel… does… does he?…'_ Biting her nails, she stared at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with the silver-haired boy and then answered, "Ye-yes… I've… I've known si-since I w-was ten that yo-you hold the… Twelve-Wings…" She then steeled herself and took a deep breath to control her emotions. She locked eyes with her crush and declared confidently, "I feel the same Naru… I know that you're not the dragon and that the village is really stupid for believing you are…" She looked back at floor and finished her sentence, "You're still the same knucklehead I love."

Smiling warmly at the girl, he thought while shuddering _'Well, it's time then, I just hope she doesn't cut off my dick or something…'_ Looking at the ground, he took a deep breath and locked eyes with her again, "That's good Aya… I love you too." He said while getting on his knees, squeezing her hand and looking at her with a wide smile.

Looking at him with wide eyes, Ayame thought, _'He-he lov-loves me!? Oh God! H-he said it!...'_ Struggling with her tongue a bit, she took some calming breaths and looking at the silver-haired jinchūriki, she said with both hope and fear in her voice, "Y-You… you me-mean it!?..."

"Yes, I mean it Aya…" He said with a voice that held no doubts in his words. But before she could jump in happiness, he stood up and walked back to the chair he was sitting before, confusing the girl who was thinking that maybe he didn't wanted to be with her but before she could ask, he explained, "I love you Ayame but… there's some things you need to know about me, something that nobody, not even my dad knows."

Hearing the seriousness in his voice, the Ichiraku girl stowed her joy for the moment and said, "O-ok, what… what is it Naruto?"

"I'm not alive anymore, Aya." He said softly.

Seeing the honesty in his eyes, she widened her eyes and said with a bit of trouble keeping her stuttering in check, "W-what do y-you m-mean, Nar-Naruto?"

With a heavy sigh, Naruto laid back on his chair and explained, "You see, when… when I was five, the villagers killed me… they were chasing me around on the day of the festival for the defeat of the Twelve-Wings, eventually they caught up with me and started beating me badly… after I could no longer move, some of the people in the mob were ninja and one of them grabbed a kunai and stabbed me in the heart…" Seeing that the girl was starting to tear up for his story, he continued so she wouldn't focus so much on it, "That day I met the dragon."

"Yo-you met it!?" She weakly said, still shaken up for the silver-haired boy's story.

"Yes, we had an… interesting discussion…" Standing up, Naruto walked towards a window and looked at the night sky before continuing, "Turns out, that he's not a Tailed Beast… he's actually a god, Aya… a true god, like the ones we pray to every day."

"Wh-what?…" She said, utterly stunned by his words. At first, she thought he might have been kidding but now, seeing the honesty in his eyes and hearing no deception in his voice, she knew he was being serious. Taking a deep breath, Ayame then asked, "Bu-but if he's a… god… then why is he sealed in you? Aren't they supposed to be… umm… you know… super strong?"

With a small chuckle, the jinchūriki looked back at the sky and replied, "Yes, he is, he's actually the third strongest being there is…" Walking back towards his seat, he was about to continue but a voice in his head interrupted him.

 ** _"_** ** _Kid, don't tell her that I've chosen you as my successor until you've marked her completely, the information could be too much for a mortal mind."_** Ddraig told him, sensing where the Uzumaki's words were going.

 _"_ _Hm? Then what can I tell her until then?"_ Naruto replied with confusion.

 ** _"_** ** _Tell her that I took an interest in you for your status as the transmigrant of my old friend."_** The dragon god replied.

 _"_ _Ok…"_ Naruto replied. Shaking his head to the sides, "Sorry about that I… kinda spaced out…" He said while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Getting back on track, he looked at her and explained, "The reason why he is in me is because he took an interest on me… you see, contrary to what the world believes, he's not trapped inside me, he can get out whenever he wishes to, but since he took an interest in me, he decided to stay and help me achieve my goal."

Opening her mouth in astonishment, she cooled herself from the shock she had just received, "What!? What does he wants with you!? Is… is he going to hurt you!?" She said with evident worry for her beloved.

Smiling at her genuine concern, he waved off her worries and replied, "Don't worry Aya, even if the scaly ball doesn't want to admit it, we're friends…" He chuckled after hearing the grunt in his mind, imagining the face of indignation that the mighty dragon must be making, "The reason why he's interested in me, is because I am the transmigrant of an old friend of his." Naruto finished.

Calming herself a bit, Ayame looked at the boy and while tilting her head to side, she asked confused, "Transmigrant? Aren't those… you know… the people that play dress as the opposite sex?" She innocently placed a finger on her chin.

"What!? No! no no no no no!..." He said with outrage at the idea, frantically waving his hands in dismissal to the sides, "No Aya! I'm not like that!..." He added, getting a sorry and an embarrassed look from the brown-haired girl. Taking his seat again, he explained, "No, transmigrant is sort of a… fancy word for 'Reincarnation', it's like a different kind of reincarnation but a reincarnation none the less, ya get me?"

"Oh, yeah I get it now, but umm… then… whom are you the reincarnation of?" She asked.

"The Sage of Six Paths…" He said. Seeing the girl's eye widening in astonishment since the Sage was a widely known godlike legend in the Elemental Nations, he continued, "He was the Twelve-Wings' friend, so when he found the Sage's chakra in my body, he immediately knew that I was his reincarnation, so decided to stay with me, but there's still a lot more Aya."

Drinking a glass of water to cool herself a bit, she nodded the boy to continue and he elaborated, "Well, since he's a god and not Tailed Beast, his power does not comes from chakra, it comes from the essence of life itself, but since nobody knew that, the _Fourth_ and _Kushina Uzumaki_ thought that I could eventually control his power, they didn't realized that since his power comes from life itself, it would have cost me years of my life every time I used it." He said with a little bit of spite in his voice at the mention of the two heroes of the village.

"Oh god, Naruto, you are okay right!? Yo-you're not going to… die, are you!?" The brunette girl said, freaked out at the prospect of her lovable silver-haired knucklehead dying.

"Relax Aya, is okay, I'm not dying just… hear me out, okay?..…" He said softly to try and calm her down. After getting a nod from the girl, he continued his tale, "As you already know, I've been training using Ryū's power, the reason why I'm okay is because…" He took a deep breath and added, "He turned me into a dragon."

Now, Ayame is no ninja, she is a sweet civilian girl who's not used to the strangest things the world has to offer so after hearing that, she fainted, plain and simple. It took a few minutes, but she woke up again feeling warm and secure, so understandably she buried her head in whatever was embracing her when suddenly remembered everything and looked up to see the beautiful blue eyes that swayed her every time she would look at them. Realizing that Naruto was embracing her, she blushed madly and jumped with a cute 'eep' and took some deep breaths to calm herself.

"You okay now, fainting beauty?" Naruto said with a warm smile and a small amused laugh.

Straightening herself again, she cleared her thoughts and replied, "Yes, sorry i-it was… it w-was just something I really did not see coming…" Drinking more water, the waitress sat back on her chair and said timidly, "But I don't understand, you… you look and feel… you know… human…"

"For me to be able to use the dragon's power, I needed to be 'rebuilt', the essence can only be used by specific beings and humans are not one of them, so after my death, the dragon rebuilt my body by using parts of his own but since I live here, he made my body as that of a human, but in essence, I am a dragon, a humanoid dragon." He explained.

"Does everything… y-you know… work we-well?…" She asked timidly with a heavy blush while looking at his crotch.

Giving her a devilish smirk, the Namikaze said proudly, "Oh I assure you my beauty, everything works perfectly."

Sinking a little at his words, she could feel her body heating up quickly but she shook her head to push those thoughts aside to say, "Well then, it really doesn't change anything, I… I still feel the same."

Smiling at her words, he said, "That's good Aya but I'm afraid I'm not done…" Seeing that the girl seemed surprised that he still had more things to reveal, she gave him a small nod to continue, so he did, "You see Aya, I have an ambition, a goal that I inherited from Shisui-sensei."

"You mean being Hokage?" She asked softly.

Chuckling a bit thinking about his childish dream, he shook his head, signalling a no, and explained, "No Aya, that's not my dream anymore…" Seeing the stunned look in her eyes which he couldn't blame her for since he did spent most of his childhood screaming that he wanted to be Hokage, he elaborated, "My ambition is bigger than that Aya… you see, Shisui had a dream, he dreamt with a world without borders, without flags, without distinctions… a world where we could all live as one, fight as one and love as one…" Giving her a little small smile thinking about Shisui, he continued, "I adopted this ambition, this dream, I want to unite the world, I want to build an understanding that will stretch into the farthest corners of the world, I want to end this cycle of hate that we've been stuck on for so long now, and I want your help."

The Ichiraku youngster couldn't help but feel motivated by those words, Naruto seemed to have an incredible ability when it came to words, he could move mountains with pure will and determination, and seeing the fire in his eyes when he spoke about this ambition, she couldn't stop the fire that seemed to be igniting in her own heart, it was a noble goal, she was left in awe. But not really seeing what she, a simple ramen waitress, could do to help the silver-haired teenager in his ambition, she decided to ask, "Naru that's… that's a beautiful dream… but… I really don't see how someone like me could help you… I'm just a waitress…" She said, looking at the ground feeling a little ashamed.

Standing up, he closed the distance with her and gently put his hand on her chin to lift her head up, "Don't ever feel ashamed of what you do Aya, your ramen is a gift, a gift from the very creator of all, you are perhaps the most important one…" He said with a reassuring smile that made her world go numb, no one had ever told her such kind an honest words. But before she could respond, the son of the Fourth cut her off saying, "But let me explain first how I want to make my ambition a reality, there's a big possibility that you might hate me after this, just know that whatever you feel after I tell you this, I truly love you, ok?"

Feeling extremely confused at his words, she nodded none the less, expectant to hear his explanation. The boy walked towards the window again and began, "You see, beating the villains around the world or trying to achieve peace through raw strength, will never work. The sad truth is, there cannot be true peace, it does not exist…" He could see that the girl was getting even more confused, so he elaborated more, "What can be done though, is achieve an understanding, a united goal. Someone will always want power, control, domination, but if we achieve an understanding, if we all finally open our eyes and understand that beyond our abilities, our hair, our skin, our gender, we are all flesh and blood, if we understand that we are humans, then whoever comes along trying to seize the power for their own purposes will stand no chance against a united world."

She was awed, his words were, inspiring. She knew he was right, you didn't had to be a ninja or even a warrior to know that fighting is deeply decoded into humanity's DNA and as such, it can never be truly eradicated. But an understanding, that could be done, a common cause could indeed bring everyone together, "I… I never thought you were so… amazing…" She said in awe, earning a heavy blush on the jinchūriki's face for the praise, "But ho-how… how will you do this?" Still, she was confused.

"To put it bluntly, by manipulating the events that happen around the world from the shadows, by influencing the world towards a common cause." He stated without stutter.

"Bu-but wouldn't that make you… you know… like some kind of global emperor or something?…" She said timidly.

"I know it seems like I would be taking the power to reign to myself, but you see, I don't have the intention to reign, I would only be influencing the world from the shadows until we bring this understanding, after that is reached, I will retire to be with my family and take care of the peace from afar." He replied.

"Fa-family!?... wh-what do you mean?..." She asked a little afraid of the answer.

"That's how I intend to influence things Aya, and hopefully you'll be part of this family…" Leaning on the wall, he looked at her and continued, "Women are starting to gain power, many are rising to prominence in governments or key positions inside their countries. Aya, the reason why you find me so irresistible, it's because amma dragon and your primal instincts are screaming at ya that I'm the best mate around for you, so to put it short, I want to make women fall for me and recruit them to help me in my ambition." He said without hesitation, locking his eyes to hers to see her reaction.

She widened her eyes, she was stunned by this, never in her mind could have she expected to hear from the sweet knucklehead she fell for that he wanted to form a Harem to further his ambition, "Yo-you what!? You want to use them!?... us!?..." She shouted in outrage.

Not surprised by her outburst, he remained calmed although he was feeling a little nervous inside but kept his cool head none the less, "Yes and no…" He said. Seeing that his words were fuelling the girl's ire more, he quickly added, "I'm not gonna lie, I do plan to use their positions to further our goals, but I plan to ASK them, just like I'm doing with you, I won't force anyone and I will not take someone I don't feel I could care for just to use them, I've no intentions to have mindless followers, I wish them to be supportive and to actually believe in OUR ambition, for if I ever were to lose my way, you would be able to stop me. I know it might be difficult to believe, but every woman I choose, I plan to take care of her, without question, I want you and all of those I choose to know this Aya, bringing an understanding and peace to this world is my ambition and dream, but my DUTY is to you and those I choose, if even one of you has to suffer to achieve that goal, I won't hesitate to drop it."

She indeed felt more calmed after hearing his explanation and she really knew that the silver-haired jinchūriki was being completely honest, he has always craved for love, he didn't had any for a long part of his life so it wasn't a surprise to know that he would want as much love as he could get, but even after everything that he'd been through, he never stopped being the caring boy that would not hesitate to help anyone who needed help, even if said person had hurt him in the past. But she also knew that when it came to those he cared about, he was relentless, and most of all, brutal, _'I still shiver every time I remember how Tenshi ended up after Naruto found out he groped me without consent…'_ She felt a chill running down her spine at the memory.

Tenshi was a guy who stalked her and one day he went too far and cornered her into an alley, he groped her forcefully but luckily for her, Shikimaru and Chōji were passing by when they saw the commotion and quickly chased off the guy. Chōji then made the mistake of telling Naruto about it and two days later, she found out that Tenshi was in a deep coma, he had apparently been beating into a pulp and to this date, the boy hadn't woken up, everyone knew Naruto did it, but they knew better then to pry. From that day forth, everyone knew not to mess with the people he cared about, for he will have no mercy.

Shaking her head from the memory, she looked at the object of her affections and said, "Ok, I understand… I know you're not just a pervert and… I know you will dedicate yourself to those you choose but… when you target powerful women, what will you offer?... I know you'll offer your love and care, but some of them might not be convinced by just that."

Smiling a bit at seeing that the girl was apparently interested in joining his cause, he answered, "Yes you are right, I will indeed show them that I truly care and that's why even if the woman is in an important position, if I do not like her personality or if I see that I cannot care for her as I should, I won't proceed, but there are more benefits, physically and in terms of power actually."

"Which? What about children? Older women might want them." She inquired.

"No children, the why and the other benefits I won't be able to tell you unless you decide to join me, you don't have to be my lover if you don't wanna, I will still help you and accept your help none the less, but before you respond there's one last condition you'll need to know…" He said with a serious voice.

Noting the seriousness, she gave him a nod and he continued, "If you accept to be my lover, I will mark you and you will be connected to me forever, you will feel my presence and I will feel yours, but more importantly, once I mark you, I will be able to influence you." He stated.

"Influence me? You mean like controlling me?" She asked a little frightfully.

" _Sigh,_ No, complete control no, but it will be hard for you to refuse my requests. You see, the marking requires me to inject some of my essence in you, since my presence is stronger than yours, my will, will overwhelm yours, but if you ever feel like I'm doing something wrong, you could break it with your own will if you fight it strong enough, but you know me Aya, even if I had complete control, I would never use it, like I said, I need allies, not puppets." He answered without hesitation or deception in his words.

Closing her eyes, she froze for some minutes thinking on what to say, _'I know he's not lying and he's taking a big risk by telling me all this, plus, I love him and I know he loves me…'_ Opening her brown eyes again, she looked at him and said with a smile, "I want you Naru, I wanna be with you and I know that nobody will take care of me like you will, even if you have more lovers, I know you'll love me equally, so… yes, I accept."

Giving her a wide smile, he walked towards her and gave her a deep kiss that stole her breath away, "I will Aya, I promise you, and if you ever wanted to take on another lover I… I will not interfere, it would be hypocritical of me." He said to her, with honesty but also jealousy in his words.

Cupping his cheek, she said reassuringly, "I will never need anyone but you Naru, but thank you for your honesty…" She gave him a chaste kiss and added, "Now, what are this no children stuff and the benefits you spoke off?"

"Ah right, well, first off, as I said, you'll be getting some of my essence and chakra, meaning that you will be able to use chakra and a small amount of essence, in your case, you could very well reach chūnin level as a ninja, maybe even jōnin if you push yourself…" He said, making her go wide eyed. He then added, "Other benefit is the connection, it will allow you to sense me even if I were to be on the other side of the world, this will help me when I finish the Thunder God technique to teleport to any of you whenever you find yourselves in trouble…" Taking a breath he continued, "Your body will also change, you won't turn into a dragon or such, but your physical attributes will augment, stronger skin, keener reflexes and augmented senses…" Looking at her eyes again, he concluded, "And the biggest of them all, you'll gain immortality."

Everything sounded amazing but then she heard the last part and was completely dumbfounded, "Im-immortality?..." She whispered agape.

"Yes Aya, remember that I told you that I am a dragon now?..." He said, getting a nod as a yes, he continued, "Well, dragons are immortal and when a dragon takes on a mate, it doesn't matter age or species, the weakest of the two will accommodate to the necessities of the strongest so that the weakest will not be a liability for the strongest, in this case, your body will suffer the changes I mentioned and you'll gain immortality." He concluded.

"Wow…" Was all she could said at the moment, this definitely put some doubts on her decision, which he could sense but decided to give the girl a chance to back down if she wished for, _'Immortal!? I… I would outlive everyone… but…'_ She thought before looking at him, at those piercing blue eyes that melted her heart every time, "While it will be painful to see everyone go when their time comes, spending eternity with you doesn't sound that bad." She replied with a warm smile.

Returning the smile, he locked eyes with her again and said, "That is also the reason why I can't have children, since they will born with the gift of immortality, it will be a breach to the divine laws since people will go to extremes to attain my blood or my children to replicate immortality. And the other side of the truth, I actually rather focus on my lovers than on some brats, if any of you wish to have a child, I will comply and take care of the brat as well, but I will remove immortality from both the mother and child."

"I understand…" She was a little disappointed in truth but he had a good reason, people will stop at naught to steal the gift if a family with the gift of immortality suddenly appeared, but maybe after a couple of thousands of years she will give up on the gift and bear his child. Smiling, she added, "So… how do we proceed now?"

"Well, to mark you, I'll bite ya wherever you want and transfer my power to you, the other benefits will come after I umm… we… you know… h-have sex…" He said, with a blush on his face while scratching the back of his head.

Returning the blush fully, she gulped a bit and turned away in embarrassment at the thought of their soon to be intimacy, "Umm, bite me in the neck… as for the rest umm… I… I don't think I'm ready yet…" She replied flushed.

Chuckling nervously, he said, "Yeah! Yeah don't worry, whenever you're ready, I will never force ya…" After the awkwardness passed, Naruto said, "Aight, this will not hurt, but it will feel weird, you'll fall asleep but I'll take you home after this, ok?"

Nodding at the boy, she tilted her head to the side to grant him better access to her neck and after some seconds, felt his hot breath close her neck, sending a delicious shiver down her spine. Sensing that he was waiting for permission, she gave a soft okay and felt his teeth sank into her skin, she thought it would be painful but it was the opposite, it was, exhilarating, she could feel how her beloved's power rushed throughout her body making her hot all over, leaving her only able to moan loudly in response for the marking. After some seconds, her strength left her body and fell unconscious into the strong arms of the silver-haired Uzumaki. Kissing her softly on the lips, he caressed her cheek and said lovingly, "Sleep Aya, I'll stay with you tonight in case anything happens, I'll explain your role tomorrow." with that, he finished closing the stand and headed towards her home, carrying the girl bridal style.

* * *

While the conversation between Naruto and Ayame was happening, three figures could be seen walking through the dense forest on the border of the Land of Fire with the Land of Rice Paddies, they were cautiously moving in a triangle formation.

"So that old fool is ready to give the hat then." The bandaged man at the front said to his subordinates.

"Yes, for what our spy could gather, it appears that the Third will step down in the coming years, but he has two successors already in mind and according to the report, the Fire Lord seems to agree with the candidates, Tsunade Senju or Jiraiya." Terai reported.

"Typical of a fool to choose another fool, I'm surprised for Tsunade though, she's been drowning in self-pity for years now and I really doubt she'll want to come back…" Danzō said before adding, "Jiraiya on the other hand could be a possibility and like that fool Sarutobi he also has the stupid ideology of the 'Will of Fire', pathetic."

"We must secure your rightful place as Hokage, Lord Danzō, before our village suffers more." Terai robotically replied.

"Oh, that's what we're here to do Terai, I don't like making deals with traitors but, it will ensure my Hokageship, there's no such thing as a big sacrifice when it comes to the good of the Leaf." The Elder replied.

After some more moments of travel, a female figure landed in front of the group. Taking a kneeling position, she said with an emotionless voice, "Lord Danzō."

Stopping in front of the kneeling Root agent, the Elder said, "Ryū, what is it? You are supposed to be watching the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki."

Getting on her feet, she replied, "Pardon the intrusion sir, but I have concerning news regarding the jinchūriki."

Narrowing his eye, Danzō ordered, "Report."

"Yes. Today at morning, Naruto Uzumaki along with Sasuke Uchiha went outside the village, I followed behind the pair, they went to a clearing and Uzumaki took on a meditating position, I thought they would engage in a spar but suddenly, a huge amount of power unleashed from the jinchūriki, I believe he has beginning training using the dragon's power." Ryū said.

"What were the results of this?" Danzō asked warily.

"Frightening sir, the boy's power was, suffocating, and for why I could see, both the Uchiha and the Uzumaki have been keeping their true skills to themselves. They engaged in a spar, the Uchiha had a two tomoe sharingan activated while Uzumaki was surrounded by crimson flames and a strange glow, his eyes were neon red and the flames seemed to form some sort of cloak surrounding the boy, the outline resembled that of a humanoid dragon without wings." Ryū said, keeping the uneasy feeling she got from remembering his transformation to herself.

"Anything strange to report about the boy's power?" The old war hawk asked with a suspicion that's been bugging him ever since the Twelve Winged Dragon appeared.

"Actually yes sir, the power was amazing yet I could not sense a hint of chakra in it, in fact, the boy's chakra signature disappeared, but this power felt more dense and powerful than chakra." The female operative explained.

 _'_ _Could it be that the Twelve-Wings is in fact not a Tailed Beast?…'_ Danzō thought. The information given to him further cementing the debate that sprouted when the Twelve Winged Dragon appeared, nobody knew if the beast was a Tailed Beast or something else and since then, numerous minds have been debating its true origin. Pushing the thoughts aside for the moment, he replied to his agent, "It is indeed troubling but it won't matter for now, my Hokageship will be secured in the next year and then, we will take security measurements against the boy, continue watching the boy. For now come along. Let's move." He ordered his men.

After more minutes of walk, the Root contingent arrived to an abandoned building where four figures could be seen standing guard. Approaching the contingent, one of them said, "Lord Orochimaru is waiting for you inside."

Walking by past the guards, they continued until they stumbled upon a room with a table and two chairs opposite to each other. On one of the chairs, Orochimaru of the Legendary Sannin was sitting with his most trusted lackey behind, guarding him, "Ah Danzō dear, is good to see your old age hasn't worn you down… kukuku…" Orochimaru said with a sick tone in his voice.

"Silence Orochimaru, we are not friends, this is a onetime alliance, now let us begin." Danzō replied, internally annoyed at the snake Sannin's remark.

"Very well… kukuku…" Orochimaru said before resting his chin on his crossed hands, "Now, what is this, proposition you have?" He inquired.

"I know you're planning to invade the Leaf using your Sound Village along with Sand." Danzō said without missing a bit.

Narrowing his eyes, the snake said with a dangerous tone, "My now, that's impressive, Lord Danzō, to know such, private things, but get to the point, my patience is getting thin."

"I'll facilitate your invasion, I however won't allow you to destroy the Leaf, just weaken it, in exchange for that, I'll instruct my Root to help your agents infiltrate the Leaf and make it easier for you to pose as the Kazekage." Danzō replied.

 _'_ _This old fool knows too much, I'll have to make a 'cleansing' in my forces to find the mole…'_ Orochimaru said, keeping his anger inside. Giving the old war hawk a sick smirk, he said, "Interesting, it does seems, a tempting proposition… but what could you possibly get out of this?" The Sannin inquired, already knowing what the old man was striving for.

"Hiruzen's death, I know you want your revenge and I'll facilitate it for you, just make sure the old monkey dies, what happens after that, is not your concern." Danzō stated firmly.

"Kukuku… I see you haven't abandoned your ambition to be Hokage…" Orochimaru said mockingly before adding, "Very well, we'll… 'team up'… kukuku… but since the Chūnin Exams were pushed to one year from now, our invasion will have to wait."

"Very well, we'll keep each other informed. When the time comes, I'll send my operatives to grant you access to the village." Danzō replied before turning on his heel to leave the building, not waiting for a response. The Root contingent began their trek back to the Leaf Village now at a much faster pace, with one of the Root members feeling a little uneasy at this plan.

* * *

"Wow… that felt gooood!" Ayame said immediately after waking up, remembering the rush she felt after Naruto sank his teeth on her neck. Taking her hand towards her neck, she gently touched the skin where the mark should be and immediately felt an amazing rush running through her body.

"I'm glad it didn't hurt you, Aya." She heard a sweet voice that she knew all too well say. Turning around, she saw her beloved silver-haired Uzumaki sitting on a chair looking at her with a love-gaze. Stretching herself a bit, she got out of the bed and went towards the boy and sat on his lap, she then leaned on and gave him a deep passionate good morning kiss.

"Good morning Naru, no it didn't, it felt amazing…" She said with a wide smile plastered on her beautiful face, "You didn't sleep on the chair, did you!?" She added.

Rubbing the back of his head, he responded sheepishly, "Hehe… yeah I did, I… well… I didn't… wanna make you uncomfortable, ya know?... hehe…"

Giving him a gentle hit on his chest, she scolded him, "You dummy! Why would I ever be uncomfortable with sleeping in your arms!? Plus, a chair is not comfortable, at least you should have slept on the couch!"

Caressing her back, he said with a soft voice, "Well yeah, I could have but, I was worried that something might happen to you while the effects of the marking took place, so I wanted to be here on guard."

Feeling her heart melt at seeing the boy's genuine love and care for her, she kissed him softly and said, "That's why I chose to be with you silly…" Ayame gave him another chaste kiss, "How does it look? My neck that is." She added, tilting her head to the side to reveal her neck to her newfound mate.

"Woah, it looks cool…" The ex-blond said while tracing his fingers across the tattoo like mark on her neck, "It has the shape of a black tribal dragon face surrounded by twelve red wings that form like a circle around it." He added.

Reluctantly getting up from his lap, Ayame went towards her mirror to look at the mark and marvelled at the beauty of it, it looked haunting, "Wow, it looks so cool." She said, entranced by the mark.

Getting up from the chair, Naruto came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist while resting his chin on her shoulders as she leaned back on his body, "So, ready to know your role in our ambition?" Naruto the whispered at her.

Looking at him, she said a little perplexed, "Our?"

"Of course, I told ya, didn't I? if I am to achieve this, I'll need allies, not puppets, I'll need your input on the moves we make from here on, plus, I need you to be independent, like I said, I'm not stupid, the dream I took on will have a lot of enemies and darkness in the way, there's a possibility I might lose my way. At least if you're all independent, you can stop me." He said, reassuring her that this can be her dream as well.

Smiling at his sincerity, she kissed him on the cheek and replied, "Yes I know, don't worry sweetie, with me and those you chose by your side, you won't lose your way, we, I'll make sure of it."

She gently released the embrace and led him by the hand towards her kitchen to make some breakfast for the two. Naruto just looked mesmerized at the 17 year old brunette's rear while she cooked, it was amazing to see such firm ass in a civilian, _'She must exercise or something, that body is incredibly fit and firm for a civilian…'_ He thought with a little drop of blood running down his nostrils. The pair ate breakfast in comfortable silence for the next minutes, occasionally making small talk, it was incredible to see how easy the two seemed to talk to each other, thanks to all the years of familiarizing with each other.

After washing the dishes, the pair went towards to couch in the living room where Naruto sat on said couch while Ayame took her rightful place on his lap. Caressing his cheek, she said, "So, besides supplying you with your 'necessary' dose of ramen, what can I do to help?"

Smiling at her, he rested his hand on her derriere, earning a blush on the girl's face. Massaging his chin with his free hand, he answered, "Well, you work on a place where many people go to eat every day, I know that somebody once in a while will slip some info that could be beneficial to our cause and of course, I want you to help me gather information on my next targets."

"Well yeah, that does happen sometimes, never really thought it would come in handy someday… haha…" The Ichiraku youngster said, delighted to be in the strong grip of his arms around her, "I understand the gathering info on the next girls but, Ichiraku's is a small place Naru, not many important people or possible targets go there." She said with a little depressed tone at seeing that she might not be as useful as Naruto thought her to be.

Not wanting his sweet girl to feel like she's not important, the Uzumaki gently lifted her chin and said reassuringly, "Now, don't get so down gorgeous, you didn't waited for me to finish. I know that, that's why we're going to upgrade the stand, we'll turn it into a high end place to attract the right people, but while you find a suitable place to turn into the new Ichiraku's, I'll find a way to tempt them with some of my chakra so that when the time comes for me to seduce them, we'll already have a place where you can gather stuff about them." He finished, giving her a soft squeeze on her butt.

"Bu-but Naru… _ah!_..." She said, with a little surprised moan at the sudden movement on her rear before adding, "Naru, how are we going to do that? We don't have a lot of money to turn the restaurant to such end."

"Actually, we do have it Aya…" He corrected. Seeing the confused look on her face, he decided to tell her another secret about himself, "Listen, what amma about to tell ya is an S-class secret, okay? You cannot reveal this to anyone, only Pa, Sasuke and the Third know this, understand?..." He said, with a deadly serious tone in his voice. After getting a nod in understanding from the brown-haired girl, he said, "My real name is Naruto Namikaze…" He kept his eyes on the girl who immediately seemed to recognize the name because her eyes went wide and her jaw almost hit the floor, he continued, "Yes, the Fourth Hokage is my biological father."

Controlling her emotions somehow, Ayame said, "I knew it! I always had the suspicion, you look just like him! But who is your mother!?"

"Kushina Uzumaki." He replied.

Going wild with surprise once again, she said, "Oh my god! You… you're the son of the village's greatest heroes! Naru that's am…" She couldn't finish her sentence because she was suddenly cut off from a sombre looking Naruto.

"Aya, I know it might seem like that but please, I don't wanna ruin this moment with you talking about _those two_." He said, with a little bit of spite at the mention of the two heroes.

Noticing the sudden change in demeanour from the silver-haired boy, she decided not to pry and wait until he's ready to talk about it, "Oh umm… I'm sorry sweetie I… I didn't mean to pry…" She said with an apologetic tone.

"Don't be, it's just… _sigh_ … It's a touchy subject for me…" He said while giving her a warm smile and a small kiss on her cheek before adding, "My point is, I inherited the fortune of both, Minato made a lot of money thanks to his multiple S-rank missions, bonuses from the war and of course, for his time as Hokage. Kushina inherited all the fortune of the now extinct Uzumaki clan so as it stands now, I am probably the richest person in the village, only Sasuke could have more money than me."

"Wow…" She said, amazed at how much thought the boy has been putting into his ambition, this just made her feel more confident on her decision, knowing that Naruto actually knew what he's doing, "So you plan on using that on our ambition? Naru, honey, I don't know if I could accept you spending money on us." She said, a little timid at the last bit.

"Aya, that money I've been saving it for this and I don't do this only for our goal, you deserve to have a place where you can grow and make full use of your talents, I won't have a no for an answer, ok?" He said with a soothing tone but finished with a commanding tone to remind her that he was the Alfa.

"Y-yes…" She said weakly, feeling incredibly weak and aroused after hearing such commanding voice from him. Shaking her head to the sides, she inquired, "So, do you have any targets already thought out?"

"Yes I do…" He said while grabbing a small red book and handing it to her.

She grabbed said book and opened it on the first page which she the commented, "Ino? Yeah, the next Yamanaka clan head, I don't think you'll have much problem with her, for what I've heard and seen whenever she's around you, she definitely has the hots for ya…" She flipped to the next page and said, "Hinata? The next Hyūga clan head, another one you'll have no trouble with, she's in love with you, trust me!..." She continued to the next page where she saw herself, "Haha, well I guess we can cross this beauty now, right?..." She said, marking her picture with a red x. She then flipped again and said, "Hana Inuzuka? Isn't she one of your infamous 'Handlers'?..." She asked, getting a nod in respond, she added, "Mm, she's the next in the Inuzuka line so yeah, I don't know how you'll fare with her though…" She continued with the next and blinked, "Tsume Inuzuka? The current clan head? Why would you target her as well if you also have Hana? Are you getting greedy, mister?" She said with an amused tone in her voice.

Scratching the back of his head, he chuckled nervously and replied, "Sorta… hehe… I really like both, ya know!?... plus, if I can have both, it would be beneficial for both the present and the future."

Shaking her head in amusement, she replied, "Well, can't fault you on that…" She flipped the page and now really blinked hard, this one she did not see coming, "Koharu Utatane? As in Elder Koharu!?" She said in disbelief, failing to see how this could work.

"I know it sounds really weird, it sounded weird to me too but, having one of the Elders as an ally will do wonders for us, Ryū suggested her to me…" He said, earning a surprised gasp from the girl. Deciding to clarify his words, he said, "Yes, Ryū's been helping me with this, he's actually the one that suggested this path to me and plus, if you see her pictures during the First Great War, I know that even you'd get aroused."

"Wow Naru, life will never be boring with you, I just know…" She said, already used to being surprised by the ex-blond, "But you're right, it'll be a huge help to us, but how will you approach her? This is definitely the hardest target." She asked.

"I don't know yet, and you're right, she and Tsume will be very tricky and risky, but I'll find a way, I always do, believe it!" He said, emanating confidence in his words.

"I know you will and I'll help you find a way…" She said while placing a small kiss on his lips. Turning to the next page, she commented, "Anko Mitarashi? Isn't she the other one of your 'Handlers'?"

"Yes, don't worry much about her, I usually spend time with her and Hana, so I'll be able to find a way to tempt them easily." He said, already having a plan to do it.

"Ok, so I see that's it for now, huh?" She exclaimed, getting a nod in affirmative from the silverette.

"Yeah, for now that is, I was actually meaning to ask ya, we'll also need the civilian side with us, which will be difficult since they're the ones that resent me the most but, who's in charge? Or who holds more power?" Naruto asked.

Putting her finger on her chin, she searched through her brain for names until she remembered the woman who's supposed to be the head civilian Councillor, "Actually yes, Tsubaki, she's the head civilian Councillor and she's a single mother, last I heard, her ex-husband cheated on her so she's fair game." She replied, knowing that Naruto would not target people who are already committed.

"Well that's… I don't know about someone with a child… to make them outlive their children seems tough…" Naruto replied with a troubled tone.

Seeing the hesitance on the jinchūriki's face, she cupped his cheek and said, "I know it sounds awful and it probably is, outliving your child is something I believe no parent would want to go through, but like you said, you won't force her, show her what kind of man you are and your dreams and let her decide, you're not asking her to abandon her daughter, just like you did with me, let it be her decision."

"Yeah you're right…" He said, a little more at ease after her words, "Alright then, let's taste the mark now shall we?" He added.

"Ok umm… what do I do?" She asked.

"Well first, how do you feel?" He replied.

Checking herself up, Ayame stretched her body and tried to come up with anything she could be feeling until suddenly, she felt an incredible rush running through her body. She freaked out a bit after she looked around her and saw a small tornado of blue gas-like substance forming around her, "Na-Naru!? Wh-what is ha-happening!?" She asked, a little frightful.

Chuckling, Naruto grabbed her hand and said, "Relax Aya, this is your new chakra, your body has apparently finished making the power I gave you yours, just focus and will your power to calm down."

Closing her eyes, Ayame did as she was told and willed her power to stop and slowly, she felt her body calming down. After she caught her breath again, she said, "Wow, that felt… amazing!... it was like… if my body was on fire!... I had some chakra in me before and I've used it to help me cook and all, but it never felt like this…"

"Well, that's because now your chakra capacity is way bigger than before, for what I could feel, you have maybe jōnin level reserves, but the reason why it felt like fire was because my chakra wasn't the only thing I gave you, some of my essence got mixed in it so it gives your chakra more power, but be careful ok? Do not use it until you have learnt how to tame your newfound power…" He explained to the Ichiraku youngster. Getting a nod in response, he added, "Ok now let's try the sensing part, focus on the mark and see if you can sense me."

Closing her eyes, the 17 year old focused on the mark on her neck and could picture in her mind something breath-taking, she could feel his presence that it was represented like a sun, she could picture it, it was wild and fierce, but warm and comforting as well, "I… I don't know how to explain it… I can feel you, is like… like I can sort of feel you are… happy and excited…" She tried to explain.

Smiling, Naruto replied, "Good, that's exactly what I'm feeling right now and I can feel you too, you're happy as well…" He leaned on her and kissed her softly, "Well, we'll check on the other benefits after we umm… you know… hehe…" He added, with a furious blush while scratching the back of his head.

Returning the blush, she looked away from her love and nervously replied while fidgeting her fingers, "Ye-yeah I-I… umm… loo-look forward to it actually…"

Thanks to their new connection, both could feel the embarrassment and arousal that they carried. Deciding to start their day before their animalistic instincts kicked in, Naruto said, "Yeah umm… well Aya, I gotta go! Gotta meet up with Bushier Brows-sensei, so I'll see ya later, ok?"

Shaking her head of her lecherous thoughts, she replied with a smile, "Ok, I'll see you later, and we'll go about your next target." She gave him a deep loving kiss and waved him goodbye before heading towards her shower, with a dreamy smile adorning her features all the time.

* * *

"AH! But if it isn't my eternal rival's little boy! Looking as youthful as ever!" Might Guy screamed with passion, giving Naruto the most clean and frightening good guy pose he has ever seen.

"Ah! Naruto! Is so good to see that your flames of youth haven't wavered one bit! I've been waiting for our now daily spar with most youthful anticipation!" Mini Guy AKA Rock Lee shouted with the same burning passion that his idol and mentor.

 _'_ _Sigh, enthusiastic as ever… I swear if it wasn't because Bushier Brows-sensei is the strongest taijutsu user in the Elemental Nations I would've already snap, bad shit son…'_ Naruto thought with exasperation, having to cope with those two crying about 'youth' three days a week was not easy. Sighing heavily, he lazily greeted them, "Ah Lee, Guy-sensei, sorry for being a little late but ya see, I ran into this old lady who was carrying some heavy grocery bags and well, I couldn't just walk away, ya know!?"

"Ah! How youthful of you, Naruto! To think you will stop to help such poor soul, it makes my flames of youth ignite even brighter than ever! Lee! You should learn from Naruto!" Guy declared, with even more passion than before while crying anime tears.

Dropping on his knees after seeing such youthful action from his second rival, Lee replied to his equally extravagant sensei, "Ah yes! It is beautiful, Guy-sensei! I shall do a five-lap run around the village on my hands to honour the actions of my most youthful rival! Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

With a massive drop of sweat on the back of his head and a twitching eyebrow, Naruto stared at the horrific display of 'youthfulness', _'Does Bushier Brows-sensei really believes Pa's lame excuses all the time? Jeez that's… that's just sad, son…'_ Deciding to intervene before things get, if it could even be possible, more embarrassing, Naruto said to the pair of green spandex enthusiasts, "Umm, Lee, Guy-sensei? Can we begin the spar? I gotta go meet with Hayate-sensei later, ya know!?"

Releasing the horrific sunset genjutsu, the older man relented, "Ah! Of course, Lee! Naruto! Get in position."

"Lee, can you take your weights off? I think I can keep up with ya now." Naruto requested.

"Huh!? Of course! I so look forward for such youthful challenge!" Lee said before removing his weights, leaving a huge crater on the way.

Giving Rock Lee a smirk, Naruto closed his eyes for a few seconds and draw Ddraig's first state, earning a surprised gasp from the other two on the field. He then stretched a bit and took on his 'Dragon Dance' stance, which was built from the basics of capoeira but instead of being used as just an acrobatic stance, Naruto added raw power to it, making it incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. This stance was what attracted Might Guy to train the boy since he found it quite unique.

 _'_ _Is that!? The Twelve-Wings' power? Can he control it, this amazing power?...'_ Guy thought, feeling the incredible pressure coming off from the silver-haired boy. Sending a look towards Naruto, the jinchūriki gave him a nod as if saying that he was in control and was training in this state, so already feeling excited to see what the Copy-Ninja's adoptive son can do, he said, "Begin!"

Sharing a nod, the pair of combatants suddenly disappeared in thin air, only to reappear a second later on the middle of the field, causing considerable cracks and gushes of wind due to the amazing speed and strength the two were displaying. The two immediately locked into a fierce exchange of rapid fists, with none of them able to land a solid hit, all either evaded or blocked by their opponent.

 _'_ _Amazing! Naruto's power has peaked exponentially, this is the first spar that I've seen that he's able to keep the rhythm with Lee…'_ Guy thought, amazed by the display of pure taijutsu he was seeing.

 _'_ _How youthful! Naruto's blows have become stronger than before and that speed is close to mine! But I still have the advantage!...'_ Lee thought, impressed by the upgrade in the silverette Namikaze's skills.

Jumping away from Naruto, Lee jumped back in the air and prepared a powerful downwards kick, gathering some strength by spinning wildly in the air, Lee successfully delivered the kick but was shocked to see that Naruto stopped the offending limb from reaching his body by grabbing his foot with his bare hands, _'Amazing! I held nothing back on that kick and he stopped it with ease! This is such youthful display!...'_ Lee thought to himself. He didn't had time to ponder more since Naruto delivered an incredible uppercut on the Mini-Guy's gut, sending him flying a few metres back, forcing the 'Handsome Devil of the Leaf' to clutch his stomach in pain, _'And his strength, what a rival!...'_ He thought, his flames of youth burning brighter than ever.

 _'_ _This is awesome! I can finally keep up with him! Heck I even delivered a good punch there! But damn, he's still stronger and faster than me…'_ Naruto thought, excited about his new power but still shaking his hands from the pain of stopping Lee's powerful kick. Rushing back at him, Naruto cocked his fist back and tried to deliver a punch that could knock Lee out seeing that he was still outclassed when it came to taijutsu by the green clad fighter, _'Need to end this fast, Lee still has the biggest chance to win…'_ But before the fist could connect, Lee flipped his body to the side with amazing speed and delivered a vicious kick to the side of the Namikaze's body, sending him right to ground.

"That's enough!" Came the voice of Guy, "Lee, Naruto, what an amazing spar! I haven't seen Lee being pushed so much as now, Naruto, your 'Dragon Dance' is sharpening up youthfully! When I finish training you in the arts of taijutsu, your stance will no doubt become as fierce as the springtime of youth itself!" He praised, with manly tears and such passion that it might as well ignite the trees surrounding them on fire.

Dusting himself up, Lee added, "Yes Naruto! This has been the greatest spar in my life! I cannot wait to face you again when you've perfected your must youthful style!"

Getting himself up from the ground, Naruto scratched below his nose with a little blush for the praise and said, "Hehe… thanks Guy-sensei! I really felt a big improvement, I have no doubt that soon I'll catch up with ya Bushy Brows, believe it!"

"YOSH!" Was Lee's excited reply.

"Alright, let us begin our training session." Guy then said.

The trio trained for the next two hours until Naruto had to leave to meet up with Hayate for his kenjutsu training that like his taijutsu, was coming up real nicely. As Naruto walked off the field, he thought, _'I could feel the same presence that was watching me and Sasuke when I activated Ddraig's cloak, whoever this is, is indeed following my every move, I gotta be careful with Ayame and the girls I tempt…'_

* * *

After some more hours of training with Hayate, Naruto headed back to Ichiraku's to help Ayame with the ramen bar. It was a relatively slow night with only a few costumers coming in, it gave Ayame and Naruto an excuse to 'pass' the time with getting a little touchy with each other. After closing time finally came, the two closed the bar and began their stroll towards their homes.

"Umm… w-would… _gulp_ … wo-would you like to s-stay with m-me tonight, N-Naru?…" Ayame said, with a mad blush and a voice that was barely a whisper.

Turning to the 17 year old ramen waitress, Naruto replied, "Hm? You want me to?"

"Y-Yes!... umm don't… d-don't get me wrong… I s-still… I'm still not r-ready but… I would like to cuddle with you…" She said timidly, fearing that he might get mad for her refusal for sex.

Putting his hand around her shoulder, the silverette jinchūriki pulled her close to him and said, "Hey, what did I tell ya!? You don't have to push yourself for that, I know it might be hard to believe but amma virgin too, so I am too a little nervous, ya know!?" He scratched his head in embarrassment.

Giggling at the boy's words, she replied, "You wanna build a Harem to 'rule' the world but you're nervous of sex… gigigi… that's cute…" She kissed him on the cheek and leaned on his body, enjoying the warmth he supplied.

After some minutes of walking in comfortable silence, the pair arrived to the Ichiraku's home. Walking inside, Naruto headed straight towards the couch so he could melt on its softness to rest the day's fatigue, training with someone like Might Guy and Rock Lee was almost torture, but nobody could deny that it worked, plus, Naruto was a dragon now and dragons live by will, blood, pain and strength. Ddraig had taken on the task of teaching the humanoid dragon boy the way of the dragons, Naruto was a little freaked out when the dragon god told him that he will not let his wounds heal faster unless he was in the middle of a fight or the wound was fatal, according to the Red Dragon Emperor, dragons take pride on their scars but more importantly, their bodies grow stronger every time the wound heals naturally and that's what the mighty beast was aiming for Naruto, that his body will grow thicker and stronger. Naruto understood and couldn't deny it was true, the wounds he's gotten on all of his spars and training sessions were left to heal naturally, Kakashi was a little worried about it, thinking that Naruto had lost his ability to heal fast, but the silver-haired Namikaze quickly dismissed his worry by telling him the why.

"Dinner's ready, Naru!" Ayame called while placing the plates on her table. Soon, the ex-blond took his seat next to her and after some thanks, the pair dug in their food, "So, who's next?" She asked.

"Mmm…" grabbing his chin in thought, he asked, "I dunno, who do you think would be best?"

Slurping some of her food, Ayame thought for a bit and said, "Well, I think you should start with the easiest ones, Ino or Hinata."

Nodding in response, the Uzumaki said, "Yeah that's good, mm… I guess I'll go for Ino first, then Hinata…" Finishing his dinner, Naruto cleaned his mouth with a napkin and lifted Ayame up to put her on his lap, earning a cute 'eep' from the girl, "I'm a little worried about Hinata though, she seems to be rather jealous… that reminds me, you're not mad about this? Really? Please be honest." He asked, with a little bit of fear in his voice.

Leaning herself into him and burying her head on the crook of his neck, she replied, "Strangely, no…" Seeing the confused look on her beloved's face, she explained, "It's weird, I know I should feel jealous and I was, whenever I saw the other girls looking at you, it did bugged me a little, but now… I really don't mind… I will if you forget about me but since I know you and I know you'll never do that, I don't mind I…" She began fidgeting her fingers while burying her head even deeper into his neck before saying nervously, "It kinda… t-turns me on…"

Chuckling at the girls antics, he caressed her body and said, "Well, aren't ya a little kinky, huh?…" The girl just blushed madly and kept hiding on his neck to avoid further embarrassment, "Haha… you're so cute Aya, but it does sounds weird, maybe it was the marking's doing?" He added after giving the girl a kiss on her head.

Looking at him, the brunette asked, "What do you mean?"

"Hold a min…" Naruto said. He then mentally asked his tenant, _"Yo Ddraig! Her lack of jealousy, is it because of the mark? Not that I'm complaining though, just curious."_

 ** _"_** ** _Not the mark but your essence, since you injected her with some of your essence, her animalistic instincts grew more thanks to your own presence, remember, there's no such things as morals when it comes to our animalistic side, the idea of sharing mates doesn't matter much to the girls you choose, unless you choose a dragon, dragons are too protective of their mates, you'll have a tough time holding your own instincts if one of the mates you choose decides to take another lover as well."_** Ddraig replied.

Naruto could see that the dragon was right on that assessment, just thinking that Ayame might take on another man as lover was starting to rile him up badly, but he knew he had to suck it up if any of them decided to do it, he would be a hypocrite if he didn't. Figuring that the only way to avoid such thing will be to keep them all thoroughly satisfied with not just sex, but emotionally and supportively as well, he steeled his resolve and vowed he would do just that, _"Yeah you're right, just the thought pisses me off… thanks D."_ He replied. Looking back at the girl on his lap who was looking at him expectantly, he said "Well, it appears that my essence is the cause of your lack of jealousy and I guess, your increased libido."

Tilting her head to the side, she inquired, "How so?"

"Well, since I'm a dragon now, my animal 'side' if you will, increased, so my power is more animalistic, more instinctual, when I injected you with it, your animalistic instincts grew, morals do not apply to that side of us so you don't feel jealous because of that, but I guess you'll be more aggressive with people you don't like and definitely more naughty… hehe…" He replied, with a lecherous grin at the end.

Punching him playfully on the chest, she replied, "Dummy! It feels weird but… I like it."

Kissing her deeply, he then fondled her butt, earning soft moans from the girl and the two shared a passionate moment before the silver-haired boy lifted her up and carried her to her bedroom to turn in for the night, feeling a little anxious for the days to come.

* * *

 **A/N: Well there you go, I know the talk between Naruto and Ayame was long and that is why I decided to divide this sub-arc in multiple chapters since I wanted to show you guys the speech Naruto will be using on the girls so I won't have to repeat it over and over again, so anyways, hope you liked it, see ya next chappie! Cheers!**


	6. The Tempting (Part 2)

**A/N: Hi fools! Thanks for continuing reading my story, before we begin, I'll answer some stuff.**

 **I really didn't thought that I had to explain this, but maybe if people didn't "Lower" their intelligence, they'd understand that the reason for why I use slang in Naruto's speech is because he is influenced and inspired by Killer Bee, who, as we all know, is the "gangsta" of the show. If you want to see an on cannon portrayal of Naruto then go and watch the show or read the manga, this is a FANFIC, not a retelling of the original work. So either stop reading the story or suck it up, because the "dumb and cancerous" spelling is staying for the moment.**

 **As for the beta thing, I just don't have the time. I barely make it to write this stuff and post it, so I hope you guys can forgive if I misspell some stuff, I do try to always do a grammar check before I post the chapter but sometimes I just want to get it over with.**

 **Now, without further ado, let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **The Tempting (Part 2)**

It was a serene and fresh morning in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, people were starting to flood the streets, ready to begin their day when suddenly, a high pitched squeal could be heard coming from an apartment complex.

"Mmm… whatta… oi… what's going on, fools?…" A dopey Naruto Namikaze said while rubbing his temples after being woken up so rudely. Looking around the room, he saw her beloved ramen waitress on the ground, massaging her butt and carrying a mad blush on her pretty face, "Aya? What happened? You okay, cutie?" He asked with a heavy yawn.

Said girl looked at her mate and said timidly, "Umm yes… I'm… I-I'm sorry to wake y-you so suddenly N-Naru… i-is just… umm… I felt…. I felt something po-poking… pok-poking m-my b-butt…" She then looked everywhere but the boy, sporting a shade of red that has probably never been seen before.

Squinting his eyes while tilting his head to the side, the Twelve Winged Dragon jinchūriki said with confusion, "Wha!? Poking your butt? What'cha talking about!?"

She turned around to face him and bit her nails while pointing timidly with her other hand straight towards his crotch, forcing the silverette to look down and realize that he was sporting the bane of every man across the globe, a raging morning boner.

"Oh shit! Aya, baby I'm sorry! I umm… it's… I can't control it, ya know!?..." Naruto said frantically, grabbing his pillow to cover the tent in his boxers.

Giggling at his antics, the girl managed to control her hormones and said, "Don't worry Naru… I was just surprised, that's all…" She got up from the floor and walked towards the blushing 13 year old to plant a morning kiss on his lips, "I'll make us some breakfast." She added while leaving the room, adding a seductive sway on her hips to tease the humanoid dragon.

 _'_ _Man, she's seriously not helping…_ ' He thought while watching the retreating form of the girl. Shaking his head to the sides, he looked down to his boner and said, "Damn, amma need a cold ass shower to calm Lil Pepe down, son." He then stood up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. After a cold shower to put his raging hormones down, the silver-haired Namikaze walked out of the bathroom but before he put his clothes on, he decided to have some fun with the cooking girl, _'Hehe, two can play the teasing game, Aya…'_ He thought while walking out of the room wearing only a towel, covering only from his waist down leaving his toned torso naked.

The unsuspecting 17 year old was happily cooking while still feeling a little flustered from feeling her beloved's penis pressed against her butt, _'Dammit, calm down! Just one year! I just have to wait until I'm eighteen so dad won't kill me…'_ She thought while trying to keep her arousal down. However, this was not meant to be because while she was cooking, she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and a warm body press against her back. Turning to see the boy that was holding her, she couldn't stop her butt form grinding against the silverette after seeing that he was wearing only a towel and that there were still some drops of water running down his muscular chest, _'Damn! Sometimes I still forget that he's really not a thirteen year old boy…'_ She thought while admiring the Namikaze's body, he was a few centimetres taller than her and while not buffed, he had a perfect body, "Na-Naru please… baby I… I k-know we bo-both want to, b-but… I ha-have to wa-wait until I'm eighteen or d-dad will k-kill me…" She said between moans while leaning her body against her beloved knucklehead.

 _'_ _Damn, this shit totally backfired, yo!...'_ Naruto thought, seeing that while he indeed accomplished his objective of teasing the girl, the girl's grinding butt made him totally horny. Kissing the girl hungrily, he reluctantly let go of her and replied, "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry... it's just… you're so hot, ya know!?"

Controlling her breath after the passionate session, she smiled at him and kissed him softly, "I work out just for you!..." She said while crossing her arms around the silverette's neck. She then whispered seductively in his ear, "I promise you Naru, as soon as I turn eighteen, I will rock your world." Leaving a shaking jinchūriki due to delicious shivers that ran down his spine.

Shaking his head to the sides and cleaning the blood from his nose, the Uzumaki said while devilishly smirking, "Ah careful my fainting beauty… I might be 'thirteen years old' but I have ya know, I'm the one that's gonna make you go numb." He finished whispering to her ears with an authoritarian tone and a strong squeeze on her butt, making her feet wobble a bit due to the strength of her arousal.

Deciding to end their little 'playing' before their carnal desires become too much to stop, Naruto went back to the room while Ayame finished their breakfast. Naruto then put on his clothes and went to sit on the table where after a few minutes, a smiling Ayame appeared with two plates that carried a delicious scent and the pair happily ate their food.

"So, are you going to seduce Ino?" Ayame asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

Cleaning his mouth with a napkin, he replied, "Nope, I might not really be a thirteen year old but she is, I'll just 'tempt' her and in a few years I'll seduce her, same with Hinata, the only ones I might seduce now will be the older ones but that is if I decide to lay it all to them now, because to the older women like Anko, Hana, Tsume, Tsubaki and Koharu, I'm still a thirteen year old boy so maybe when I'm fifteen or sixteen to them, I'll seduce them."

Raising an eyebrow, Ayame asked, "'Tempt' them? What do you mean?"

"Mmm, it's like umm… I'll inject a small portion of my essence in them, this will make them more susceptible to me and as the time goes by, they'll develop an itch that only I can scratch." He answered.

"Mhm… but what if one of them finds someone in the meantime or you decide not to seduce them, will it stay with them or what?" The brunette inquired.

"No, it will not, if I choose not to seduce them or if they find someone else, I can just cancel the effect." He answered.

Nodding her head in understanding, she took a bite of her food and asked her lovable silverette, "Sooo… then why me first? Or why did you actually seduced me? Not that I'm complaining though."

Giving her a warm smile, he said, "Two reasons. One, I will not lie to you, strategically, you were the best to start with, you are the person I know who holds the strongest feeling towards me. Some might say Hinata but she really doesn't know me, we're not that close, she's in love of my determination and will, I'll try to turn it into real love but like I said, she doesn't know what makes me tick, you do. So knowing that, I knew you would be more open to my ambition and with most of my current targets being costumers in your restaurant, you were the one that made more sense…" The girl nodded in affirmative seeing that he was indeed right in his assessment. He took some bites on his food and added, "And second, I really wanted you, we've shared so many things together, we've spend so much time together and know so much about each other, I could see it every time you looked at me, it was genuine love, and well, I really wanted it… hehe…" He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment while sporting a furious blush on his cheeks.

Feeling her heart sink at those words, Ayame couldn't help but jump at him and kiss him deeply to show him how much those words meant to her, "Oh Naruto! That was so sweet!..." She screamed while going full fan-girl on him, "I love you." She added, this time more softly before kissing him chastely.

Smiling at the beautiful brunette ramen waitress, he replied with a little chuckle, "And I love you."

The two stayed for a few more minutes on the ground just making out until eventually the time for both to begin their day arrived, Ayame headed towards Ichiraku's while Naruto mentally prepared himself for both Guy's training and Ino's tempting, _'Dis gon be an interesting day son…'_

* * *

"Seriously, I swear that if I wasn't a jinchūriki I would've already be dead! Bushier Brows-sensei's training is pure torture!..." Naruto mumbled with some pained grunts after having finished his daily training with the green clad wearer, he was all sore from such intense training, "Good thing today I'm free from Hayate-sensei's session." He added with a tired sigh.

Walking for a few minutes, he headed towards his apartment so he could take a new set of clothes before looking for Ino, but as he was changing, he couldn't shake up the feeling that he was being followed, "Mm, maybe is the same presence that's been following me since graduation…" Seating on the bedroom's floor on a lotus position, the silverette Namikaze focused and proceeded to call on the Red Dragon Emperor's power. Feeling the power surge, he activated the cloak for only a second knowing that his chakra signature disappeared every time he called on the essence cloak and he didn't wanted to alert the stalker that he was onto them. That second was enough however, since he easily was able to lock onto the familiar over suppressed chakra signature, revealing it to be on the buildings in front of his apartment complex, "Mmm, I gotta be careful, whoever this fucker is will follow me wherever I go…" Getting back on his feet, he massaged his chin and mumbled, "Mm, losing them with shadow clones? Nah, if they can suppress their chakra at this level than they will certainly notice the difference…" Squinting his eyes in frustration, he suddenly widened them before giving a mischievous smirk, knowing just what to do, "Ow yea! I was really waiting for a chance to test this, this suckers won't be able to tell any difference, yo!"

The ex-blond jinchūriki then finished putting on some clothes and sat on the floor of his bathroom, Naruto then bit the tip of his thumb and index finger and used the blood to draw a large seal that could easily cover a human body in it. Seeing that it was enough blood for the jutsu, the Namikaze spat a large amount of water inside the seal where it then began to take shape of a body and as the humanoid water started to suck on the blood that made the seal, he then blew fire from his mouth to complete the jutsu. After some seconds, Naruto admired his work when he saw a perfect copy of himself.

As soon as he saw the blood clone slowly opening its eyes, Naruto activated his essence cloak and heard the clone say to its creator, "Oh shit, it worked boss!"

With a wide grin, the silverette replied, "Of course ya fool! Amma a genius, am prestigious, am the one that's worth the millions! Yeah!" He, horrifically rapped, twisting his hands with complicated signs to make his claim more lit.

But since his audience was a clone of himself, his 'rhymes' were heavily appraised by the clone, "Yeah fool! Ya fool!" The clone bumped fists with its creator.

After a brief exchange of 'rhymes' and a brief discussion on how The Mighty Killer Bee was going to change the world with only words, the two stepped out of the bathroom so that the clone could put on some clothes since it was butt naked, but before the clone put on a shirt, Naruto stabbed the clone on its shoulder with a kunai.

"Oi! What was that for, ya dickhead!?" The clone said indignantly.

"Oi! I was testing if you weren't going to pop up! And it worked! So, point for me, fool!" The Uzumaki replied.

Huffing in annoyance, the clone said, "You could've let me know, ya know!? Fool…"

"Ah! Quit yapping, you know what to do, go to train or something, but do it in the Forest of Death, pay a visit to those shelled bastards if you want, just keep this tail busy, I'll deactivate the cloak after some minutes when you're gone." The original of the silverettes order.

"Man, this is such a drag…" The clone lazily replied, making a pineapple haired boy sneeze in the distance.

The clone did as it was told and left the apartment. After sensing with his augmented abilities that the person following him has gone after the blood clone, Naruto deactivated the cloak and walked out of his apartment, heading straight to look for the Yamanaka clan's heiress.

* * *

Ayame was happily whistling while cutting some vegetables, she was daydreaming about her silver-haired shinobi and how good has he made her feel in the past days. She has also been surprised to see that Naruto's dream was starting to rub off on her, since she could feel the excitement and determination that sprouted in her heart to help the dreams of the man she loves come true, but she could also feel a fire burning within her, a fire that was telling her that she could do more than just gather information on possible targets.

Ever since Naruto injected her with new power, she's been feeling eager to train hard, if maybe not to become a full time ninja but to at least be able to defend herself. She knew that Naruto would do the impossible to protect her but as time goes by and his Harem grows, she knew that even he could have problems if some of his lovers were defenceless, _'Mm, I'll ask him to set me up with someone that could teach me…'_ She thought.

Her daydreaming was interrupted however, when the sound of somebody sitting on the stools could be heard following by a slightly depressed voice, "Hello Ayame."

Turning on her heels to greet the costumer, she suppressed a devilish smirk at seeing who the voice belonged to, Tsubaki Amari, the Head Councillor of the civilian side and one of the Namikaze's targets, _'Well… talk about luck…'_ She gave the single mother a wide smile and then replied, "Ah, hello Tsubaki, how are you?"

Tsubaki returned the smile with a small one of her own, "Well, good I guess, just a little tired, you know?…" She said, trying to hide the sadness that was running through her but thanks to Ayame's new keen senses, she could pick up the bottled feelings inside her, "Umm, can I have a bowl of miso ramen please?" The head civilian councillor requested.

 _'_ _Mm, I'll try to get why she's feeling so down, maybe Naruto could seize this…'_ She plotted while nodding at the middle-aged woman. After some minutes, Ayame finished the order and placed it in front of Tsubaki who gave her a thanks and a small smile before digging on her food. Seeing the opportunity, Ayame asked, "Hey are you really okay? You look… sad… I mean I know we really don't know each other that much, other than the monthly meeting of the civilian side but… I could listen if you want…" She finished with a timid voice but showing her honesty on the middle aged woman's wellbeing.

Looking at the girl, she saw the genuine concern for her and the woman thought, _'Ah what the hell, it's not like I have somebody else to talk to about it, I don't even know where I stand with Ibara any more…'_ Nodding her head with a small smile plastered on her face, she sighed heavily and replied, "Well is just… _sigh_ … you know about what my… ex-husband did to me, right?..." Receiving a small nod in affirmative from the ramen waitress, she continued, "Well, lately, he's been bugging me to the point of stalking, he says that I should forgive him for the sake of Kimi but…" She then closed her eyes to take a deep breath as to not lose her composure before continuing, "But he's a fucking drunk! The asshole thinks I can just let it slide after sleeping with my best friend, numerous times! He always tries to corner me after I go grocery shopping at night but since I still train a little and he's always drunk, I can get away from him but… is just... is just so damn frustrating!" She finished, no longer able to hold her tears off.

Walking out of the cooking zone, the brunette ramen waitress sat next to the crying single mother and hugged her, all the while just whispering soothing words and just letting the distressed woman release all of her frustrations and sadness. After some minutes of crying, the distressed mother said between small sniffs, "Thank you Ayame, I… I really needed that…"

Smiling at her, the 17 year old brunette replied, "Don't worry Tsubaki and well… we could be friends if you want, you can always count on me."

Looking at the brown-eyed waitress, Tsubaki hugged her tightly and replied a little more cheerfully this time, "I would like that Ayame… you can also always count on me." She gave her an honest smile this time and continued to eat her bowl.

The pair of new friends kept chatting about random things, Ayame noticing how the head councillor's mood was lifting as time went by. Tsubaki then suddenly realized that she had some time ago finished her bowl and said, "Oh my, it's late already, I need to go with the other civilian councillors… bunch of greedy bastards who only care about their pockets."

Ayame giggled and replied, "Hehe, I can imagine that… well then, I hope to see you more often, I really enjoyed your company today." She gave the middle-aged woman an endearing smile.

"I promise I'll come by every day if I can, I enjoyed your company too." Tsubaki replied with an equal wide smile. Waving Ayame goodbye, she was about to leave when she heard the brunette's voice saying.

"Don't worry Tsubaki, I promise you, soon you'll feel good again…" Tsubaki looked over her shoulder and smiled before stepping out of the ramen stand to continue her day, completely missing the mischievous smirk that adorned the Ichiraku youngster's face.

* * *

"Oh man, I hope Ino is here." Naruto said to himself, he's been looking for Ino everywhere but could not find her, he even asked the Hokage if she got a mission but the old timer told him that her team were still doing D-ranks so she should be in the village. So now the silverette jinchūriki was heading towards her family's flower shop, hoping that she will be there.

Walking inside the store, he looked around for Ino but could only find her mother, _'Damn, Ino's mom got that hot regal shit down son, daaaamn…'_ Naruto thought, admiring Ino's mother. Shaking his head from lewd thoughts, he walked towards where she was watering some plants and made his presence known, "Umm, g-good evening Lady Yamanaka." He bowed to her politely.

Turning around, the woman saw her daughter's crush and replied, "Ah!? Oh, hello Naruto, please there's no need for such formalities, you're Ino's friend and thanks to you she started to get her training seriously, so just call me Mari." She gave him a big smile while pinching his cheek affectionately.

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, he replied with a small blush, "Oh umm… hehe… ok Mari, thanks."

Going back to her plants, she asked the boy, "What can I do for you, Naruto? Are you looking for Ino?"

"Yes, I was actually looking for her, but I can't seem to find her, is she around?" He inquired.

"No, she's not here honey, she's picking up some flowers from the gardens behind the Hokage mountain, that's where you can find her, you know where it is?" She said.

"Oh yeah I know! Thanks Mari!" He said while bidding her goodbye and walking out of the store. Naruto then headed towards the gardens, jumping through rooftops and eventually trees, soon after, he was able to find the blonde Yamanaka heiress picking up some flowers while humming a happy tune, _'Damn, she looks amazing with this light…'_ He thought while looking at the glow that the sun rays were giving her. Walking silently towards her, he got right behind her back and whispered seductively to her ear, "Hey sexy."

The girl didn't jumped because she already knew he was there since he was the only one that made her feel aroused by merely being in his presence, but hearing his husky voice and the feel of his breath and warmth on her body definitely made her weak on her knees a little, "Na-Naruto… h-hi…" She replied, feeling her breathing erratic.

"What'cha doing?" He replied with a smug smirk on his face.

 _'_ _Damn him and that stupid, sexy, beautiful smug smirk of his…'_ She thought with exasperation, still feeling flustered by his closeness. Regaining her breath, she replied with a little sexy smirk of her own, "Oh nothing much sexy, just picking some flowers for the shop, what about ya!?"

"I was looking for ya!" He said with a beaming smile.

"Oh, re-really!?..." She said, feeling her heart beating faster and no doubt sporting a blush on her face, "W-well… wh-what's u-up?…" She said while mentally cursing herself for the stutter in her voice.

"Nothing really, just wanted to hang out, soooo, want me to help ya?" The future S-rank ramen connoisseur asked.

"Sure!..." She replied quickly and excitedly, "Can you help me pick up some roses? They're over there." She added while pointing a few meters away from their position.

"You know it!" He replied.

Naruto went to pick up the roses while mentally asking to the Absolute God, _"Yo D! How do I tempt her!?"_

 ** _"_** ** _Mm, there are three ways. One, transfer some of your chakra to them directly, as if you were doing some of that medical ninjutsu thing, but I don't recommend you to do that to warriors, they'll know something's up, so only use it with civilians or very low rank warriors. Other one would be with your saliva, infuse it with your essence, could work with a kiss or something, as long as your saliva touches their skin, it will work. And the last one is if they get into direct contact with your blood, but your blood must touch theirs. The last two are the only ones that could work on even the strongest females since they will never feel your essence until is already in their system."_** The Red Dragon Emperor replied to his container.

 _"_ _Aight… gotta see how to do it though…"_ Naruto thought. He cracked his brain trying to come up with a way to tempt Ino when he was suddenly enlightened by an idea and then smirked. Gathering a good bunch of roses, he walked to Ino who was separating the flowers she had collected and said, "Hey Ino, are these enough?"

"Yes sexy, than… aw!" She said before feeling one of the rose's thorns piercing through her middle finger.

"What is it?" He asked, feigning ignorance.

"One of the thorns pierced my finger… look is bleeding!..." She replied while showing him the damaged limb.

"Let me see." The last of the Uzumaki said while grabbing her finger. Infusing his saliva with his chakra and essence, he then put her finger in his mouth and started sucking it, stealthily infusing the girl's body with his essence.

" _Ooww_ … Na-Naruto… _mmm_ …" She said, biting her lower lip hard due to the incredible hotness she could feel running through her body, _'Wh-what the he-hell?… he's o-only su-sucking my f-finger and I'm al-already fe-feeling so-so hot!...'_ She thought, unable to explain why she could feel an incredible rush of excitement running through her whole body.

Releasing the next Yamanaka clan head's middle finger, Naruto said, "There… all good now, see?" He smirked inwardly while looking at the dazed girl, no doubt floating on cloud nine thanks to the transfer of his essence.

Recovering her breathing a bit, Ino shook her head to the sides and looked at the teenager who was standing before her, strangely feeling even more drawn to him than before, "Y-yes… a-all go-good now… t-thanks…" She said while struggling to find her composure for the moment.

Giving the girl a small smirk, the next Absolute God of End said, "Well then, is there any other kind of flowers we need to pick up?"

Gathering her wits again, the blonde replied, "Umm no that's… that's all I need…" Grabbing the basket with the flowers, she then got back to her flirty self and hooked her arm to his, "Come on! Walk me to the shop!" She added with a sultry smile.

"Aight! Let's go then, sexy!" He replied, returning the sultry smile right back at her.

The pair began their trek back to the village, walking at a slow pace to enjoy each other's company. The two remained silent for a few moments before Naruto asked, "So, how's your work going with Team Ten?"

"Pretty boring actually, we've been stuck on those damn D-ranks, seriously I don't even know why they exist!" Ino made her annoyance known.

"Ya! I hear ya! They're such a waste of time! I just hope that when Team Seven resumes duty we get at least a C-rank, I wanna test mah skill, ya know!?" Naruto exclaimed.

Giggling at the ex-blond's ever present eagerness for action, she said, "Always ready to jump into action, huh sexy?… but what do you mean with 'resumes'? I didn't know you were off duty."

"Ah well, Pa got a call from the Old Man about some urgent mission to who knows where for who knows what, so we got the week off." The silverette replied, with clear annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, I see, but what about your team anyways? I've heard that you're starting to shape up to the legendary status that the 'Team Seven' name carries." She said with a teasing tone in her voice while purposely rubbing his arm against her left breast.

 _'_ _Such softness…'_ He lecherously thought while feeling the soft mount of flesh rubbing on his right arm, "Haha, yeah well… so they say, I'm really not the one to tell if it's true or not, but can't deny we're definitely shaping up to be the heavy team of the next generation, there's no doubt that we are definitely not the team for stealth." He said, scratching below his nose while sporting a blush in embarrassment for the praise.

"So I've heard! At least you got Forehead out of her fangirlness, when we graduated, she only got book smarts and nothing more..." The Yamanaka commented, "By the way, how did that happened?" She asked.

"Teme…" Naruto replied. Seeing the questioning gaze on Ino's blue eyes, he elaborated, "Well, I tried back in the academy to make her focus when I… ya know… hehe…" He scratched his head in embarrassment, not knowing if it was cool to bring up the beating he gave her, but seeing the cute blush on her face, he continued, "But since that didn't worked, I really stopped caring, but then I got stuck with her on my team so I was starting to think how to make her focus, ultimately I realized that she will never listen to anyone but Sasuke, so I just hoped that she'd do something to piss him off so he could break her out of her bubble, which it happened on our genin test."

"What'd she do?" She inquired.

"Well, you know that my teamwork with Sasuke is flawless right?..." He asked, getting a nod as a yes. He continued, "Well, Pa's test was about teamwork, he tried to divide us saying that we had to take the two bells from his belt to pass, but that the one that didn't get a bell would be sent back to the academy, Sasuke and I both knew what the test was about from the beginning since we've been training with Pa for years and the thing he values above all, is teamwork. But before we could get Sakura to work with us she got caught on a genjutsu and forced me and Sasuke to do it with only the two of us…" Turning to his fellow Leaf ninja and seeing he had her undivided attention, he added, "We came up with a sick plan that I know would've work and we could have caught Pa for the first time! But Sakura fucked it up by jumping at 'Sasuke' to protect him from Pa's fire jutsu, but that Sasuke was a clone of mine henged as the Teme to provide distraction. To put it short, Pa figured our plan and ended up kicking our butts, fortunately though, he passed us, but I know he did it because of my and the Teme's teamwork."

"Haha, I don't believe it, I knew she was clingy but to do that is just… sad!... haha…" Ino said while laughing at the story.

"It was… hehe… anyways, after Pa officially named us Team Seven, Sasuke and I were going to Ichiraku's to get a bowl but Sakura stopped us by asking the Teme out for a date to celebrate, that really pissed Sasuke off, he just lashed out to her and walked away, Sakura just stayed there moping and I just hoped that she would open her eyes, and thankfully, she did." He finished his story.

"Wow, that's good though, my friendship with her might have strained through the years but she's a comrade and I really hoped that she got her shit together and understood that this is serious…" She said before resting her head on his shoulder and stating with a sweet loving voice, "Just like you did to me, if y-you… if you hadn't knocked some sense in to me… I knew I wouldn't be the kunoichi I am today, thank you Naru." She finished with giving him a sweet kiss on his cheek.

Scratching his scruff, he replied, "Haha, no problemo! I… I didn't wanna see ya die because you didn't properly train."

"You're as sweet as you're sexy…" She said with a seductive tone in her voice, "Well, here we are, thanks for helping me, sexy… I really wish I could spend the day with you but I gotta help mom."

"Yeah don't worry, I'll see ya soon, ok!?" He said, getting a nod in affirmative. She kissed him on the cheek again and the pair parted ways, _'Aight, one down son, Hinata Hyūga, you're next baby, yeah…'_ He thought while waving his arms around, making people look at him like if he had completely lost his mind.

* * *

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit..." Was all Naruto's blood clone could mumble while having some dozens of angry giant crabs up on his tail. It, brilliantly decided to follow its creator's advice and headed towards the Forest of Death to have some fun with the person following it. However, its long standing feud against the crabs that live deep into the forest got the better of it, it just couldn't pass up on the opportunity to trim down their numbers but in the middle of its excitement for battle, it completely forgot that 'he' was a clone and while getting hit won't dispel it like it normally would to a normal shadow clone thanks to being a blood clone, it was still weaker than the original, "Me and my stupid advice… only I would follow an advice from myself!… OI! Cut it, fools! Ya fools!"

 _'What the hell is this boy thinking!?'_ Thought Ryū. She had been following the boy constantly as her Root leader requested whenever she wasn't guarding the old war hawk, but today the silverette jinchūriki of the Twelve-Wings apparently decided to spice things up a little when she followed him into the Forest of Death. She knew that this was the prankster's favourite place to train so at first she wasn't all that surprised, but when he headed towards the caverns where the forest's fiercer creatures live, the giant crabs that are said to be stronger than a rhino but that also possessed poison coating their pincers, she started to think that maybe her fellow silver-haired ninja didn't know where he was heading to, but to her surprise, the boy just stood in front of the caverns and idiotically called on the beasts, insulting them and their mothers in the process, to add to her surprise, the boy decimated the first wave of angry crabs, two good dozens of them. After seeing him fight the crabs, she realized that this must be a regular occurrence since he showed that he knew how to handle them and also because the crabs showed some recognition when they saw their attacker. Yet now, here he was running through the forest while insulting the wind to no end trying to overrun the mob of angry crabs chasing his tail, "Is he trying to get himself killed!?" She mumbled to herself, a little agitated at the ex-blond's recklessness.

 _'_ _Oh shiiiiit, they're catching up to me, fool! Damn… if only I could use my essence cloak...'_ The clone thought with exasperation, frantically looking for a way to lose its shelled chasers, _'Hold on a minute... the prick that's chasing me, whoever it is... maybe I can kill two birds with one stone...'_ It thought, already formulating a plan. A mischievous smirk then spread on its face and mumbled, "Aight hunter, let's force your bitch ass out."

Coming to a halt, the blood clone turned to face the crabs and defiantly opened its arms wide while taunting the angered crabs, "Aight son's of the holy shelled turd, you wanna piece of this hunk!? Come get it bitches!" He unsheathed its sword and jumped straight at the closest crab it could see.

Watching the scene unfolding, the silver-haired Root agent thought incredulously, _'Is he... Is he really fighting them head on? What an idiot...'_ She kept watching from a distance, witnessing the jinchūriki's swordsmanship at work, and she was impressed, his style was bizarre at first glance since she has never seen anyone holding a sword like the silverette shinobi was, but seeing the speed and agility that it provided, she could not deny it was intimidating, but still, he was outnumbered and for some odd reason he wasn't calling on the dragon's power. Seeing that he was starting to be pushed back, she started having a battle within herself, _'Damn!… I don't know if he'll hold out much longer… what do I do?… Should I help him?... dammit… I shouldn't reveal myself but... if he dies then the Twelve-Wings will break free...'_ She thought, unable to find a suitable course of action.

 _'_ _Dammit hunter! Show yoself!...'_ The clone thought while starting to feel a little exhausted for holding the angry beasts back. Seeing that maybe it needed to push the mysterious follower out, it cut down a crab but allowed another to toss the Naruto's clone's sword away to make it look as if it was defenceless. Getting tossed against the trunk of a tree, Naruto's clone dropped to the ground on its butt and said, "Hey, listen fools, I know ya fellas and I do not have the best of relationships, but I like to think that I'm as irreplaceable to you as you are to me, sooo... why don't we just settle this later, huh? What'cha say?" It scratched the back of its head sheepishly, trying its best to look like a cornered deer.

Just as one of the crabs was getting ready to pierce the clone with its tongs, a black blur appeared in front of the downed clone. All it could see at first, was how the crab that was about to pierce was now cut in half, the clone then looked at the figure standing in front of it and it couldn't help the boner it was feeling coming at seeing such piece of art standing elegantly in front of it. She was a tall female wearing standard ANBU gear that hugged tightly the woman's delicious curves, the clone could see that the female had silver hair like its creator and had two long ponytails that reached the bottom of her back, _'Daaaaaamn, dat ass thou...'_ The clone thought, feeling a bit of blood running through its nostrils.

Looking at Naruto's blood clone from her shoulder, the clone could see that the mysterious female was wearing a mask with the face of a dragon, a mask that Naruto has never seen before among the ANBU. The clone could also see that the kunoichi had two short ponytails at the front of her mask and some strands of her silver hair covering the top of it while flapping wildly due to the air running through the forest. Suddenly, the clone got kicked out of its lewd imagination when the woman spoke with a monotonous yet beautiful voice, "Are you okay?"

 _'_ _Oh my... this is certainly a fortunate turn of events for the boss… gigigi...'_ The clone thought with a lecherous giggle at the revelation of the 'stalker'. Shaking its head to the sides, the clone stood up and replied with a smug smirk, "Yup, don't worry about me! I was just buying myself some time to recharge some energy... but who are ya though? I've never seen you before and I think I know all ANBU by now since they're mah favourite prank victims." It scratched its chin while squinting its eyes, feigning confusion and secretly releasing a good amount of pheromones.

Cursing herself for jumping without thinking, Ryū suppressed as much emotion as she could since she was one of the few that 'failed' the emotional training that every Root member received to become mindless tools to be used. Coming up with a quick excuse, she replied, "I'm one of the new recruits, I was doing my patrol when I sensed a disturbance coming from here and I saw you." Her voice was almost void of emotion, almost, because the clone could hear the slight oscillation in her voice, signalling that the pheromones were affecting her well, _'Wh-what the hell i-is this tingling?...'_ She thought, not sure what was the strange hot sensation running through her body.

"Oh that's cool then..." The clone replied, suppressing a smug smirk that the satisfaction of seeing its pheromones at work was giving, "So, mind helping me with these fools?" It added.

Nodding to the clone, the two stood side by side when she said, "I'll distract them while you get your sword back."

"Roger." The clone replied. It was surprised when instead of using her tantō, she sheathed it and brought her hands forward, the clone then saw how her hands were starting to be coated with some sort of black energy with a red hue and after some seconds, the female operative shot the strange energy towards the crabs and a sizable explosion occurred, blowing up 4 crabs on the process.

 _'_ _Oh that was cool!... but what was it though?...'_ The clone thought before pushing the thought aside for the moment. It then seized the distraction and jumped towards its sword, but one of the crabs managed to jump at the clone with its pincers dangerously at the front. The clone avoided the attack and grabbed a dead crab by the legs and jumped while screaming, "Oh no you don't! Amma beat ya modafucker with this other modafucker!" The clone used the momentum to drop the dead crab over the attacking one, squashing it brutally.

Not wanting to waste any time, the clone quickly ran towards the sword and lifted it from the ground. It then prepared its 'Dragon Claw' stance but before it could jump to action against the crabs at its front, it heard a pained grunt coming from the silver-haired woman, "Hey! You okay!?" The clone said after jumping towards her, standing between the angry crabs and the woman.

Grabbing her left arm above her elbow, Ryū said with pain clear in her voice, "No-not re-really... one managed to... _ah..._ to s-scratch my arm..."

 _'_ _Dammit, those damn pincers have poison, I need to end this now...'_ The clone then jumped towards the rest of the crabs and landed right in the middle of them. Channelling wind chakra to its feet, the clone rotated with the help of the wind until it became a small tornado, it then channelled some lighting chakra into the blade and threw many bolts of lightning at the crabs, shocking them to the point of roasting.

Stopping its rotation, the clone ran towards the kneeling woman and said, "Those damn things have poison on their pincers, we need to get it out..." The clone then sucked the poison form the pained Root agent and after some seconds, it managed to spit all the poison out, _'Hehe, good thing amma a blood clone, having the boss' blood gives me enough essence to tempt this beauty, whoever she's working for does not have good intentions for the boss, fou shou...'_ The clone then channelled most of its essence to its hand and it then gained a red glow before it said to the female, "The poison's out, I know just a little bit of medical ninjutsu but it'll be enough to heal your wound, okay?" Receiving a nod in response, the clone pressed the wound with its hand and began to channel its essence. The clone didn't really knew a thing about medical ninjutsu but its essence could effectively heal shallow wounds like the one done to the silver-haired kunoichi.

 _'_ _Oo... g-god!... wh-what is th-this damn tingling!?...'_ The Root operative thought in the middle of this strange hotness running through her body. Truthfully, she had no idea what was this excitement and pleasure her body was receiving since she had never experienced anything like this, all her life has been devoted to Root and nobody in Root is allowed to feel anything, not even satisfaction. It took some seconds for the strange hotness and tingling to subdue, and she could feel no pain anymore, she then looked at her wound and marvelled at how fast her fellow silverette closed the wound and not even a scar was left. Seeing that she had already risked to much by jumping to defend the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki, she stood up and dusted herself up while fighting to regain her emotionless self again before saying with the driest tone possible, "Thank you for your assistance, but I should go now, I have already wasted much time by helping you."

Giving her a wide warm smile that strangely made her heart beats slightly erratic, he replied, "Ah right! Thanks for the help, it was cool fighting by your side, I hope we see each other again, ya know!?"

The Root silverette just nodded slightly and left without any words, she knew she needed to get away from the boy for the moment as it appeared that being close to him was making her suppressed emotions resurface from some odd reason.

 _'_ _Hehe, boss gon love this, son...'_ The clone mischievously thought, able to feel the inner turmoil of the mysterious female's emotions. Stretching a bit, the clone jumped towards the tree branches and leaped towards the village, heading straight towards Naruto's apartment, _'Maybe some ramen? Oh yeah baby that sounds gooood...'_

* * *

"Paper Chakram!" Said a woman with short blue hair with a blue origami flower adorning it. She had a beautiful face with a piercing on her lower lip, striking amber eyes and was wearing a black cloak with red clouds that covered almost all of her body. The circular chakram made out of paper was traveling at high speeds towards the paper user's target.

Said target was a strong built tall man wearing a red steam armour with a furnace on the back that was emitting steam to increase his speed and strength. The armour extended all the way to the bottom half of his face where one could see his light brown eyes, he was also wearing a conical hat that had white cloth covering the sides of his face and over the armour he was wearing a black gi that seemed to have the sleeves torn off, he had black gloves and had a Rock forehead protector.

Channelling steam to his furnace, Han used the momentum given to him by the steam release to sidestep the incoming projectile, barely avoiding it. Not wasting any time, the Five-Tails jinchūriki regained his footing and propelled himself with his steam straight at the bluenette. He then cocked his fist back, enhanced the power of his fist and shot aiming at her gut, he felt his fist connecting with his target but before it could do any damage, the Akatsuki female member turned her body into paper to avoid the hit, reforming a few metres away from his position, seemingly unharmed.

"Resistance is futile, your sacrifice is required to build a new world, one where peace will be enforced." The stoic bluenette said.

Scoffing, the samurai-like man replied, "What a sick version of peace that is then, I didn't saw your two other partners preaching about peace when they were slaughtering the small village I was staying at."

"It was…" Konan was saying but found that she couldn't really find any reason for their actions. The two other members of her organization that accompanied her to draw the Five-Tails jinchūriki out where indeed murderous bastards, especially Hidan, both him and Kakuzu attacked the small village where Zetsu reported to have found the steam user. Konan wanted to go alone but the Akatsuki leader, Pain, sent Hidan and Kakuzu along in case backup was needed, however, the Rock shinobi proved to be a hard one to find so the zombie duo decided to draw him out by slaughtering the villagers. A few weeks ago, Konan would've told herself that it was necessary, all for the greater good, but now she just couldn't anymore, not after her talk with Itachi.

 _Flashback_

 _"_ _What do you have on the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki, Zetsu?" Pain asked his subordinate._

 _"_ _ **The boy is definitely the hardest target, not just for the people that surrounds him but his skill as well...**_ _" Black Zetsu replied, "Ah yes, for what we could gather, the boy is at least high-chūnin level by himself, but whenever he is in the company of Sasuke Uchiha, which is almost always, the two of them could make any of you sweat, plus it appears he has some control over the dragon's power." White Zetsu added._

 _As Konan was listening to the reports, she looked at the other members of the Akatsuki, while she didn't hate any of them, she really didn't like them either. Deidara was outright annoying, just like Sasori with their so called art, Hidan was a sick psychopath and probably the only one that truly disgusted her, Kakuzu only cares about the money and has no real goal, Kisame seemed to be on board only for the fun of it and Zetsu was a mystery, as nobody knew a thing about him, she even doubted that Nagato knew much about him._

 _Nagato, her best friend, or so she has been telling herself for the past years, because deep down she knew that Nagato was dead, he died by the hands of her other best friend, Yahiko. His death turned the sweet innocent and caring boy she knew into a hollow shell, he turned the organization that their beloved orange-haired friend created to bring peace to the world into a mercenary one that had as ultimate goal to steal all the Tailed Beasts and use them to force the world into peace. She knew it was wrong, she knew it was an insult to Yahiko's memory, but at this point in her life, she just didn't cared anymore._

 _The last member of the current line-up was another enigma to her, Itachi Uchiha. When she heard what he had done to his own family, she thought that he would turn out to be another Hidan, a mindless killer, but ever since he joined the group he had never show any kind of emotion, he was even more stoic than herself, but there was one thing she's been seeing on him, something that both intrigued her and put her on alert. He seemed like he was part of something bigger, every time she looked at him in the eye, she could see amusement, not at the things they do or their plans, but at the organization and Nagato themselves, it was like if he knew they were going to fail and that has been bugging her greatly. And now looking at him, she saw something she never thought she'd see, an emotion, but it was one that bothered her, a smirk, a mix between an amused and proud smirk was adorning the Uchiha traitor's face, 'Just what the hell is so amusing?…' She thought._

 _"_ _Mm, I see, it is alarming how he appears to be growing so fast, we might need to act on him soon before he becomes a bigger problem..." Pain said with an emotionless voice. Looking at Itachi and Kisame, he added, "Itachi, it seems you'll be returning to your home village, from now on, you and Kisame are in charge of capturing the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki."_

 _"_ _Yes leader." Itachi replied with an equally monotonous voice, but inside, he was feeling like all of his sacrifices were paying off, 'Sasuke, Naruto, to hear that you two are growing side by side just makes it all worth it, little brothers...' He thought with pride and relief._

 _"_ _Very well, I will call you all again soon, for now, you're all dismissed." Pain declared, quickly disappearing from sight._

 _As Konan was watching everyone going on their ways, she decided to confront Itachi in case he would use the organization to further his own goals, "Itachi, may I speak to you?…" She asked. Getting a nod as a response, she led Itachi towards a balcony that showed the village of Rain and its ever present depressing atmosphere. Deciding to get down to business, she said, "Just what is so amusing to you? I've been watching you closely ever since you joined us and while maybe the rest do not see it, I can see you find our cause amusing."_

 _'_ _Mm, I knew Konan was different, maybe I can throw her into my little brother's orbit...' Itachi thought with amusement. Smirking slightly at the blue-haired paper user, he replied without stutter, "Because we will fail."_

 _Widening her eyes a bit, she was genuinely caught by surprise at Itachi's forwardness and judging by his stern voice, he truly believed it. Frowning at the stoic Uchiha, she replied with a little edge on her voice, "Why are you so sure? And if you truly believe that, then why are you here?"_

 _"_ _I believe that because I know that there's only one person that can achieve true peace, my legacy..." Itachi replied, with a calm but stern voice, "As to why I'm here, is because I am a just a step, a step for him to reach his goal."_

 _Narrowing her eyes, she accused, "You make it sound like Pain won't achieve it."_

 _"_ _That's because he won't, not because he doesn't has the power to, but because he, and by extension us, are going about this the wrong way." The ex-Leaf ninja replied without hesitation._

 _"_ _Is that so?..." She replied, feeling irritated at his calm words. 'Why the hell is it getting to me!?...' She thought, feeling angry at herself for feeling her pent up emotions and morals resurfacing again, "Then what is the 'right way' that you so strongly speak of?" She asked, with clear anger in her voice._

 _Inwardly smirking at seeing that he got an emotion out of the blue-haired kunoichi, he replied, "My legacy's way, while you might think that through Pain's eyes we will succeed, I know that it will not work, his visual prowess is no equal to my legacy's one, his eyes, are the ones that have the power needed to bring peace."_

 _"_ _What are you talking about?" She hissed at him, feeling incredible frustrated at his words._

 _"_ _He doesn't have a d_ ō _jutsu, he doesn't have the all-seeing eyes of the Byakugan, the copy-eyes of the Sharingan or the almighty prowess of the Rinnegan, no, his eyes possess something those eyes don't, something stronger." He answered._

 _"_ _What?" She asked dryly._

 _"_ _Light." He replied, surprising the girl at hearing the usual unemotional voice of the Uchiha taking on a tone that seemed to show love and pride for this legacy of his._

 _"_ _I don't understand..." Konan said, with a voice that was almost a whisper, still stunned at the Uchiha's emotional voice._

 _"_ _Then let me show you." He replied while morphing his onyx eyes into the dreaded form of the mangekyō._

 _She really didn't know why her head nodded in acceptance, but she was genuinely intrigued by his words. Looking at the raven-haired Uchiha's eyes, she found herself surrounded completely by darkness just after a second of looking at him, she thought that it might be a trap but suddenly, she felt warm, she felt warm and happy, she could not explain it, happiness had become such a foreign emotion to her that she had almost forgotten it, "Wh-what is... th-this feeling?..." She asked confused._

 _"_ _Look behind you." Itachi's voice said, coming from all over the darkness._

 _Doing as she was told, she turned on her heels to look behind her and she could only gasp at what she was seeing. She could see it clearly, love, acceptance, understanding, care, friendship, but most of all, light, she was stunned, seeing those piercing glowing blue eyes with that beautiful golden slit that seemed to look into your soul, but not to judge you, to accept you, "Beautiful..." She whispered, completely amazed at what she was shown. Feeling cold again, she blinked and found herself back at the balcony, where she then looked around and saw that Itachi was gone and she was alone again. She then brought her amber-coloured eyes back at her village and could not help but for the first time in decades, feel cold._

 _End flashback_

"... necessary." She finished her sentence, with a voice that made it seem like she was saying that to herself more than to the Five-Tails jinchūriki.

"What a pathetic excuse." Han replied. Preparing another attack, he was about to go on Tailed Beast Mode but he then started to hear sparks on his back. Realizing too late that the bluenette had planted paper bombs on his back, he could only close his eyes and curse his village for abandoning him before feeling the explosion on his back, sending him straight into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Staring at the downed armoured man, Konan stood there frozen when she felt drops of water falling on her skin. She turned her head up to look at the sky and saw the rain starting to fall, a heavy, cold and sad rain. She just stood there with eyes closed and her arms wrapped around her while thinking, _'I miss those eyes...'_

* * *

"Mm, hope Hinata's here." Naruto mumbled while walking through the village heading towards training ground 8 where he knew Team 8 trained every day. He arrived after some minutes of walking and soon heard grunts and panting coming from the clearing. He then decided to watch from a distance until he could get Hinata alone, so he hid on the trees and watched Kurenai train her genin.

"Alright guys, that's enough for today…" Kurenai said to her tired team, "You can head home now, remember, tomorrow meet me at the Hokage Tower at seven A.M. for a mission, okay?" She added.

Getting a unanimous yes in response, Kiba and Shino said their goodbyes and walked off the field, leaving Hinata there alone with Kurenai, "Aren't you going home, Hinata?" Kurenai asked her student.

Taking a sip from her water canteen, the Hyūga heiress shook her head to the sides saying, "No Kurenai-sensei, I'll stay for a bit since I really want to perfect my new technique."

 _'_ _I'm really impressed with Hinata, to think that getting a beating from her crush would have pushed her to this extent… it's weird… but effective...'_ Kurenai thought while giving her student a smile. She knew Hinata since she was 8 and the red-eyed beauty wanted to be her sensei since then, but she could see that at the time, she had huge self-confidence problems, but that all changed suddenly when she was 11. One day she started to show unrelenting determination and in 2 years took the 'Kunoichi of the Year' spot which surprised her. Once the Hyūga heiress was placed on Team 8, the Leaf's Genjutsu Mistress asked Hinata what made her change so suddenly, the lavender-eyed girl told her about the beating Naruto gave her and what he said when he also beat Ino on a spar, that beating had inspired her to fight for herself. Kurenai might have been mad with the silver-haired jinchūriki but knowing that he did it for the next generation of kunoichi's own good, she felt grateful towards the Uzumaki, "Okay Hinata just don't overdo it alright?" She said with a motherly tone.

"Yes Kurenai-sensei, don't worry." The Hyūga heiress replied with a soft tone and a smile.

Naruto just leaned his body against the tree while watching Kurenai leaving the grounds, ' _God damn, Kurenai is so hot, damn ya Asuma-sensei...'_ The Namikaze thought with a little bit of jealousy. He then returned his focus to the blue-haired byakugan user and couldn't help but feel proud, she has grown into a fine and promising kunoichi since the day he kicked her ass into self-confidence. He waited some minutes and then stepped out of the shadows to make his presence known, "Hey Hina, what's up?" He greeted with a cheeky grin.

Throwing a little yelp in surprise, _'He snuck up on me with my byakugan active… I know he's good but to be this good...'_ Hinata thought, amazed that her crush had sneaked on her. Shaking her head to the sides, she replied with a blush on her cheeks, "H-hi Naruto… nothing much really, I'm just training a technique I created."

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, the Uzumaki said, "Wow Hina that's great, ya know!? Maybe I can help ya with it!"

Giving the boy a wide smile, Hinata replied enthusiastically, "Yes, I would greatly appreciate it Naruto, thank you."

"No worries princess!..." The silverette certified B-rank ramen connoisseur said, earning a blush from the shy girl, "Soooo... what'cha need me to do!?" He asked.

Taking some deep breaths to control her arousal that seems to always go mad whenever the silver-haired teenager is around, she replied, "W-well… my technique is both offensive and defensive but for now I want to focus on the defensive aspect first… so just throw as many shuriken at me as you can."

 _'_ _Oh Hina baby, you're making this too easy for me, yo...'_ Naruto thought with a mischievous smirk adorning his face, "Aight, I hear ya! Then get ready for this plight, cause amma make ya taste mah might! Yeeeah." He rapped.

Giggling softly at the boy's antics, the Hyūga Princess replied, "Ok Mini Mighty Bee, throw them!"

"Oi! I'm not worthy of being compared to The Mighty, fool! Feel mah wrath!..." He exclaimed, genuinely insulted at seeing someone, even if it's a hot chick, insulting The Mighty Killer Bee, the dubbed (By Naruto of course) Millennium Poet. Grabbing five shuriken from his pouch, he shot them at the bluenette heiress while saying, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Seeing the projectiles quickly making their way towards her, she took a deep breath and said, "Protecting Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!" In an extraordinary show of flexibility, Hinata waved her hands around, creating a protective shield by expelling arch-shaped chakra blades that spread across her entire attack range, successfully repelling all the incoming missiles.

"Whoa!... that was cool, son!..." The last Namikaze and Uzumaki expressed his astonishment at the amazing technique, "Did ya really came up with it!?" He asked.

Panting a bit due to the exhausting technique, she blushed heavily at the praise but replied none the less, "Umm, yes... I based it of off my family's 'Rotation' technique, but I eliminated the stress that came with the rotation and managed to add an offensive side to it as well." Hinata fidgeted her fingers while talking with a little shy voice.

"See! I told ya you were meant to great things!" He said, really happy for the girl that used to be so shy and unconfident with herself turning into such a strong prospect.

Blushing even harder, she said, "Th-thank you Naruto, you... you really opened my eyes."

"Don't sweat it, sugar!..." He said before adding, "So… wanna keep going?"

Nodding at the silverette, the two continued this on for some minutes until finally Naruto got the opportunity to cut the girl after she got tired and let her protective shield drop before she should have. One of the shuriken managed hit her on the cheek, making a thin but large cut on her face, "Ow!" She said, taking her hand towards her cheek to examine the damage.

"Oh shit! Hina, yo okay!?" Naruto said while rushing to the Hyūga Princess, _'Hehe, score...'_ He thought while mentally smirking devilishly.

"Y-yeah… is okay… it's just a cut..." She said after seeing the blood on her hand and feeling the pain from the cut. When she turned her attention towards her crush, she saw that he grabbed one of the shuriken and cut his palm with it, drawing a good amount of blood in the process, "Na-Naruto, what are you do-doing?" She asked.

"Don't worry, my blood is curative, I'll pour some of it on your wound and it'll go away, aight?" He explained.

"Okay." Hinata replied softly. Laying on the ground, she positioned her head as if looking at her right side to allow the silverette jinchūriki complete access to the cut, she then looked from the corner of her eye and saw Naruto closing his hand in a fist to focus the stream of blood and steadily poured drops of it on the wound. As soon as she felt the blood connecting with her wound, she felt an incredible rush of arousal running through her body, it was incredible, so strong that she could not stop the moan coming from the immense pleasure she was feeling, _'Wh-what is g-going on?... I fe-feel so hot...'_ She thought, unable to explain the necessity to jump at the Uzumaki and let him have his way with her.

Smirking at the girl, Naruto was also having some problems with his self-control due to the enticing scent coming off from the bluenette's nether regions, _'Damn! It smells sooo good!...'_ He thought, fighting hard his own arousal. After some seconds of pouring his blood, he said, "Aight, that's it Hina! The wound is gone."

"Th-thank you..." She replied, with a weak voice and a mad blush on her face due to the feeling of her wet panties.

Helping her on her feet, he then said, "Come on, I'll take ya home." Giving her a warm smile while surprising her when he put her on his back.

"Eep!" Hinata screamed cutely before burying her head on his shoulder to fight down the hotness she could feel running strong again throughout her body due to the extreme closeness with the object of her affections.

After some minutes of jumping through the tree branches and the roofs, he stopped just a couple of metres away from the Hyūga compound saying, "Since your father is probably still pissed at me from my last prank, I think it should be better if you walk alone from here… hehe…" He then put her down his back and scratched his head sheepishly.

Giggling softly at the boy's antics, she replied, "Yeah, he actually is... but thank you Naruto, I... I really had fun." She then surprised Naruto when she leaned on him gave him a kiss on his cheek before quickly disappearing from sight with a mad blush on her face and a hard beating on her chest.

"Hehe, how bold Hina..." He mumbled to himself, giving a mischievous smirk for all to see, _'Another down, I'm good baby...'_ He though while turning on his heel towards his home.

* * *

"I should get home to see what my clone's been up to before I go to Ichiraku's." Naruto mumbled.

Closing his eyes, he draw Ddraig's first stage to check if his follower wasn't near him or his home. Seeing that it was not, he leaped to the roofs and arrived to his apartment after some minutes, he then jumped to his balcony and walked inside his home where he saw his clone melting on the couch while watching TV, "Yo." Naruto said to his clone.

"Yo boss… waddup!?" The blood clone replied without looking away from the TV.

"Nuffin much…" Naruto said as he sat next to himself, "So, were you successful?" The original silverette then asked.

"See for yoself." The clone replied before dispelling itself, leaving a mess of blood and water in the process.

"Dammit fool! Watch out with the mess!..." Naruto replied, annoyed at the mess that the blood clone left. But just before he continued on with his rant, he received the memories of the clone and couldn't help but smirk, "My, my, my, but if it isn't this a fortunate turn of events..." He just stayed there while closing his eyes, remembering the beauty that was following him, "These clones certainly are advantageous, now that she's tempted I just gotta wait and seize the right moment to act." He added.

After cleaning the mess of blood and water on his couch, he walked out of his apartment and headed towards Ayame, it didn't took him long as he arrived after some minutes of jumping through the roofs. Walking inside, he saw Ayame cleaning the counter to finish closing the restaurant for the night, he then silently closed his distance with her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, slightly rubbing his hips against her bottom, "Hello, my food goddess." He whispered huskily in her ear, making her shiver with delight.

"Aaa... Na-Naru baby!... wh-why you go-gotta make th-this so hard?..." The brunette waitress beauty replied weakly, not able to stop her ass from returning the grinding against the silver-haired Namikaze's groin.

"I can't help it, you're just so damn enticing!..." He replied before kissing her neck softly while caressing her stomach. Ending the passionate session, he turned her around to give her a deep kiss which she happily returned, the two kissed for some minutes and after they separated, he said, "Damn, how I wish I could speed up time to your eighteenth birthday."

Smiling seductively at him, she kissed him chastely and replied, "I know Naru, but don't worry, it'll come sooner than we'll realize, you'll see..." Reluctantly stepping out of his warmth, she headed towards the entrance and dropped the steel curtain to close the ramen place. Grabbing his hand, they then walked out of the restaurant through a back door and after locking it, she said, "So, how'd it go?"

Giving her a smirk, he replied, "Better than expected, I tempted both Ino and Hina without any problems, and I got a bonus as well."

Tilting her head to the side, she asked, "Bonus?"

"Yeah, the agent that's been tailing me since I graduated from the academy." He replied.

Widening her eyes, she inquired with worry for her beloved knucklehead, "Tailing you!? Naru! What's going on!? Why is someone tailing you!?"

Hugging her tightly, he gave her a kiss to drive away her concerns and replied, "Relax beauty, whatever they're doing, I'll find out soon, you'll see." He gave her a warm smile that calmed her nerves a little.

" _Sigh,_ Okay, if you say so..." She replied, still not so much convinced but deciding to trust her love, "So it was a girl then?"

"Yup, and I managed to fool her into revealing herself to tempt her, I still can't believe it worked but I'm not known as 'The Number One Unpredictable Ninja of the Leaf' for naught, ya know!?" He replied with a cheeky grin while thinking annoyingly, _'I really need to get myself a new badass moniker, sheesh…'_

Shaking her head in amusement, the 17 year old brunette waitress leaned on him and rested her head on his shoulder before saying, "Well, aren't you the lucky one..." He just nodded in response and then the two walked towards Ayame's house in comfortable silence, enjoying the cool night and each other.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya go! I know it's shorter than usual but I wasn't expecting this to drag on beyond two parts, anyways, I hope you liked it and see ya lads on the next chap, cheers!**


	7. The Tempting (Part 3)

**A/N: Hey lads! Here's the next chapter, there's a lime in this one so I put a warning in there in case any of you want to skip it, anyway, let's jump right into it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **The Tempting (Part 3)**

"I AM AN UCHIHA! I COMMAND YOU TO WORK, DAMMIT!..." Sasuke screamed to the winds with frustration, not able to stop his Uchiha's arrogant genes showing up in such circumstances. That is, until a soda can hit him on the back of his head, "Ow! What the hell!?"

"Oi shut it Teme! Ya know I hate it when you shove that Uchiha stick far up in your ass!..." His silver-haired brother exclaimed as he walked into the ground, "What's got you so frustrated this time?" He asked.

Glaring at the last Uzumaki, the last loyal Uchiha replied, "This damn Bringer-of-Darkness shit!"

Tilting his head to the side while squinting his eyes, Naruto inquired, "Huh? I thought Pa helped you with it."

"He did, but I just can't cast it, dammit!" The Uchiha replied, with clear frustration in his voice.

"Mm..." The silverette Namikaze hummed while scratching his chin. Closing his eyes, Naruto sat on the grass and said, "Well, did Pa told ya anything before he left as to what might be the problem?"

"Yeah he did, chakra is not the problem since my reserves are equal to Kaka-sensei's, neither is chakra control since I have one the best out of all in the Leaf, so he said that maybe is my sharingan, he believes that maybe I have to mature it first." Sasuke replied to his rival, scratching his scalp in annoyance.

"Hm? But why would that be the solution? I mean the Second was a Senju, not an Uchiha." The Twelve-Wigs jinchūriki questioned.

"That's what I said, but according to Kaka-sensei, I need the fully matured sharingan if I want to be able to cast it soon, since it took the Second almost a decade to do it." The raven-haired pseudo-avenger explained.

"Oh I see, with the matured sharingan you'll speed up the process..." Naruto concluded, understanding his father's thinking, "What about the shadow clones? Can they help ya!?" He asked.

"No, I already tried but Kaka-sensei said they won't work with dōjutsu, I have to do it the hard way." Sasuke answered with an evil smirk starting to form on his face.

Tilting his head to the side while raising an eyebrow in confusion, Naruto said, "The hard way? What'cha talking 'bou..." He couldn't finish his sentence because he saw Sasuke jumping and forming a set of familiar hand signs that Naruto was damn sure he did not wanted to be at the wrong end of that attack.

"Fire Style: Fire Crow!" The Uchiha screamed, sending a huge craw made of fire straight at his ramen enthusiast brother.

Jumping quickly away from his spot, Naruto managed to avoid the brunt of the attack but not its shock wave, which sent him skidding a few metres, "Oi! What the hell ya think ya doing fool, ya fool!?" The Uzumaki screamed with indignation to his black-haired brother.

"You're helping me get my last tomoe, so shut up and fight, loser." Sasuke replied with a smirk on his face, preparing his Interceptor stance.

"Oh it's on, duck-butt..." Naruto said with a smirk, already feeling the rush of his rivalry with his brother in everything but blood. Forming some hand signs of his own, Naruto screamed "Magnet Style: Mineral Spikes!" He slammed his hands against the floor and big conic spikes made out of the minerals from the earth rouse from the ground, aiming at Sasuke with deathly accuracy.

 _'_ _Shit! He finally learned to control the Magnetic Release...'_ Sasuke thought with a smirk while dodging the incredible sharp spikes of mineral, "I see you're finally able to use Magnetic Release, what about Lava and Boil?" He asked.

"Yeah, I managed to fully awaken my magnetic bloodline after a close call with those damn crabs so I immediately went to learn the scroll that Minato left me, this is the only magnetic technique I know though and according to Pa, it's going to be damn hard to find someone to teach me more, he says that I might as well be the only one left that can do it..." He replied with a wide grin, satisfied at seeing his brother's surprise, "And as for Lava and Boil, I still haven't fully awakened them, but as you know, I do have them."

Grinning back, the duck-butt haired teenager replied, "Well then, let's see who awakens the bloodline first!..." He then did a series of quick hand signs and screamed, "Lightning Style: Wolf's Thunder!" Lightning surrounded his body for some seconds before he brought his hands forward and with a war-cry, a wolf's head made of lightning shot at the Namikaze jinchūriki, the attack was the size of a human body and was traveling at incredible speeds.

 _'_ _Shit! That attack explodes as soon as it touches something and then releases multiple lightning bolts all over the place, so I won't be able to just dodge it, damn, I'll have to weaken it…'_ Naruto thought before finishing a quick succession of hand signs. The silverette jinchūriki then brought his arms towards his torso and formed an X with them before saying, "Wind Style: Twin Slashes!" Jumping a bit, Naruto released his hand in a diagonal motion and two big sharp currents of wind shot straight at the lightning wolf, it wasn't enough to destroy the lightning attack but it was enough to weaken it.

The wolf crashed against Naruto who managed to substitute himself with a log nearby to avoid the attack, the wolf then exploded but it was a lesser explosion that it should have been at full force. Not wanting to waste any time, Naruto unsheathed his katana and channelled lightning chakra in it, the katana's blade turned from silver to neon red while red bolts of lightning sparked throughout the blade and the golden symbol for lighting lit up.

Raising an eyebrow at seeing the strange crimson lightning, the Uchiha asked, "Red lightning? I didn't know your lightning had a different colour." He grabbed a kunai from his pouch and channelled his own lightning chakra in it, holding the kunai in a backwards grip similar to Naruto's grip style.

"Yeah, I was surprised as well, I thought it might be a special lightning but turns out the Twelve-Wings just wanted me to look cool…" He said while scratching the back of his head and chuckling, "Can't deny I do look cool, yo!" He added while jumping straight at his sharingan wielder brother.

"I guess I can't." Sasuke replied with a smirk, already used to his brother's antics. He was then surprised to see his speed but managed to adjust quickly with the help of his sharingan, he brought his kunai up to meet Naruto's slash and the two began a deadly dance of lightning enhanced slashes. The two were at a stalemate but Naruto proved that he had the advantage, not just because he had a katana while Sasuke only had a kunai, but also because he was proving the benefits of being the student of the Leaf's best swordsman.

Jumping a few meters away from the Uchiha, Naruto jumped at him again but this time he rotated using chakra to augment his rotation speed while releasing multiple red bolts from his katana, making it impossible for Sasuke to stop the deathly slashes and bolts heading his way. Sasuke did managed to get away from the deadly lightning tornado by jumping a few metres away from his Uzumaki rival but Naruto stopped the rotation and stabbed the ground with his katana to use it as a slingshot and then shot straight at the panting Uchiha who had no time to stop the flying body of his brother who had both of his feet forward. Naruto landed a powerful double kick to the raven-haired teenager's chest that sent him straight to the ground. Before Sasuke could lift himself up again, he felt the cold metal of Naruto's katana at his throat.

"You lose." The silverette said, panting but with a victorious smirk on his face.

Scoffing, the Uchiha replied with a smirk, "I know..." Grabbing the hand that Naruto offered, he stood up and dusted himself up before asking, "What's the count now?"

"41-39, me on the winning!..." Naruto replied with an even wider grin. He then sheathed his katana back and dusted himself as well. Looking back at Sasuke, he said, "I'm telling ya, you should learn kenjutsu as well, as long as I have my katana, I'll always have the advantage and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah I know..." Sasuke said, feeling a little annoyed after his third consecutive defeat, "I guess I'll learn kenjutsu then." He said.

"Finally!..." Naruto exclaimed excitedly, feeling his adrenaline rush again just by thinking on the new rivalry he'll have with the Uchiha in kenjutsu, "Let's get you a sword then!" He said.

"I already have one..." Sasuke said dryly. Seeing the raised eyebrow and questioning eyes of his brother, he explained, "Just come with me, I'll explain inside."

The pair walked inside the Uchiha household and Sasuke led Naruto towards the second floor where they then walked through a large corridor and stopped when they were in front of a chain that was hanging from the roof. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto could see that the chain worked as a handle to lower a door on the roof, Sasuke grabbed the chain and pulled it down, bringing a set of stairs that seemed to lead to an attic. Following Sasuke up, he saw that Sasuke pulled a black long box from a large cardboard box, "What's that?" Naruto asked.

Opening the long black box, Sasuke drew a beautiful katana out of it. It had a silver blade with a bluish hue, the hilt of the sword was black with red lines and a golden craw symbol engraved on it, "This used to be my mother's katana, she was one of the greatest kenjutsu users in the Leaf at the time along with Kushina." Sasuke said, with a small sad smile while remembering his loving mother.

"Whoa, yeah I read about that, they used to be a greatly feared duo back in their day." Naruto said, awed by the amazing katana in front of him, _'As beautiful as its owner... Miko...'_ The silverette thought sadly, remembering the woman he loved the most in his life.

"I was actually going to give it to you." Sasuke said, drawing Naruto out of his thoughts.

Raising an eyebrow, the silver-haired teenager replied, "What? Why?"

"You know why..." Sasuke replied, with a knowing smirk and a small teasing tone in his voice.

Not able to stop the blush surfacing on his face, Naruto replied while scratching his cheek and with a small stutter in his voice, "I-I do-don't know w-what ya t-talking ab-about…"

Chuckling a bit, Sasuke replied to his flustered brother, "Right, sure you don't..." Giving the katana a few practice swings, he grabbed the katana's scabbard and sheathed the sword back in it before saying, "But, I guess I'll use it since you already have one."

Fighting his blush down, Naruto controlled his emotions again and replied, "Yeah, I think Miko would be very happy to see that you didn't let her sword get to rust..." He looked at the sword with a small sad smile, still remembering the beautiful raven-haired Uchiha matriarch that did so much for him, "So, let's go then, I'll ask Hayate-sensei to teach you too!" He added.

Shaking his head to the sides as in no, Sasuke said, "No, that won't be necessary, I don't want to rely too much in it as you do, I just want to be able to make you sweat with it, so if you teach me, that'll be enough for me."

"Oh, okay, then I'll teach you what I know, but you'll have to make your own style though, since the 'Dragon Claw' style only works for me." Naruto explained to his rival, brother and best friend.

Getting a nod as a yes from the blackette, the pair proceeded to walk out of the attic and decided to go and mess around for a bit before Naruto trained Sasuke in kenjutsu for a few hours, while the silverette haired prankster was mischievously planning his move on his next targets, Anko and Hana.

* * *

"Aight, I can tempt them both at the same time, but I'll need to pull a prank on them..." Naruto said to himself. He had just finished training Sasuke in kenjutsu and the raven-haired genin was dead tired so decided to head back to the Uchiha compound to sleep for the rest of the day. Naruto went back to his apartment to take a shower while planning the perfect way to get both Anko and Hana alone, so naturally, he came up with a prank to force them to chase him, "Oh shit, hopefully, they won't kill me… hehe…" He mumbled, with a nervous chuckle at the end.

Jumping through the roofs, Naruto headed towards the gathering point for the kunoichi friends, the dango shop that Anko loves so much. Landing at a roof on a building opposite to the shop, he concealed himself for some minutes until he saw the familiar sight of 4 goddesses, Anko, Hana, Kurenai and Yūgao, _'Damn! Yū looks so fucking beautiful without her mask and those curves! Hayate-sensei you damn lucky bastard...'_ He thought, not able to deny his jealousy towards his sensei.

He observed the four women happily chatting amongst themselves for some minutes until they showed signs of leaving the store, _'Aight, let's do this son...'_ He though. Naruto then jumped to an alley that was some metres away from the dango shop and placed a henge on himself to look like a traveling merchant. He grabbed the small box he was carrying and walked out of the alley looking for his target, he found the person he was looking for just standing behind his wares, trying to convince the people walking by to spend some coin on his shop. This guy was one of the Uzumaki's biggest targets, he was the epitome of a dickhead, he even tried to steal from Naruto's house once, of course Naruto caught him and kicked his ass but the guy continued being a dick none the less, so naturally, Naruto released his frustration on him numerous times. The silverette looked to his right to verify that his two tempting targets were still there and smirked when he saw them still chatting, probably saying their goodbyes, _'Gotta do this now...'_ He thought.

Walking towards the salesman, the henged Naruto said, "Wow, you certainly have a very fine collection, mister…" Trailing off to let the man know he wanted to hear his name.

Smiling at the possible client, he said, "Ah! Suyegu! Suyegu Fukuda at your service! What can I do for you, sir?"

"Oh well, you see, I'm a traveling merchant and as I can see, your collection of furs is quite remarkable, I'm an expert in dry skins so I was hoping that maybe you might like to see some of what I carry and perhaps, strike a good deal between us." Naruto said while trying to contain his laugh.

"Oh, of course, let's see what you have..." The salesman replied. Grabbing the box that the henged Naruto gave him, he opened the box expecting to see a collection of dry furs but was then enraged when a couple paint-balls shot straight at his face, "What!? What the hell!? Hey asshole what is..." He screamed with anger, completely covered in paint from the neck up. He wanted to confront the 'merchant' but could not find him anymore, "Show yourself, asshole!" He screamed to the winds, drawing all the attention to him.

The four beautiful kunoichi chatting were forced to look at the commotion. Seeing an angry salesman covered on paint, the foursome just giggled at scene, already knowing who was behind the prank, "Hihi… that poor guy, Naru always targets him, he deserves it though…" Yūgao said while chuckling at the scene.

"For what you've told us, he definitely does." Kurenai replied, with a giggle of herself.

"Oh man, I just love that brat..." Anko said, laughing out loud not caring at the slightest for the angry glare the salesman was giving her way. Turning towards her fellow 'Handler', she said, "Alright Hana, let's go and chase our lovable knucklehead."

Hana laughed for a few seconds more before nodding. The pair then leapt to the roofs in search of the silver-haired prankster, "Hey Anko! I can smell him, come on." Hana said, fighting her arousal down that appeared every time she smelled his scent.

Following the trail, the pair managed to shorten their distance with him. Seeing that his handlers where right behind him, he turned around to face them and smirked at them, _'Hehe, phase one complete, now phase two...'_ He thought. Continuing his run for some minutes, Naruto landed on an alley with a dead end and turned around and gave his 'Handlers' the cornered deer eyes and said with an innocent voice, "Ko, Hani? Waddup?... hehe…"

Smiling at the boy, the Inuzuka heiress replied with an amused tone, "Don't 'Hani' me Naruto, and don't play the innocent, we know you painted that guy."

"I don't know what'cha talking 'bout." He replied sheepishly, scratching his scruff.

"Now Naru, come here and let us _punish_ you." Anko said, with a sweet tone in her voice that Naruto knew really meant pain.

"Well, as much as I would like to be _punished_ by such goddesses like yourselves..." He said with a devilish smirk, making them both blush heavily, "I actually made all this up just for you!"

Looking at each other, Hana and Anko shared the same confused looks until they heard the familiar sound of a clone popping off, "What!? A shadow clone!?" Hana said. Then they heard Naruto's voice saying from behind them.

"Earth Style: Mud Bath!" Naruto spilled a large amount of mud at them, successfully covering them from the underside of their breasts down.

"What the..." Was all Anko could say before being covered in mud. Trying to figure out what was going on, she failed to realize that the Namikaze was finishing making more hand signs until she heard another technique.

"Dragon Style: Fire Shower!" Naruto said, taking a deep breath and releasing a large amount of dragon's fire in front of the stunned kunoichi. The heat of the fire was enough to harden the mud, freezing them on their spot.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Hana replied with a low growl, seeing the suggestive position they were in with their breasts seductively sticking out due to the hardened mud below them.

"Oh, nothing, just wanted to tickle you a bit…" He said with an arrogant smirk that made both girls fawn a little over him. He then walked slowly towards the kunoichi and grabbed a paint brush out of his pocket, "Now, you two tease me a lot, so I thought it was time for me to get a little payback." He said with a playful tone.

The two girls watched helplessly at the silver-haired Alpha that was walking to them like a tiger approaching a cornered deer, none of them could help but feel incredibly aroused at this, they could already feel the dampness of their panties and their nipples hardening, which showed in both due to Anko's revealing attire and Hana wearing a simple tight blouse, unbeknownst to them, Naruto was releasing a large amount of pheromones to get this results. He then closed in on Anko and stood right in front of her and then wordlessly created a shadow clone who did the same with Hana, both creator and clone shared a devious look and nodded before bringing the brushes to their breasts, gently brushing the soft mounds of flesh.

"Ah… Na-Naru…" Hana whimpered, completely astonished at seeing this 13 year old boy making her go crazy.

"Oh... god... you've certainly grown Naru..." Anko said, enjoying the silverette's actions on her body.

Smirking at the amazing sight of two beautiful woman squirming in delight, Naruto seized their distraction to bring two water balloons from his pocket, he threw one at his clone and smirked at each other before Naruto saying, "Are you girls enjoying this?…" He said in a seductive tone that neither of the kunoichi knew he had and it was making a mess on them. Seeing that they could barely look at him, he added mischievously, "Such a shame this is payback." As soon as he said that, both he and the clone burst the balloons filled with freezing water above their heads, making them scream at the cold liquid running down their previously heated bodies, killing their arousal abruptly.

"Na-ru-to!" Anko screamed indignantly.

"You ass!" Hana said, with the same indignation in her voice.

"Haha, catch me if you can! _Meep Meep_!" With that, he ran off, directing them towards the Forest of Death, _'Phase two complete, now onto phase three, hehe...'_ He thought.

Finally releasing themselves from the mud's hold, Anko said to her partner, "Come on Hana! Let's show that brat how to really tease!" She said, trying to sound badass but inwardly knowing, that the silverette really did a number on them. ' _Damn, my panties are sticking to my legs...'_ Both of them though after feeling their wet panties sticking on their skin.

* * *

"Aight, I just gotta take them a bit more deep into the forest and we're good, son..." Naruto mumbled while jumping through the tree branches inside the Forest of Death, closely followed by a flustered Anko and Hana, _'Hehe, I can smell their juices, I loooooove my pheromones...'_ He thought, with a stupid goofy grin on his face.

After some minutes of tree hopping, Naruto felt something wrapping around his legs. He looked down and saw a snake wrapping its body around his feet, making him loose a step and stumbling towards the ground. After a heavy thud, Naruto painfully stood up while rubbing his head, "Oh shit... that hurt… fools..." He mumbled, with a few tears running down his cheeks.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Anko appeared on a branch, looking at him with a playful smirk.

"It's seems we found ourselves a little cornered deer." Hana replied, with the same sexy playful tone.

Backing up a little, the silverette gulped when he saw a bunch of snakes surrounding him, so deciding to put his plan into motion before they made their move, he said with a nervous tone, "Hehe... ladies... my beautiful handlers... how about I do something for ya, huh!?... so we can all forget this... hehe..." He scratched his scruff nervously.

Sharing a look, the two hot kunoichi smirked and Hana said, "We're listening hon."

With a hidden smirk of his own, he replied with a seductive tone, "Well, how about a massage? I can see some tension in your beautiful bodies and I have you know, I just learned a fantastic technique that I'm sure will make you feel quite pleasant."

Looking at each other again, the two shared the same lewd thoughts, _'Mm, a massage by him, if his mere presence makes a mess in me, what would a massage do?...'_ Nodding at each other, the two looked back at their lovable silver-haired prankster and Anko replied, "Alright my sweet little Naru, let's see what those hands can do." She smirked seductively and with that, the two females jumped down to stand before the Uzumaki, who smirked in return.

"Aight, then follow me..." The adoptive son of the Copy-Ninja said. He took their hands and led them towards a small lake he knew was safe from prying eyes and dreadful beasts. After some walking, they arrived at the lake and he then turned around to face them and said, "Ok now, sit…" He used such commanding tone that made both of them shiver with excitement. They did as he instructed and then added, "Now, I need you to expose your shoulders." He thought they would look at him in an _are you fucking serious?_ way, but to his surprise and own arousal, they did as he said without complain. He then did the familiar steps to create a blood clone, which earned a questioning look on the girls.

"Umm… Naru… what are you doing with your blood?" Anko asked.

"Oh, the technique I'll use requires my own vital signature to work and since a normal clone is just a construct of chakra, it does not carry that with them, so since there are two of ya, I'll have to use a clone that does carry my signature, this is a blood clone." He replied, while finishing the steps.

"A blood clone!? Naru, aren't they forbidden!?" Hana asked, with clear worry over her favourite ball of mischief.

"Yeah they are, but don't worry Hani, I've already mastered them…" After blowing fire from his mouth, the clone came to life and looked at its creator, sharing the hidden smirk. The two hen turned towards the girls and couldn't help but blush at seeing their exposed shoulders, their skin just looked so enticing, but knowing that he has to wait a few years, he fought with all his might to bring his arousal down because he knew that if he did something out of place, they will feel that something's up, "Aight handsome, you know what to do." He said to his clone.

The girls just looked at each other and noted their blushes, then they felt a pair of strong masculine hands resting on their shoulders before hearing the silverette's voice saying, "Aight beauties, I'll infuse some of my vital essence into my hands, you will feel a strange sensation when I rub you, like if some sort of fire was being lit inside you."

"What do you mean?" Anko asked, while feeling strangely protected with his hands on her shoulders.

"Well, since I have the Twelve-Wings inside of me, my body has been adopting some of its features, one of them is my natural connection with fire, that is why I don't need chakra to call on it. Thanks to that, I found out that my chakra has become naturally warm and curative." He replied while infusing his hands with his chakra that carried some of his essence to tempt them.

"How did you found that out?" Hana inquired, unconsciously leaning against his touch.

"I tried it out with Ayame, the waitress at Ichiraku's, she said she felt amazing." He replied, enjoying the sight.

"Ok brat, go ahead then." Anko said with a smirk.

Nodding at them, they turned ahead with their backs on Naruto. They then heard the distinctive sound of flames and looked from the corner of their eyes, they were amazed at the sight, the silver haired Twelve-Wings jinchūriki and his clone's hands were covered by chakra flames, they were almost transparent. They gulped thinking that it might burn them but as soon as his hands touched them, they went completely blank due to their arousal sky rocketing so suddenly, they could not believe it, it felt incredible. True to his words, they could feel the flame burning through their bodies, but it didn't hurt, far from it, it was exciting, they could feel their bodies producing natural juices at his amazing touch, they could feel he was damn skilled as well, his massage was rough, but right on the spot none the less.

Anko could not believe it, she was blushing AND moaning. Naruto has always occupied a high place in her heart, as high as her 'sisters' Hana, Kurenai and Yūgao in fact, but now that he had hit such an amazing growth spout, she couldn't stop her body from reacting to him. He was now a few centimetres taller than her and she knew that he carried an impressive body, and she had found herself fantasizing about him more and more. She liked other men of course and contrary to popular opinion, she had only been with three man in her life, but since Naruto told her that she could always come back to him, she could not get the boy out of her head, she thought at first it was a sister and brother love, but now, she was not so sure.

Hana wasn't faring well either, in fact, she was having the worst time fighting her primal instincts down. It was incredible, the rush of adrenaline running through her body, her heated core producing juices at an alarming rate, practically screaming at her to lay on her back and spread her legs for such an incredible Alpha like the silverette Namikaze, she was panting hard. To her, at this moment, there was only her and him, his strong hands rubbing roughly but oh so right on the sweet spots on her shoulders, the amazing heat in her body produced by the teenager, she was in heaven and it took all she had to not jump at him and have her way with him.

Smirking widely, Naruto was feeling proud and smug, he was making such strong females moan, whimper and pant. He could smell it as well, the scent of their heated cores, he was also fighting his prime instincts down and it was taking a lot of him to both concentrate on infusing his essence in them and fighting his instincts at the same time, but he was managing well. After some seconds, he asked with a husky voice, "How are you feeling?"

"Ah…" Anko couldn't even speak, she could only produce moans to let him know he was doing very well.

"Mmm…" Hana moaned, she was equally at a loss of words due to the high rush in her body. She was going to have him at least once one of this days, of that she was damn sure.

Chuckling at their dazed expressions, he continued his massage for some minutes more before he then stopped his chakra flow and kissing them both on their heads, he said, "Well, that's it, I gotta go now, I promised to help Ayame on the ramen bar and it's almost closing time so I can't stay more, but don't hesitate to ask for more if you want, ciao mah beauties." He didn't even bothered to wait for a response since he knew they would stay there for some minutes calming their bodies down, but he did get a pair of grunts in acknowledgment, _'Hehe, score...'_ He thought, feeling incredibly proud of his seduction skills.

The two kunoichi just sat there frozen, drool ran down from their opened mouths, so lost in their high that they barely registered the kiss and goodbye of their beloved prankster, both of them were sure the ground below them was flooded with their love juices though, and both could not help but to think dreamily, _'Naruto…'_

* * *

Ryū was feeling incredibly frustrated, she cursed her mistake, her mistake of aiding her charge the silver-haired jinchūriki. Since that moment she could feel it in her heart, emotions, emotions she thought she had suppressed, emotions she went through a lot to suppress them. Contrary to what might some believe, Ryū was a late entry into the ranks of Root, she was inducted when she was 9, before that, she was a regular girl, well not entirely, she was a girl on the run. She never knew her mother, she was murdered after she gave birth to her, her father had barely the time to grab her and her brother to flee and since then, she, her brother and father spent their lives on the run, hiding in small villages, in the woods, doing what they could to survive. She didn't understand, even to this date she still didn't, why were her family being hunted? She knew she hailed from a once powerful clan, one with incredible abilities but for some reason, her once great clan fell from grace and became prey of an almost eternal hunt carried out by an equally great clan, the strongest clan in Rock and one of the eldest in the Elemental Nations, the Phenex clan.

But even then, her life was fairly normal, she had a loving father that took care of her, tucked her in at night, told her bedtime stories and held her whenever she felt weak and scared. Her brother was loving as well, at first, but as time went by, he changed, he was colder to both her and their father, he was pulling away from them, until one day, he just disappeared, there was no trace of him, her father searched for her missing brother for a long time until he eventually gave up. She knew he gave up because of her, she was 7 and she needed her father, so he chose to focus on her and silently prayed that his son would be okay. He started teaching her how to use her clan's feared abilities, not even her father knew what they were since their clan had been destroyed long ago, they were probably the last of their clan, but he did know it was destructive. For the next two years they lived in relative peace, but it all changed when they were found by members of the Phenex clan, her father distracted them so she could have a chance to escape and with an _I love you_ from her father, she ran away with a waterfall of tears falling from her eyes, she was now alone, she was 9 years old and alone. She kept running with no destination whatsoever, just running forward without stopping or even looking back, she then reached her end after two days of constant running, she collapsed in the middle of the woods but before she lost consciousness, she heard a group of people speaking. She thought the worst, she thought that they were going to either kill her, rape her or sell her, but she couldn't do a thing to stop them, so she just closed her eyes and lost consciousness soon after.

When she woke up later, she found herself in a white room, she had all her clothes on and had a needle injected on her vain supplying her with serum, moisturizing her. She then was introduced to a man named Danzō, he explained everything to her, who he was, who the men that brought her here were, how he knew all about her and her abilities, and how she was working for him now. She thought at first he'd use her as a breeding machine to produce people with her abilities, but carrying a baby will force her to have an attachment, attachment was a form of emotion and emotion is not permitted in Root, so she was instead turned into a deadly agent, a tool to kill, and she quickly escalated ranks, becoming the strongest of Root, not even her partner Terai was as strong as her.

She was 25 years old and she has never had sex or kissed, heck, she hasn't even hold hands with somebody, but she didn't cared, she didn't need emotions, she had forgotten them. But now, she was starting to feel them again, even her true name was coming up to her mind now, she was so frustrated because now that she was apparently starting to feel again, she felt sick, sick of what her organization stands for, sick for their methods, sick of their goals, and sick of their leader, that sickness was being amplified by their current task, desecrating the previous Hokages' tombs.

Their task, collect the bodies of the previous Hokages for Orochimaru to use in his upcoming invasion. She felt sick, this were the people that protected their village, this were the people that sacrificed it all for their village, it was so disrespectful, and the thought that Danzō was willing to allow such disrespect just to further his wish to become Hokage, was just spiteful.

"Ryū, you're spacing out, let's go and get this over with before the ANBU show up." The voice of her partner Terai broke her out of her thoughts.

Nodding slightly, she was grateful to have a mask that covered her frown because she knew she would be in trouble if her partner found her feeling something. She then finished the seals to turn the bodies of dead Root agents into exact copies of the deceased Hokages and placed them on the coffins. With that, she sealed the bodies of the true Hokages into scrolls and headed out of the Hokage tombs and darted off with her partner towards their base.

She was a little nervous, tomorrow she would go back to her task of surveying the silver-haired jinchūriki and the strange feeling in her body whenever she thought about him was making her think one frustrating thing in particular, _'What is this damn tingling!?...'_

* * *

"Hey Aya!" Naruto greeted his almost lover cheerfully. Getting around the counter, he held her close and kissed her passionately, "You mind making me some food? I'm starving, ya know!?" He said before taking a seat on his regular stool.

Smiling widely at her beloved, she replied, "Of course, sweetie..." She turned around and made her lovable silverette his favourite food, ramen made out of everything. After some minutes, she finished his dish and placed it in front of him, allowing him to eat at peace, she waited until he finished his bowl and asked, "So, how'd it go? Did you succeeded?"

Grinning like a fool at her, he replied a little smugly, "Oh why of course hottie! It certainly was more... complicated, but it worked, consider them tempted!"

Lowering the metal curtains to close the shop, she sat on his lap and after a chaste kiss, she said, "So, Tsume and Koharu are next, right?"

Shaking his head to the sides, he said to the confused girl, "No, they're too high profile for now, I'll need a really thought out strategy to tempt them, Tsume will be a problem, I'll probably have to challenge her." He shivered a bit at the thought of challenging the Inuzuka clan's head.

"Oh I see..." She said. She leaned into his embrace and after some seconds, she remembered the other woman they were to target, "Oh! Naru, do you remember the Tsubaki that I told you about?"

Squinting his eyes, he cracked his brain and then nodded at the beautiful brown-haired ramen waitress, "Yeah, the civilian head councillor right?"

Nodding, she continued, "Yeah! Well, she came here yesterday and she was depressed, I figured that we might be able to help her so I warmed her up into telling me what was wrong, it turns out that her ex-husband, you remember him right?"

"Yeah, he cheated on her, right?" He replied.

"Mhm, well, turns out that he cheated on her with her best friend! That pig..." She said, disgusted at the guy, "Well, the pig is apparently stalking her, saying that they should get back together for their daughter's sake, but according to her, he's a lowly drunkard and has been cornering her every time she goes out at night for grocery shopping, she says that thanks to her former training as a kunoichi and that he's always drunk she manages to outrun him, but she was very distressed Naru, maybe you can help her."

Scratching his chin, he closed his eyes thinking, _'Mm, I don't like taking advantage of this sort of situations but, maybe I can make her happy...'_ He thought. Looking back at his beloved ramen goddess, he said, "Aight, but I can't tail her all the time, not when I'm being tailed as well, do you know when she does her shopping?"

"Yes, she said that she does it daily around this hour, head to her district, this is her..." She says while giving him a picture of her, "And this is her district..." She hands him a direction, "There aren't many stores there so she should be easy to find." She finished, feeling very happy that she was able to help her beloved on their now shared ambition.

"And you said the ramen stand wouldn't be of much help..." He said with a smirk while squeezing her butt, making her moan before being silenced by the silver-haired Uzumaki's lips. Standing from his seat, he shared a last kiss with her and said, "Aight, amma do it then, I'll be at your home later, don't wait up for me!" He waved her goodbye and headed towards Tsubaki's district.

* * *

Naruto was jumping over the roofs of the village in search for his next target, Tsubaki Amari, _'According to Aya, she's gotta show around here any time now...'_ He thought. He's been thinking on how to approach the woman since this would be the first target he wasn't acquainted with, hell, he didn't know a thing about her, achieving to tempt the agent that's been tailing him was pure luck and he knew it, but this time there was really not much he could do to approach her, _'Damn it, what do I do?...'_ He thought frustrated.

After some minutes of searching, he found his target, a beautiful brown-haired woman. She had a fit body that showed she used to be a kunoichi and for what he could see, she really worked hard, _'Dat ass, son...'_ He thought lecherously, admiring the woman's derriere, she was wearing somewhat loose khaki pants, regular civilian sandals and had a light purple blouse below a dark blue sleeveless shirt, all in all, she had the typical housewife look.

 ** _"_** ** _Bet you wouldn't mind coming home every night to THAT."_** Ddraig mentally said to his successor.

 _'_ _Yeah, I definitely wo... Oi! You're turning me into a damn pervert like Pa!...'_ Naruto replied, with a blush on his cheeks and a frustrated growl after hearing the dragon god's snicker. Shaking his head to the sides, he focused on the task at hand and finally came up with an idea, "Aight, time to bump into her 'accidentally'…" He mumbled.

"Alright, thank you Ms Hiruchi!" Tsubaki said to the nice lady after paying for her groceries. _'Please, at least today, let me not bump into that asshole!...'_ She thought sadly. Going grocery shopping was currently her favourite activity of the day, being a single mother with a huge responsibility that came with being the head civilian councillor really cut her time greatly, she barely had the time of the day to catch up with her 13 year old daughter and after her ex-husband's betrayal, she didn't had any real friends anymore, _'Well, at least Ayame seems really nice...'_ She thought with a little smile thinking on her new and probably only friend.

Her thoughts were broken though, when she suddenly felt a body crashing against her own, sending her straight onto her bottom, _'Oh god, please don't let it be him...'_ She thought with a little bit of fear. Keeping her eyes closed tight, she was expecting to hear the foul remarks and begging of her annoying ex-husband but instead, she heard the sound of her groceries being picked up and placed back into the bag she was carrying. Cautiously opening her eyes, she was surprised to see probably the most famous, or in his case, infamous young man in the village.

She knew very well who he was, he was Naruto Uzumaki, the 'Prankster King of Hell', the three consecutive times chosen sexiest underage male according to 'Little Kunoichi' magazine and most importantly, the jinchūriki of the globally feared Twelve-Winged Dragon. She couldn't lie, she used to be like everybody else in the village when it came to the now silver-haired orphan, she had the idea that he was the dragon itself but just in the form of a small boy, ' _How stupid I was, with him and my asshole of a husband...'_ She thought bitterly.

Her view on the boy changed when one day her daughter came home pale and shaking heavily, as any mother would, she quickly left everything she was doing and ran straight towards her distressed daughter. After the little girl managed to calm herself down, she asked the young Amari what happened, her daughter Kimi explained that she got lost into the darkest parts of the village and that she soon found herself surrounded by drunken men, saying that they were going to sell her or keep her until she grew up so they could have their way with her. Just when they were about to make a move on her, she said that she closed her eyes tight not wanting to see what her fate would be but was surprised when she heard the sounds of pained grunts and bodies hitting the floor, she then opened her eyes and saw her would be attackers laying on the floor unconscious and by the way some of their limbs were bending they carried some nasty broken bones. She then said that her saviour was a handsome young man with the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen, the boy apparently carried her home bridal style and set her down a couple of blocks away from here and then just disappeared. But by the description her daughter gave her of the boy, she knew all too well who was she talking about, she wanted to tell her daughter to forget about that demon but then she realized, those filthy men were the true demons, if the boy was truly a demon, why would he save her daughter?

After some days from the incident, she couldn't stop thinking about the boy and for the first time in her life, she was doubting if he truly was what the village said. She decided that she at least would go and thank the boy for saving her daughter, but it took a long time for her to gather courage to approach him. She never could though, she used to be a kunoichi that specialized in interrogation so she was very good at reading people's emotions and all the courage she gathered faded after one day she saw him without his distinctive red shades, she saw his eyes, and she could feel it, the pain, the loneliness, the anger, the sadness, he hid them well but she could still see them as clear as day. Seeing his eyes showing such emotions and worst of all, hiding them, made her cry and run away, she had been wrong, the whole village had been wrong, he was just a boy, a boy forced with a burden that nobody should carry.

She did the next best thing, she sent him a letter, thanking him for protecting her daughter, that was the least she could do. She was hoping to forget about him, to ignore him again so those feelings of guilt and shame would go away, but that was not meant to be, her daughter naturally became almost obsessed with him, she loved him, she admired him. Tsubaki was worried that her daughter would become a useless kunoichi, a fangirl that would wait for her knight in shining armour, in her case Naruto, to come and save her from the evil, but she was then surprised again by the Uzumaki when he used his fangirls' infatuation with him to force them to take their careers seriously. She was ecstatic when she found her daughter training as a true kunoichi would and again the feelings of guilt and shame for her actions and words against the boy surfaced, and she couldn't deny it anymore, she now knew, she had been terribly wrong, he was a fine young man and the village's unsung hero.

But knowing that she'll probably never have the courage to face him and apologize to him, she did the next best thing, she focused on becoming the civilian head councillor to help him from afar. The Civilian side has always been against him, if it wasn't for the Hokage and the Shinobi Council, the boy probably would've been executed the moment he was brought into the village, so when she became the head of the civilians she fought for his safety, discretely, but did all she could to keep the civilians away from him. She knew it wasn't much, but her guilt and shame was too much to face the handsome man, _'Handsome? Where did that come from!?...'_ She thought, with a little cute blush adorning her face. Now that she looked at him, she couldn't deny it, the boy, no, young man, was incredibly handsome and the power he radiated was enticing, she was a woman and women, like men, have needs, so whenever she saw him, her body responded. Her recollection was interrupted however when he heard the silver-haired youth's voice calling her.

"ou okay!?..." Shaking her head to the sides, the middle-aged woman said with an embarrassed smile, "Umm sorry, Mr Uzumaki, what d-did you say?"

Smiling warmly at her, he offered his hand to her so she could get up, which she gratefully accepted and repeated, "I asked if you were okay miss…" He trailed off to let her know he wanted her name.

"Tsubaki Amari, and yes I'm okay, thank you." She replied with a smile and a respectful bow to the handsome youth.

"Nice to meet you Ms Amari and please just call me Naruto." He replied, scratching his head while giving her a goofy grin.

Smiling a little widely at him, she replied with a sweet tone, "Then please call me Tsubaki."

"Okay!..." He replied enthusiastically. Scratching his cheek, he looked at her and said a little timidly, "I'm s-sorry about bumping into y-you, I was distracted and w-wasn't watching were I was g-going."

"Oh no, please, it was my fault as well, I was distracted too, you don't need to apologize." Tsubaki responded with a beautiful smile that made Naruto's heart skip some beats.

"Then, please allow me to escort you to your home, is the least I can do." He said politely whilst releasing a good amount of pheromones.

Gaining a stronger blush due to her body's sudden hotness, she replied with a little stutter, "O-oh th-that's n-not necessary... I... I can g-get there s-safely..."

Smiling again at her, he exclaimed, "I know, but I insist, this part of the village has some bars and drunkards usually show up at this hour, I don't want to risk someone trying something on you."

 _'_ _Wh-what is g-going on?...'_ She thought flustered while rubbing her thighs against each other to stop that familiar tingling in her sex. Replying with a small smile and a cute blush that adorned her cheeks, she said, "I-I wouldn't w-want to im-impose."

"Nonsense, why would I feel imposed with the company of such a beautiful woman..." He said with a smile, inwardly smirking at seeing the gorgeous single mother's flushed state, "Unless of course, you don't want to be around me, I'd understand." He added, he didn't wanted to sound like he was guilt tripping her, but he didn't know if the woman was one of the 'Demon Haters', so he was a little afraid she might be.

Widening her eyes at his words, she realized he might think she was one of the filth that mistreated him, _'Can't blame him, I was, but not anymore...'_ She thought. Shaking her head to the sides, she gather her wits and said, "No! Is not that! I would really like if you escort me home if is not much to ask of you." She bowed respectfully with a small nervous smile, _'Why do I feel like a schoolgirl asking her crush to take her home?...'_ She thought.

 _'_ _Bingo...'_ He thought mischievously. "Of course not! It would be mah pleasure, ya know!?" He said with a wide smile.

The pair then began their way to Tsubaki's home in a somewhat awkward silence, not really knowing what to say to each other, that is until Naruto remembered a letter sent to him some years back to thank him for saving a classmate of his. He remembered seeing this woman picking Kimi up from the Academy so he deduced she was her mother, so he inquired, "You're Kimi's mother right?"

Feeling surprised and a little nervous, she replied, "Y-yes Naruto, K-Kimi is my daughter, h-how did you k-now?"

"Well, I know Kimi and one day I found her cornered by some sick fuckers and I got her out of there, a few days later I got a thank you note, the note said it was from Kimi's mom so after I saw you waiting for her every day after the Academy I figured you were her mother, that and well, you two do resemble each other a lot… hehe…" He said, with a small chuckle at the end before adding, "How is she by the way? Haven't seen her in a while."

Feeling her heartbeats going at full speed, she regained her composure enough to reply, "She's a-alright, sh-she failed her genin t-test but she's proved th-that she really wants to be a k-kunoichi, so she's trying h-harder th-this time."

"That is great! Sucks that she failed the test but she can be a great kunoichi if she really tries and focus." He said cheerfully.

Not wanting to stop the conversation, the Amari woman asked, "Yes… hihi... umm… h-how is your father and brother?" She knew, heck, everybody knew Kakashi Hatake loved the boy as his own son and Naruto loved the man as his father. And everybody knew as well that Sasuke and Naruto were brothers in everything but blood, so she figured that talking about their families might open the boy up a little to her.

Smiling fondly while thinking about his father and brother, the ex-blond replied, "Well, Pa is out on a mission and since he's also my team's sensei, we're out of commission for the week, he should be back at the end of the week though, and he's fine thank you..." Looking at her, he added, "And Sasuke is alright, he's still an arrogant prick sometimes, but he's alright."

Giggling at the boy's descriptions, she couldn't help but stare dreamily at the young man walking by her side, the moonlight was hitting his face and it gave him a divine glow that highlighted his beautiful haunting silver hair. She was thankful he wasn't wearing his red shades because it allowed her to see those beautiful deep blue golden slitted eyes of his, _'How I wish I was younger...'_ She thought a little depressed, "Listen Naruto, I wanted to t..." She was going to tell him how sorry she was but was interrupted when she heard a familiar voice screaming her name.

"Tsubaki!" A man screamed, he was a tall black-haired man and was wearing black shoes and blue jeans with a black jacket. The man looked like he could fight but the lack of chakra told Naruto that he was no ninja, and the fact that he was clearly stumbling and had red eyes told him he was drunk.

 _'_ _No! Why god!? Why!? Just when I finally had the chance to talk to him, dammit!...'_ She thought frustrated. Looking at her ex-husband, she wanted to look intimidating but could not stop a little bit of fear to slip into her words when she said, "I-Ichigō!? Wh-what do you w-want!?"

"For you to understand dam..." Ichigō was saying before he realized her company. Looking at the silverette by her side, he looked back at her and said angrily, "What the hell are you doing with this filthy demon."

Tsubaki saw red, she didn't know why she got so angry when she referred to Naruto as a demon, but she was pissed. All fear forgotten, she retorted, "Don't call him that, you asshole!"

Narrowing his eyes angrily, Ichigō retorted, "Oh I see, you're the demon's whore now, you bitch!" He then threw his bottle at her, managing to hit her on the side of her mouth. Not satisfied, he jumped at her but was stopped by a hard punch to his gut that sent him back while struggling to regain his breath. The drunkard turned to look at his attacker but what he saw, made his blood ran cold after seeing the silverette's eyes, they were neon red and his killing intent was immense.

Walking slowly towards him, he never stopped staring directly at the drunk's eyes when he grabbed him by the neck and brought him to his feet, "I accept you calling me a demon because frankly, I couldn't give a single fuck about what you think 'bout me…" He said with a low demonic voice. Naruto then threw him hard against the wall and could smell the urine of the man running down the bastard's jeans. Crunching, he brought his head near the frightened man's ear who was shaking heavily and struggling for breath, "But if I ever hear you calling or hurting Tsubaki... heck… if I EVER see you near her or hear you dared to approach her without her consent, this DEMON will hunt your pathetic urinated ass down and I. WILL. SHOW. YOU. HELL..." He whispered with a demonic voice and a killing intent directed at him. Bringing his face in front of the man's, he finished with a commanding voice, "Understood?"

The man could only nod, he was terrified, heck, he wasn't even drunk anymore, "Y-yes." He managed to say weakly.

"Good, now beat it!" The silver-haired Namikaze commanded.

The man gathered his strength and quickly left the scene before he pissed Lord Naruto off. Straighten himself up, the silver-haired Namikaze walked towards the beautiful middle-aged woman, _'I hope I didn't scared her off...'_ He thought.

"Are you okay, Tsubaki?" He said gently, helping the woman to her feet.

Shaking her head to the sides to break her daze, _'Is... it over? Oh my god, please... let this be over...'_ She thought, hoping that finally her ex-husband would leave her alone. Turning towards her now official hero, she couldn't stop her mad blush and wetness forming in her core, _'Kimi was right, that was so hot!...'_ She thought while comparing her daughter's situation with this one, "Y-yes N-Naruto… th-thank you... I'm s-so sorry for Ichigō's w-words..." She said stuttering.

"Nah don't worry about it, I don't care, I only cared for what he said about you, but you don't have to worry about that prick anymore, he won't come near you unless you want to, ever again." He said, with a warm and reassuring smile that only melted her heart even more.

Feeling incredibly relieved and safe at hearing his words, Tsubaki replied, "Thank goodn... ow!" She whined when she felt a pang on her lip.

Hearing this, Naruto looked concerned at her and saw that the bottle managed to open a wound on her lower lip, ' _Well, I'm having so much luck that it's scary...'_ Gently leading her towards a near bench, the pair sat down and Naruto gently grabbed her by the chin, inspecting the wound, "Mm, your lip is bleeding, I'll take care of it, don't worry."

Seeing that Naruto grabbed a kunai from his pouch, she was confused when he slashed his palm and winced a little when she saw blood starting to spill, "Na-Naruto... what ar... _ah_... are you doing?..." She asked while wincing at her own pain as well.

"Well, thanks to my amorous tenant..." He said, chuckling after hearing the dragon god's indignant grunt, "My blood is curative and it heals any flesh wound in seconds..." He added. Seeing the slightly wary look in her eyes, he asked, "Nothing bad will happen to you, I promise, do ya trust me?"

Smiling at his warmth, she gently nodded and saw the silverette bringing his bloodied hand towards her lip, he closed his hand in a fist and poured some drops of his blood on her wound. She didn't know what to expect, but she definitely never expected to feel such a high rush running through her body, heck, she even moaned and panted a bit. It was amazing, her whole body was hot, her body was telling her to kiss the life out of him but she fought her urges down, but even so, she felt incredible, invigorated. After some seconds of the intense feeling, she managed to calm down and could only whisper, "W-Wow..."

Chuckling at her dazed look, he grabbed a tissue and gently cleaned the blood from her lip, "See, already gone." Uzumaki said.

Managing to regain her composure, she gently touched her lip and was surprised to see that it didn't hurt anymore, "Wow... b-but what ab-about your h..." She was going to ask about his hand but when he opened it again, she couldn't see the cut anymore after he cleaned the blood.

"All patched up… hehe…" He said. Standing up again, he offered her his hand again saying, "Well, let's get you home, I think you'd want to rest after... well... everything..."

Nodding with a genuine warm smile, she accepted his hand and stood up, "Yes, it would be the best..." The pair then resumed their trek towards the head civilian councillor's home, with Tsubaki gathering the strength again to say what she had wanted to say for some years now. After some seconds of silence, she steeled her resolve and finally began, "Naruto?"

"Hm." He grunted.

Looking down a little, she said almost whispering, "I-I'm sorry…"

Raising an eyebrow, he made his confusion known when he asked, "Umm, about what?"

Bringing her hand towards her chest, she clutched it a little when she said, "I-I... I used to be... I used to believe you were... _sigh..._ the Twelve-Wings reincarnated..." She couldn't face him, so she lowered her head even more and Naruto could see some tears falling to the floor, "But… after what happened to K-Kimi... I finally u-understood... it took me so long... so long to see what a fool I was!... you were just a b-boy and we made your life a complete hell!... WE were the demons!... not you... I'm... I'm so sorry Naruto... I wanted to thank you in person... I wanted to help you… but the guilt and the shame were so great that… I c-couldn't face you…" She ended, sobbing hard, not able to meet the young man's gaze, _'He hates me now, I know he does…'_ She thought sadly.

She was surprised however, when she felt Naruto's fingers gently lifting her head from the chin to meet his gaze. Cleaning her tears with his thumbs, he gave her a small smile and asked, "Well, do you still think the same?"

Widening her eyes, she frantically responded, "No! No! Of course not! All I see is a wonderful, gentle, caring and handsome young man!" She didn't realized the handsome remark but right now she didn't cared, she needed to reassure him that she now saw him for who he truly was.

"Then stop crying and feeling guilty, you are human Tsubaki, humans make mistakes, we all do, the important thing is what we do once we realize our mistakes, I have no reason to hate you when I know you're truly sorry." He said softly while gently stroking her cheek.

Stunned at seeing such gentle and forgiving person even after everything his own home has put him through, she whispered, "H-How can you be s-so sure?"

Smiling, he replied, "Because I know you are the one that's kept the Civilian Council off of my ass for the past years."

"Wh... h-how did... y-you know?…" She said, feeling even more surprised that the Uzumaki knew she was helping and she felt warm knowing that he recognized her efforts to help him, however small they might be.

"Oh... I'm everywhere my dear Tsubaki…" He replied with a wink and a mischievous smirk.

Laughing softly, she lowered her head but then brought her look straight at his eyes again before saying, "Thank you... it might not be much help... but it means a lot to me that... y-you know..."

"Don't worry, and you might think your help is not much, but to me, it certainly is." He reassured with a sexy smirk.

The pair walked again and much to Tsubaki's disappointment, they eventually arrived to her home, "Well... th-this is my home..." She said a little depressed.

She blushed madly though, when she felt his lips kissing her forehead and then Naruto said, "Then this is where we part, and don't get depressed, whatever you need, whenever you wanna talk or if that prick dares to do anything to you, don't hesitate to come to me. I heard Ayame is your friend, so whenever you need me just tell her and I'll come, aight?" He said with that big, stupid, sexy smile of his.

She could only nod slightly, like a damn schoolgirl with a mad case of puppy love. He then waved her goodbye and disappeared to the roofs, that's when she realized, she never let go of his hand, _'Oh my god... we walked all the way from the bench to here while holding hands…'_ She blushed madly but none the less sighed dreamily while thinking, _'I won't pass up this chance to be near him, I promise..._ ' With that, she walked inside her home feeling for the first time in a long time, happy. She had two new people in her life and she was not going to lose them.

* * *

 **LIME START**

"O boi, I'm one lucky son of a bitch." Naruto mumbled. He arrived at the Ichiraku's house after leaving Tsubaki at her home, excited as always to go and sleep in Ayame's arms and since today was the last day he was going to be able to stay with her since her father will arrive tomorrow, he really didn't wanna miss it. But never in his mind would've he thought he would come to such a fantastic view.

"Hello Naru…" Ayame said seductively. She was dressed in nothing but a beautiful and sexy set of white lingerie, the bra did wonders in showing her beautiful breasts and her panties were incredibly tight, hugging her womanhood like a lover would. He could also see that enticing wet spot on her panties that signalled that her sex was producing large amounts of love juices and man was the scent of them driving him crazy, "I hope your mission was a success…" She purred while slowly walking to the stunned silverette, swaying her hips seductively.

He could only nod dumbly, he was shocked, here he thought he would come and cuddle with Ayame like in the past days but he arrived to a totally different setting and he'll be damned if he wasn't happy and aroused at such wonderful sight. Gathering his wits, he remembered WHO was the Alpha here and immediately took control of the situation by walking to her and touching her sides while slowly making his way down to her perfectly fit ass, he then squeezed it roughly and huskily whispered to her ear, "Now, my food goddess, I thought you wanted to wait."

Moaning at her partner's touch, she replied with the same husky voice, "I do and you... _aaa_... won't be... _mmm_... able to penetrate me until I'm eighteen… but..." She turned to face him and kissed him hungrily while gently pushing him towards her bead. Once she felt him dropping on his back on the bed, she kneeled between his legs and said with a devilish smirk, not once breaking contact with his eyes, "Since tonight will be the last night we'll sleep on the same bed for some time, I thought that maybe…" She unbuttoned his pants and slowly unzipped them, "We can enjoy a little bit of foreplay." She then lowered his pants along with his boxers and gasped at his impressive member. She was quite nervous, this is the first time she's ever done something like this or even seen a penis before, but she wanted to taste her beloved, the man that had occupied her heart since she was 12.

"Oh yeah Aya, Lil Pepe likes that…" Naruto said with a long and husky moan after feeling the beautiful brunette's hand slowly stroking his member.

Chuckling a bit at her beloved's penis nickname, she focused on her movements and marvelled at how hot his penis felt. She can feel its veins and the soft skin of his member pulsating in her hand, she couldn't stop her free hand from going to her left breast, squeezing it, her strokes became faster whenever she heard Naruto's pleasure filled groans. She then moved her hand towards her vagina to pleasure herself and was surprised to feel how wet she was, it was flooded, she noticed a transparent liquid coming out of the silver-haired teenager's penis' slit, so feeling curious, she slowly made her way towards the tip and gave it a temptative lick, finding the liquid a bit salty but none the less enticing. She engulfed the head of his penis with her wet mouth and sensually licked it with her hot tongue.

"Hooooly fuuuuck!…" Naruto said, completely in nirvana. He then moaned even louder when he felt Ayame's mouth taking even more of his member, roughly 3 quarters of it and it felt amazing, her hot, wet mouth around it, the licks of her tongue, the occasional suction and holy shit what was that she just did with her teeth? She gently brushed her teeth on the sensitive flesh of his member and it felt rough, primal! He couldn't take it, her scent, the scent of her juices, he couldn't take it anymore, he needed to taste her, "Aya, take off your panties and sit on my face while facing Lil Pepe, I wanna taste ya too." He said with a mischievous smirk but a commanding sound in his voice.

Returning the smirk, she let go of his penis with a loud 'pop' and did as she was told. She stood up and turned her back on him while slowly lowering her wet panties and bending over to give him a good look at her wet quim. After losing her panties, she turned around and sat on his lap with her legs at the sides of the silverette while facing him. Kissing him hotly again, she said with a husky tone, "Now my beloved, don't be in such a rush, I want you to taste something first." She then separated slightly and brought her hands to her back and after a 'click', she took her bra off and showed him her perfectly round and soft breasts. Understanding what she wanted, he brought his mouth to her left nipple and sucked it gently while caressing the neglected breast with his free hand.

Ayame was in heaven, she could feel his hot breath and tongue sucking and licking her sensitive nub while on her right breast she could feel his rough skin caressing the mount of flesh making her go wild with lust. She was also feeling incredible when she rubbed her exposed womanhood against the underside of his penis that was squeezed between their bellies, her clitoris was rubbing hotly against his hot skin and she was damn sure she was going to have the greatest climax of her young life.

After some minutes of sucking and rubbing, Naruto brought Ayame down with him, leaving her on top, he then broke the sucking and ordered her to turn around but to leave her vagina above him, she did just that and as soon as she positioned herself she immediately went after his penis with her mouth, sucking it a little more eagerly this time. Naruto did the same as well, he kissed her outer folds first and after hearing the moan from her stuffed mouth, he dug into her vagina like if it was a bowl of ramen and he hadn't eaten one in weeks. He thrust his tongue inside her folds and found her taste incredible, he wanted more of her juice so he redoubled his efforts, exploring every place he could find inside while occasionally licking and gently biting her clitoris, driving the brown-haired girl crazy.

The pair continued their sexual play until both could feel their orgasms coming, Ayame could feel his penis throbbing inside her mouth and Naruto could feel her wet walls tightening around his tongue, they didn't stopped though, the wanted their release, Naruto wanted her liquids and Ayame wanted his. They were soon rewarded when both reached their peaks of ecstasy inside the mouths of their partner and they could not believe how good it felt, it was amazing, exhilarating, breath-taking, hot.

 **LIME END**

After regaining their breaths, the two cleaned themselves with a quick shared shower that included a passionate kissing session. They then went to bed and cuddled as Ayame said contently, "That was amazing!"

Chuckling, he caressed her naked body and replied, "Yeah, I cannot wait for the main dish though."

Looking at him, she leaned on and kissed him chastely before saying, "Soon love, I will be yours soon…" She rested her head on his chest and asked, "So, what happened with Tsubaki?"

"Well, I 'accidentally' bumped into her and asked to escort her home, she was hesitant at first and I thought it was because she might be one of my 'haters' but she was just nervous, we ran in with her ex-husband though." He replied.

Turning her brown eyes at him, she asked, "Really? And what did the pig said?"

"The bastard was drunk, he was telling her to go back with him but when he saw me he called her the 'demon's whore', I fucking lost it there and kicked his ass, he literally pissed himself when I threatened him." He said while laughing slightly.

Smirking, she said, "Serves the pig right, hopefully he'll finally leave Tsubaki alone."

"Oh he will, trust me, he'll never come near her without her permission again…" He said while looking down at her and adding, "We then had a heart to heart talk on our way to her house, it was really nice to hear her story."

"What did you two talked about?" She inquired followed by a little cute yawn.

Kissing her head, he brought the sheets up to cover them both and replied, "I'll tell ya tomorrow, ok? Let's sleep now." She nodded at him and soon the two dozed off, lulled by each other's soft breathing and beating hearts.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you've enjoyed the Tempting's last part, also, I added an image of how Naruto looks in my story, I know it's his late teens' look and all but remember that in this story Ddraig forced his growth so he looks like his older self. I'll see ya lads on the next chap, cheers!**


	8. Among Waves (Part 1)

**A/N: Hey guys! Welcome to a new chapter of 'The Black Dragon Emperor', before we move onto the story, there's something I want to say.**

 **I've decided to answer a question sent to me regarding Kushina in this chapter, so I hope it helps to clear some of your doubts.**

 **Without anymore delay, let's begin!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **Among Waves (Part 1)**

"Oh yeah... Mrs Ramen... you're... you're so kinky... gigigi..." Naruto mumbled on his sleep.

Unfortunately for him, Ayame had already awoken and could hear his rather, perverse dream, _'Jeez, I know he loves ramen with fervour, but just what on earth is he dreaming about?...'_ Ayame thought while shaking her head with amusement. Getting out of the bed, she went straight to the bathroom feeling somewhat weird, "Mm, weird, I feel... too good..." She mumbled.

She decided to take a morning shower to wash the lingering scent of her night activities with her beloved shinobi. Washing her body, she started to feel something different with it, "What?..." She muttered stunned after looking at her body and seeing that it had changed, while her body was fit due to her work out regime, it was still a civilian's body, but now, it was different, her breasts were a tad bit bigger and firmer, her ass was also rounder and standing even more proudly than before, her stomach was a bit more toned and her legs looked longer and stronger, her arms also seemed to have a bit more muscle. All in all, she had the body of a kunoichi, "What the hell!?" She whispered, a little freaked out by the sudden change.

Getting out of the shower, she went to her room and looked at herself in the mirror, she gasped when she saw her body and then gasped even harder when she saw her face. She looked at least in her mid-twenties, her long brown hair looked silkier and like straight out of a fairy tale, her face took on a more doll like look but the more noticeable change were her eyes, they were a bit brighter and the dark brown of her iris looked sharper, but her pupils, "Oh my god…" She whispered as she was stunned when she saw her pupils, what used to be a normal black dot, was now a black slit, similar to Naruto's.

Jumping at her bed, she began to shake Naruto awake and said with a little freaked out tone, "N-Naru! Naruto! Baby w-wake up!"

Grunting for the sudden wake up call, Naruto reluctantly woke up and rubbed his temples while saying, "Aya... _yawn_... what is it?"

"Naruto open your eyes and look!" Ayame screamed while getting out of the bed to stand and allow her almost lover a good look at her new appearance.

Opening his eyes wide, a major nose bleed and a mad blush appeared after seeing her beautiful naked form. Getting his shit together again, he said, "Aya... not that I'm complaining about seeing your beautiful and sexy naked body but... I don't see what's got you so freaked out..." He scratched his scruff sheepishly.

Blushing at the comment and feeling a bit embarrassed since she had forgotten that she was indeed naked, Ayame turned her head sideways and replied with a small growl, "I... just... just take a better look, dummy!"

Squinting his eyes in confusion, he did as he was told and took a better look at her sexy body. It took him some seconds but he finally saw the change, "Whatta… your boobs… they're bigger and your hips are wider as well… oooo you're taller too! What happened!?" He asked, while he indeed welcomed her improved look, he too was a little freaked out, more so when he noticed her face and eyes, "Holy shit you look older too! And… Aya… your eyes… they're slitted like mine…" He added, completely stunned at this development.

"I know! That's what I was telling you! Naru, w-what's... what's going o-on!?..." Ayame said frantically.

"I... I d-dunno..." He replied.

 ** _"_** ** _Relax brat, she's fully mated to you now, hence the change."_** He heard Ddraig's voice saying inside his mind.

Tilting his head to the side, the silverette asked his tenant, _"Whoa what!? You mean that... she has received all the mating benefits!? Including... immortality?..."_

 ** _"_** ** _Yes."_** The Absolute God of End replied dryly.

 _"_ _But... but I thought we had to... ya know... have sex..."_ The Namikaze said weakly.

 ** _"_** ** _No, in order for the full mating to take place, first, the being desired as mate must bear the mark of the strongest, once she or he has the mark, all it takes is the sperm or vaginal secretions to have contact with the desired partner's skin, in this case, Ayame drank your sperm, so the mark absorbed your essence and finished the mating process."_** Ddraig explained.

"Holly shit…" Naruto mumbled, totally stunned.

"Naru! What is it!? Do... do you know what happened to me!?" Ayame asked, with a little bit of fear slipping into her words.

"Yeah I do now, Ryū explained it to me..." He said. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "Apparently, you are now fully mated to me, these changes... are the ones that I told ya about..."

Widening her eyes, she whispered, "You m-mean... b-but... I thought we had to have… se-sex..."

"So did I, but I was wrong, since you already have my mark, all it takes is your skin to touch my sperm and the mark will fully absorb my essence, since you swallowed it, the process ended." He replied.

Digesting the information, the brown-haired beauty stood there frozen. After some seconds of silence, she looked back at him and whispered, "W-Wait… that m-means that… I'm…"

"Immortal?" He said cutting her off. Nodding her head slightly, Naruto focused his gaze in her and replied, "Yes Ayame, as of now… you are immortal."

Not breaking eye contact, Ayame continued her silence for some seconds until she rested her head on his chest, "Well, that's nice." She said with a smile, enjoying the calming sound of his heartbeats.

"Really?" He said, a little confused at her response.

"Yeah, I mean… it was going to happen anyway, I freaked out because… well... it happened so suddenly... but I told you..." She then brought her head up to look straight at his eyes and gave him a small kiss before saying, "I love you and I fully committed myself to you." She smiled widely.

Smiling back, he kissed her passionately and replied, "I love you too."

That's when they realized that all this time, they were feeling each other up rather furiously. Trying hard to control their bodies, Ayame said with lust-filled eyes, "Naru… I'm so horny for you right now…"

"Yeah me too, I guess since we are now fully mated, our primal instincts got wilder…" He replied, trying with all his might not to jump at her and fuck her raw into the floor.

Ayame was having similar thoughts but since she was new with these intense primal urges, she couldn't stop herself, so she launched straight at her beloved with the intention to copulate until the New Year.

"Aya… w-wait…" That's how far the last Uzumaki got before being silenced by a ferocious kiss, he couldn't stop his own lust so he just embraced the kiss by returning it with equal fierceness.

But just when things were starting to take off, the two got their lust cooled down when they heard the voice of Ayame's father, "Ayame! Honey, are you home!?"

Widening their eyes, Naruto whispered while frantically getting his clothes on, "Shit…"

Doing the same that her beloved, Ayame put on her underwear and replied, "Y-yes dad, I'm i-in my r-room!"

"Oh okay, well I'll make some breakfast for both of us before we go to the stand, okay?" They heard him say just outside the door.

"Y-yes dad, I-I'll go meet you in a m-minute." She replied, already dressed up.

"Okay honey." Her father replied.

After both were sure that he was away from her room, Naruto kissed her deeply and said, "I gotta go before the old man sees us, I'll see ya later at the stand, ok?"

"Yeah ok, I'll see you there, sweetie." She gave him a last chaste kiss before he leaped off to the nearest roof from her window and then disappeared into the village. Ayame couldn't avoid the dreamy sigh escaping from her mouth, feeling happy with her new life and new found power.

* * *

"Man, that was close!..." Naruto mumbled while jumping from roof to roof. After some minutes, he finally arrived to his apartment and then walked inside, heading to his kitchen to take a cup of instant ramen from the upper cabinet of his rusty kitchen, "Man, I really need a new apartment." He mumbled while waiting for the water to be ready.

Once the water was hot enough, he took the kettle from the stove and poured the hot water inside the cup, " _Pfft_ … I really hate dis damn waiting, son…" He mumbled annoyed. While waiting for his ramen to be ready, he looked around his apartment and saw that in fact, was really shitty, "Mm, man, this place sucks." He rambled.

Finally seeing his food ready, he quickly grabbed a couple of chopsticks and happily dug into his beloved ramen, devouring the whole thing in less than what it took to be ready. He sighed contently and finished his thought, "Mm, well now that I think about it… it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a big place in case some of mah girls want to live with me… it'll probably be less suspicious that way too…" He scratched his chin in thought, "But… an apartment?... Nah, too small…" He added before heading to his room. He then grabbed a towel and walked into the shower, "An apartment complex?... yeah that sounds cool but… who would want to sell it to me?…" He said to himself while finishing his shower. He then walked out of the bathroom and went inside his room to take some clean clothes from his closet and as he put them on, said, "Wait… Minato was supposed to be the owner of some properties inside the village, right?…" Walking towards his closet, he opened it and crouched to move the shoes covering a broken timber, he removed it and it revealed a small hole with a scroll inside of it. Grabbing the scroll, he made sure to make it look like he was choosing what sandals to wear, knowing that he was being watched, _'Oh you silver-haired beauty…'_ He thought with a little bit of drool running down his mouth when thinking of his sexy watcher.

Closing his window curtains, he sat on his bed and opened the scroll to take out his inheritance paper, detailing all that he inherited, "Mm let's see…" He said while tracing a finger through the paper's contents. Finding what he was looking for, he claimed, "Sweet! I've seen this building… the location's pretty good as well… though… its abandoned… wonder why?... the place is big and seems sturdy enough…" He scratched his scruff, confused as to why nobody has taken the place for themselves, "I doubt it's out of 'respect' for Minato… I doubt they even know it belonged to him…" Shaking his head to the sides, he decided to put those thoughts aside and stood up from the bed, "No matter… it's mine now so is time for me to claim it!…" He walked to his closet again and hid the scroll back in its place. After making sure the scroll was well hidden and protected, he walked out of his apartment and headed towards the market district of the village, "Let's go and take a look to mah new place."

Taking off to the roofs again, he jumped for some good 10 minutes until he arrived to the market district where he then jumped down to the streets and walked towards his biological father's building, "Mm… that way…" He mumbled. He couldn't stop the slight feeling of smugness though, the glares from the villagers have slowly taken on a turn, now some villagers were starting to respect him because of his status as second in command of the legendary Team 7. Sure some fools still looked at him with hate, some with fear and a very few of them with disgust, but now amongst those glares, there were also people looking at him with respect, recognition, love and lust from his fangirls and much to his dismay, fanboys, heck there were even some people looking at him with awe. It was a welcoming change and while he didn't cared for the village's recognition anymore, he was still going to embrace it, _'Can't deny it'll help furthering my ambition…'_ He thought.

Finally arriving to the place, he saw that it was a three storey building, it had no windows and the doors were visibly rusty, the painting was falling off as well and the moisture of the water that accumulated, no doubt whenever it rains, was visible on the corners and the edges of the building, but all in all, it looked promising, "It'll cost an arm to fix it… but lucky I got the money to pay for a thousand arms." The silver-haired Namikaze mumbled with a smirk.

Walking inside the building, he looked around and saw that the interior didn't looked that bad. However, he was distracted from his inspection when he felt his watcher's chakra flared a little, as if nervous, "Whatta?… why is she nervous?" He mumbled confused.

Said watcher was currently hidden on the roof of an opposite building, "What the hell is he doing here!?…" She whispered a little distressed, "This is one of the buildings we use to walk into our HQ tunnel… he can't possibly know that, can he?…" She mumbled while tightening her fist, she was currently having a battle within herself, not knowing how to proceed, "Should I alert Danzō?… or wait and see?…" She knew she should alert the old war hawk but since the day she spoke with the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki face to face, she found herself breaking Root protocol more often than not. She knew it was a red sign of rebellion on her part, she knew she shouldn't gamble on things instead of proceeding with the logical action but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to blindly follow the old Root leader's words anymore, and frankly, it was freaking her out a bit because if somehow, someone in Root feels her hesitation, she would be in a big problem.

"Well, her emotions are a mess…" The prankster mumbled, "But why would she be nervous now? Is there something in this building?…" He scratched his scruff while scouting the place, he really couldn't see anything, there was no furniture, not even doors dividing the rooms and it looked like a recently built place. That's when it hit him, "Oh shit… clearly she's no ANBU… that means she works for someone else… Pa has warned me and Teme a lot of times to be careful with that Danzō antique… could she be working for him?…" He sat on one of the stair-steps and continued his pondering, "Makes sense… as far as I know, that old bag was the Old Man's rival and stands for everything that's opposite to the 'Will of Fire'… what better than to keep tabs on the village's greatest and sexiest weapon…" Closing his eyes, he focused on calling Ddraig's cloak and activated it for just a second to make a quick scan. Deactivating it again, he smirked and mumbled with a smug tone after he found something interesting, "Well, well, well… it appears there are a considerable number of high level chakra traces in here… is it that perhaps someone has a secret door leading to a dark hidden base carrying out evil deeds?" He chuckled, amused with his finding.

Standing up from his seat, he dusted himself up and said to himself, "Well, gotta play the clueless fool for now… at least until I find out more about this guys…" He then started walking towards the door and before stepping out, he gave the place a last quick glance while saying, "I need to find someone I can trust to fix this place… I'm sure whomever uses this building as their secret passage will definitely freak out after seeing that its owner has come home… hehe…" With that, he walked out of the aged building and future residence and headed towards the training grounds to meet up with his team.

"What was he doing there, dammit!?…" Ryū mumbled while resuming her tailing on the ramen enthusiast jinchūriki, "I… I'll keep it to myself for now… I need more proof that he knows where that building leads to…" She mumbled, trying to reason her disobeying Root protocol while internally knowing that she was rebelling.

* * *

"Such a fine day we have today!…" Naruto said to his brooding teammates, "What's with the long faces huh? Fools." He added with amusement.

"Since when are you a morning person?" Sakura asked to his rap enthusiast teammate.

"I agree with Sakura on that one…" The last loyal Uchiha added his two cents, earning a small blush on the pink-haired girl's cheeks, "You're… glowing Dobe… it's… kinda freaking me out…" He finished with an uneasy voice at seeing his brother's smugness.

"Why 'cause things are looking out for little ol' me as of late, fam!…" He said with a smirk. Walking towards the pair, he settled besides the lone female of the team and leaned on the bridge's reel before adding, "Plus, it's kinda cool to get back to training, fools! We gotta show'em fakes, who the ones that cut the cake! Yeah!"

Raising and eyebrow in confusion, the pinkerette turned her gaze towards her raven-haired teammate as if asking _what did he just said?_.

Sighing deeply, the duck-butt-haired Uchiha replied the unasked question of his teammate, "He means that we have to prove to the other teams that we are the best." He replied, somehow understanding his brother's rather exotic words.

"Oh… I see…" She replied dryly, not entirely used to her lovable teammate's antics.

Before anything else could be said though, a poof of smoke signalled the arrival of their ever late sensei, "Yo." Was his lazy greeting.

"Hi Sensei" The three said in unison.

"Well, how are my cute little genin doing, huh?" He asked with an eye smile, not once glancing away from his infamous precious book.

"Well Kaka-sensei, I've finished all your physical exercises and… umm… my chakra capacity also increased… to mid-chūnin level… I think…" Sakura said rather timidly and with a small hint of pink on her cheeks.

"Excellent Sakura…" Kakashi said, turning his gaze towards the lone Uchiha, he asked, "What about you Sasuke?"

"Well, I've mastered all my fire jutsus, the Dobe helped me with some lightning jutsus as well, I tried other kind of jutsus but they almost fully depleted me." The raven-haired avenger said while scratching his chin in thought.

"What about the 'Bringer-of-Darkness'?" The Copy Ninja asked.

"I tried but… I think it is as you said, Kaka-sensei… I need my fully matured sharingan…" Looking at his rival, best friend and brother, Sasuke added with a small smirk, "Luckily, my brother's helping me with that." Naruto returned the smirk and gave a small nod in return.

"Ah, good…" The silver-haired jōnin agreed with another of his famous eye smiles. Turning his attention towards his surrogate son, he said, "And you, Naruto?"

"Oi! Mah kenjutsu it's lit, mah taijutsu it's lit, mah ninjutsu it's lit and mah rasengan's complete! Plus!…" He gave his father a mischievous smirk and added, "I'm on mid-chūnin level with my Magnetic Release, fool!"

Chuckling at his son's enthusiasm, he patted his head, earning a pout from the silverette, and said, "Alright then, it's good to see you guys didn't go idle on me while I was gone…" Leading his team towards their private training ground, the silver-haired jōnin took three square papers from his pouch and said to his confused genin, "Alright then, since all of you are now abnormally strong, I think it's time to reach the next level in your training…" He gave a paper to each one of them and finished, "Do any of you know what those are?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke shook their heads no but Sakura did know, so she answered, "Yes umm… I think these are chakra paper, right? To determine our nature affinity?"

"Correct…" The lazy sensei replied while grabbing a paper of his own. He then held the paper in front of them and explained, "I think it's time to know which are your affinities, this'll make learning new jutsus easier. Now, as you know, there are five main affinities, all you have to do, is channel chakra on the paper and if your affinity is fire, the paper will catch on fire and turn to ash, if your affinity is water, the paper will damp, if your affinity is wind, the paper will split in half, if your affinity is lightning, the paper will wrinkle and if your affinity is earth, the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away…" He then channelled chakra into his paper to demonstrate and the paper wrinkled, "As you can see, my affinity is lightning, but that doesn't mean I can only learn lightning jutsus, it just means it's easier and less exhausting for me to learn lightning than any other element, that's all. But there are some shinobi who have dual or even triple affinities…" Looking at Sakura, the lazy ninja said, "Alright then, why don't you go first Sakura."

"Okay…" Sakura said while nodding slightly. She then focused her chakra on the paper and said paper dampened and then turned to mud, "Umm, what does this mean Sensei?" She asked, a little confused by the results.

"It means you have two affinities, water and earth, water seems to be the dominant though, both affinities are mainly used as defence but they can be as deathly as the others…" Kakashi replied, already knowing what techniques to teach her from his immense catalogue of jutsus, "Alright, go Sasuke." He said while turning his attention towards the Uchiha.

Nodding slightly, the raven-haired did as told and focused his chakra into the paper, which then wrinkled and soon after lit up and turned to ash, "Hm, lightning and fire huh?" He mumbled, with a small smirk adorning his pale face, knowing that both affinities were highly destructive.

"Yes, not a surprise there with the fire affinity, your clan is known for their strong affinity to fire, it is a surprise that lightning seems to be your primary affinity, but the good thing is that I'm the strongest lightning user in the village…" The last Hatake said, already knowing what to teach him. He then turned his eyes towards his son and was instantly eager to see the results, _'He doesn't seems to have any problems with all of the affinities, I wonder if he has them all…'_ He thought intrigued, "Alright son, do it." He added.

Nodding at his father, the silverette followed his words and channelled his chakra into the paper, however, they were all stunned when said paper split into three smaller papers, one turned to dirt, the other wrinkled and the last dampened, but to top it all, the papers lit up into a black fire and disappeared, "Whoa… the hell just happened?" Was all the silver-haired Namikaze could say in the midst of his surprise.

"Sensei… what happened to Naruto's paper?" Sakura said, still stunned.

 _'_ _Amazing… but that black fire… could it be?…'_ The lazy jōnin thought, puzzled by the strange development. Shaking his head to the sides, he explained, "Well, I had my suspicions since Naruto never seemed to have any trouble with different chakra natures… he also possess three bloodlines that require four different affinities…" Scratching his masked chin, he continued, "For what I could see, fire is your strongest affinity followed by wind, then the other three."

"Has this ever happened before?" Sasuke asked, feeling a little jealous for his brother's power but he soon pushed those feeling aside, knowing that he too had a great advantage with his sharingan.

"Yes… it's rare… but it has happened…" Kakashi replied dryly, knowing that Naruto still did not fully trusted Sakura with the knowledge of his burden, _'I have heard that dragons are gifted with elemental bending, but now I see it is true, it's still hard to believe my boy is actually a humanoid dragon…'_ Kakashi thought while chuckling a bit, "Alright then, this is what we'll do, Sakura…" Said girl turned her attention on her sensei before he said, "Take these scrolls, there are two jutsus there, 'Earth Style: Mud Wall' and 'Water Style: Water Clone', go near the river and train, I'll send a clone with you to help."

The pinkette nodded and headed towards the river with excitement, a clone of the silver-haired lazy jōnin soon followed after her. Said jōnin then turned towards Sasuke and said, "Now Sasuke…" The raven-haired genin stood in attention when his sensei added, "Since your control over fire and lightning nature is already advanced, I'll start teaching you my original technique, the 'Chidori'."

The blackette teenager widened his eyes after hearing those words, he had heard about said technique and he knew it was powerful, "Sweet…" He mumbled, in a rare display of excitement that was totally opposed to the usual Uchiha demeanour.

"And Naruto, since your mastery over the elements is superb, I think is time for you to do what Minato-sensei never could…" Kakashi said to his surrogate silver-haired son. When Naruto squinted his eyes and tilted his head in clear sign of confusion, Kakashi explained, "It's time for you to finish the rasengan."

Widening his eyes, he looked at his Uchiha brother and then back towards his surrogate father, "Whoa! You mean… adding an element to it, right!?" He said, almost jumping up and down with excitement.

"Yup, you can already do the rasengan without clones, right?" He asked and getting a nod as a yes, he continued, "Then I think you're ready, focus on fire or wind first, since those are your strongest affinities, when you manage one, move onto the next one, ok?"

"Yeah, ya got it! I'll show ya! Amma ace this bitch, I tell ya!" Naruto replied with joy and a bright fire in his deep ocean blue eyes.

Laughing a bit, the silver-haired ninja ruffled his son's dark silver hair and said, "Alright then, let's begin our session of today, tomorrow we'll request a mission to get back on duty."

Sasuke soon headed towards the edge of the field with the true Kakashi while Naruto headed towards the center of the ground with a clone of his father to begin his training.

* * *

"Hello Ayame!…" A pleasant voice resounded inside Ichiraku's Ramen, the voice belonged to a beautiful middle-aged brunette. She was wearing a small but honest and happy smile at seeing her friend while taking a seat on one of the stools before adding, "How are you?"

Turning around to greet the voice, Ayame was surprised to see Tsubaki here but said surprise soon turned into happiness when she saw her genuine smile, she could also feel that the distressed tint around her aura that she previously carried was now gone. The head councillor's aura spoke of a calm and somewhat dreamy person, _'Bet my sweet ass I can guess what she's so dreamy about… gigigi…'_ She thought perversely.

"Ah Tsubaki! I'm great!... how are you!?" Ayame asked after going around the counter to give her fellow brunette a tight hug.

"Oh… hihi… I-I'm fine… t-thank you…" Tsubaki replied with a little bit of stutter in her voice, feeling strangely aroused around the younger girl's presence, ' _What t-the hell!?… I only feel like this wh-when… Na-Naruto is around b-but… I can't s-see him anywhere…'_ She thought. Shaking her head to relinquish her mind from lewd thoughts, she looked back at the 17 year old waitress and said with a small blush on her cheeks, "H-how is i-it going?"

 _'_ _Did… did she just got horny?... this scent… it smells familiar like when I get horny for Naruto… but why would she get horny with him nowhere in sight?… gasp… maybe is because I'm mated to him now and her body feels his presence in me?...'_ She theorized. Getting back on track, Ayame replied, "Oh, it's all going great! But what about you, huh!?" She leaned close to her face and used an amused tone.

Feeling a rush of blood running through her body, no doubt her face reddening more every second, she couldn't avoid stuttering when she replied, "Wh-what d-do you m-mean?"

"Oh, don't play the _'I don't know what you're talking about'_ game! You're glowing Tsubaki!…" Ayame said, giggling at the middle-aged brunette's reaction, she looked like a schoolgirl that has been caught fawning all over her crush. Deciding to continue the teasing, she pushed, "Perhaps, you met someone interesting, huh?"

"Umm… I… I umm…" Tsubaki Amari, civilian head councillor, single mother and once a proud kunoichi who had no fear, was now reduced to a sputtering mess. She had indeed met someone, although, she had always known him, but her meeting with him, their walk, the way he stood up for her and how he got rid of her annoying cheating ex-husband, and the kiss, yeah she knew it was just a kiss on the forehead and she knew he probably saw the kiss as just a friend reassuring a distressed friend that it'll be alright, but to her, it was different, she could not explain it, but that simple kiss and those honest words, melted her, made her pudding, she wanted to just go and t…

"I'll take the dreamy gaze and the small drool running down your chin as a yes then…" Ayame said with an amused tone, trying harder than ever to hold her laughter down at seeing the older brunette's dreamy eyes, no doubt thinking of a certain silver-haired stud.

Shaking her head to the sides, Tsubaki took a couple of deep breathes and replied with a voice that was almost a whisper, but wearing a blush none the less, "It's… it's not like that… is just… I had the opportunity to say something that's been hammering my heart for quite some time now… and well… umm… it was nice… to finally have a chance to make things right…" She fidgeted her fingers and looked at her lap but was also wearing a small timid smile.

"Wow… whomever this person is must have made quite the impression on you to make you act like a schoolgirl with a harsh case of puppy love." The Ichiraku youngster teased, hiding her smirking face from the flustered woman.

"No! It's not like that!… I mean!... umm…" Tsubaki replied faster than what she intended to. She then managed to compose herself again though and whispered, thinking that the cooking girl wouldn't hear her, "I'm too old…"

But thanks to Ayame's new abilities, she could hear the single mother's words well. Looking at the woman over her shoulder, the brunette waitress inquired, "Old? What do you mean?"

Yelping a bit in surprise, thinking that the younger brunette hadn't heard her confession, Tsubaki decided that Ayame was her friend now and friends spoke about their troubles to each other, so she said, "Well… at first I thought that… I liked him out of a sense of… umm… debt…" She saw her friend's confused expression, so she explained further, "You see… I… I hadn't always been kind to him… I used to think the worst of him… because I was ignorant… but then he did something i-incredible… something that made me doubt about my t-thoughts about him… to make this story short… I… I re-realized that I had been wrong all along and I felt terrible, I didn't had the courage to a-apologize to him… so I tried to help him from afar… it was not much, but it was all I was confident enough to do… then yesterday came, I bumped into him and he offered to escort me home… I didn't want to accept because I was afraid of what I might say and what he might think of me afterwards… but then my pig of an ex-husband showed up and made a mess…" She then drank from the water Ayame provided to her and continued, "But… he stood up for me… and made Ichigō cry and piss his pants… literally… hihihi…" At this, the two brunettes laughed, always happy to see a pig getting what he deserved. Tsubaki then added, "I felt so… happy… so safe and protected when he did that… after he left me home I… r-realized that I've watched him for so long now, watching him become the fine young man he is now… I really like him… but…" She trailed off, suddenly feeling a little depressed.

"But?…" Ayame said, drawing out the word to urge the older woman to complete her sentence.

"It's just… I'm 28 Ayame… h-he's… well… he's young… a lot y-younger…" Tsubaki replied, with her head casted down.

"Mm… I don't think that's a problem." Ayame said nonchalantly.

"What d-do you mean?" Tsubaki whispered back.

"Well, age is just a number Tsubaki, nothing more, it's no reason to stop yourself for doing things you want." Ayame replied after finishing her friend's bowl of ramen.

Accepting the bowl with a thank you, Amari replied after, "B-but… many people will see me… you k-know… as a c-cradle r-robber…"

"So what? Screw what they think, we believe that the moral standard we follow it's right but yet, we have no proof that it is…" Ayame replied with a shrug, surprising herself at seeing that she did not cared for common morals anymore, "We didn't came to this world to live dull lives and just accept whatever rules were set thousands of years ago… enjoy yourself Tsubaki, fuck the people who berate you for you doing what makes you happy." She added with a stern voice.

Staring at her friend for some seconds, the head councillor pondered on her friend's words and found a lot of truth on them. But still, there was one thing she didn't know, "You… you're right… but it doesn't really matter anyway… it's not like he likes me or s-something…" She said with a small sad smile.

Shrugging again, Ayame leaned on against the counter and said, "Well, you won't know unless you ask him." She smirked at her while mentally thinking _'Oh yeah, she has fallen for him… hehe… Naru was right, his luck's been great!...'_

Smiling a little brighter but feeling nervous when thinking on asking Naruto such things, Tsubaki replied, "Well yeah… I g-guess you're right…" She then dug into her food and after a couple of slurps, she added, " _Hft_ , It's funny, I used to think the worst of him in the past but now… I can't get him out of my head…"

Ayame's smirk only grew wider when she replied, "Yeah, I know what you're talking about… Naruto has that strange power on people…"

Almost choking on her food, the councillor woman stared wide eyed at her friend and sputtered like a fat little kid that was caught with a piece of cake on his hand when he shouldn't have eaten any, "H-how?… h-how?…"

"How did I knew it was him?..." Ayame finished her sentence with an amused tone. After seeing the nod in yes from the older female, she replied, "Well, there's only one person I can think of that fits your description and that's him…" She had the same dreamy eyes when she thought about her beloved silver-haired knucklehead but completed her sentence before her fellow brunette caught on that, "He has been treated worse than shit throughout most of his life and yet, he wouldn't hesitate in helping someone that needed it, not even if that someone was somebody that hurt him before… he is also the only person I have ever seen that once you truly meet him, you cannot hate him."

Smiling widely at her friend's words, Tsubaki said, "Yeah… I'm glad I opened my eyes, if I had remained a fool, I probably wouldn't have met such a great man."

The pair continued to amicably talk between each other, Tsubaki finding herself spending most of her afternoon with her new friend and feeling eager to talk to the silver-haired jinchūriki once again.

* * *

" _A_ c _hoo_!... huuu… someone must be talking 'bout me, son…" Naruto mumbled.

 ** _"_** ** _Maybe someone figured out your evil plans."_** Ddraig said inside his mindscape, in a rare show of playfulness that Naruto was sure only he has seen it.

 _"_ _Oooo that will suck yo! Hehe… I have no doubt in my mind that if word got out of what I'm trying to do, I'll be thrown in a cold ass cell, fou shou!"_ Naruto replied with a little shudder.

 ** _"_** ** _Can't deny that, you humans really… tie yourselves too much with your so called 'morals'."_** The Red Dragon Emperor said with a shrug.

Taking a deep breath, the silver-haired Namikaze steeled himself to ask something that's been flying inside his mind for a while now, _"True… yo D? I umm… I've been meaning to ask ya something…"_

Naruto could imagine the mighty dragon god raising his scaly eyebrow in confusion by the sudden squeamish demeanour of his container when he asked, **_"What is it?"_**

Scratching the back of his head, he replied with some stutter in his voice, _"Well… i-is about the whole morals th-thingy… you seem to not really care about 'em… I m-mean, I know morals are human made but… umm…"_ He trailed off, not feeling completely sure about asking something that could earn him the wrath of the 3rd strongest being in existence.

 ** _"_** ** _Dammit brat, ask already!"_** Ddraig said impatiently.

 _"_ _Ok, ok, ok! Gee…"_ Steeling his resolve once again, Naruto took a deep breath and decided _to hell with it_ but couldn't stop his words from coming out like a kunai thrown heightened by a wind technique, _"Wouldyoufuckyamomyaknow!?"_

Now that, made the mighty beast stop, he knew his tenant and successor was rather, eccentric, but now well, he was damn happy to have chosen such an amusing lad, **_"Let me see if I understand you… you asked me… if I would copulate with my mother… right?"_** he said with amusement in his majestic and divine voice accompanied by a large smirk that unfortunately, his container could not see at the moment.

Now, Naruto was pale! Hell, he could feel his balls hiding in his throat after asking something so utterly stupid to a being so utterly divine. But still, he was a curious young man and his curiosity always got the better of him, _"Umm… gulp… y-y-y-yeah… I umm… d-did… but wait! Do-Don't get me wrong, is just!... well… I'm just curious, ya know!?… just r-really how much human morals are, well… different from yours… ya know!?…"_ He replied, trying his best to sound respectful, even knowing such question was be far from being respectful.

 ** _"_** ** _I see…"_** Ddraig said. Naruto was kinda expecting the dragon to send him straight to hell or at least show some sign of hesitation to answer, but he was shocked when the dragon took a second to reply without a hint of worry or regret when he said, **_"Yes, I would."_**

The silverette was stunned, shocked, so shocked was he that he didn't realized he froze in the middle of a leap trying to reach the next rooftop on his way back home and well, thanks to gravity, he fell with a hard thump straight on his ass, "Ah fuck!..." He screamed while rubbing his pained butt. Shaking his head to the sides, he resumed his trek and after some seconds of deep breaths to regain his composure, he mentally said, _"Well that… umm… I don't even know what to say, yo…"_

 ** _"_** ** _Understandable, for humans such coupling would be considered sinful, despicable and sickish, you call it 'taboo' I believe…"_** The dragon then took some seconds to consider his words so the silver-haired youngster would understand, **_"But, such thing does not exist in the divine laws, because we all know that in the end, she is a female and I am a male, you may put as many barriers and buts as you like, either mentally, physically or by branding it as humans do, but the fact that our bodies could respond to one another in such way, will never change."_**

 _"_ _Well that… actually makes sense…"_ Naruto replied. Yes, he felt somewhat weird by finding himself agreeing with such taboo topic, but he could not deny the truth in the god's words. One's basic instincts always searches for the prime candidate to copulate and procreate, the only thing that stops one's body from associating in such way with a family member, is the sense of kinship one has. If he were to have a long lost sister that he knew nothing about and then one day he finds out that the girl he likes was in fact said sister, that's when that sense of kinship and taboo kicks in, but if he and she were to never know that fact, the attraction would not change and develop as any normal relationship.

 ** _"_** ** _Why the sudden question?"_** Ddraig said, genuinely curious as to why he would ask such a thing.

Shaking his head to free it from the shock, he replied, _"Well, I honestly wanted to see how much did we… well… they… ya know, humans… tied themselves with morals."_

 ** _"_** ** _Ah yes, I can see why that would be intriguing for you…"_** The mighty beast replied, he then added with a little bit of tease in his words, **_"I was starting to believe that perhaps you might be having lewd thoughts of that red-headed woman that birthed you."_**

It was now Ddraig the one that was surprised by the silverette's calm and calculated response when he said, _"Not really… I mean, as a woman she was very desirable indeed and as you said, the only thing that could prevent an attraction for her would be if she and I were to have a bond of kinship, but there's no such bond, she was my mother only because she gave birth to me, only by word… other than that, there's nothing else…"_

 ** _"_** ** _So, you wouldn't hold yourself if such attraction existed?"_** The Absolute God of End said, genuinely curious and relieved to see his host not tying himself with mortal rules anymore.

 _"_ _I wouldn't mate her if that's what you mean…"_ He replied. Feeling that the dragon was somewhat confused, he further elaborated, _"I mean, for one, she's dead, and yes I know I'll be able to bring people back from the dead but I see no reason to bring her or Minato back, but if she was alive, I… I won't lie to you because well, you're my friend and… you can read my thoughts but… we both know I'm still sore about their decision… yeah I know that if she was alive maybe things would've been different… but if for some reason she comes back to life… even if she tried to form that bond, I will never accept her as my mother… as a friend maybe… but even then, I really doubt I would be willing to commit myself to her in such way."_

 ** _"_** ** _Well, you impressed me again with your sudden… insightful thinking…"_** Ddraig replied with a small smirk on his face.

 _"_ _Well, I do have my moments…"_ Naruto said with a small chuckle. After some more minutes, he finally arrived home and went straight towards the couch where he asked the mighty dragon something else, _"Yo, about my 5 affinities… was it your doing?"_

 ** _"_** ** _Not directly…"_** Ddraig replied dryly. Knowing that his successor was confused, he continued, **_"You are a dragon and a god, you now are capable to wield essence and as I told you before, essence is what life is made of, so naturally, all elements run through you. When you were still human your affinity was Wind, but when I turned you into a dragon you gained all five of them but fire became your primary as it is the element of my domain, hence the lack of need to use chakra when you call on it."_**

 _"_ _Cool son…"_ Naruto said before he continued, _"But… those black flames… what was it?..."_

 ** _"_** ** _That was my true fire… you see, my fire is unique and the strongest there is, it will burn anything and will never dim."_** Ddraig answered.

 _"_ _Whoa, sick, yo... can I use it!?"_ Naruto said excitedly.

 ** _"_** ** _Not yet no, your body is still not ready to handle it, you can call on it but it will be extremely painful for you, you are still not ready to call on my divine moves yet but when you reach the six-winged state, you will. Since that fire belongs to me, you are immune to anyone who may cast it on you."_** The dragon said.

Tilting his head to the side, the silver-haired jinchūriki made his confusion known when he mentally asked, _"Hold it D… ya telling me there's someone who can use it besides us!?"_

 ** _"_** ** _Unfortunately yes…"_** Ddraig answered, with something in his voice that Naruto classified as restrained anger, **_"The Uchiha, or better said, whomever unlocks the Mangekyō state of the Sharingan."_** Ddraig added seconds later.

Jumping from his seat, Naruto quickly asked, _"What!? How can they do that!?"_

With a heavy sigh, the dragon closed his eyes and replied, **_"The Uchiha clan was born from one of the children of Hagoromo, they inherited a version of Hagoromo's eyes. The ability to call on my flames was a gift I gave to Hagoromo when I finally found a friend in him… never would I have thought that the ability would be inherited to those cursed copy eyes…"_**

Sitting again, the dragon jinchūriki sighed tiredly and said, _"Well, good thing they won't harm me then…"_ With that, he went straight towards his room to get some sleep and prepare for the day to come, having a feeling in his gut that it would be an interesting one.

* * *

"Ah! Zetsu dear! What news do you bring to little ol' evil me!?… kukuku…" A childish voice resounded from a throne at the top of some stairs in the middle of a devastated castle. The slim but heavily armoured figure was sitting on a large stone throne with two shadowed figures at his sides.

"Well, we bring news that might be of your interest…" The white part of Zetsu replied before the black part added, **"Yes… we have some… concerns with Akatsuki… we investigated your descendants and we gather updated info on the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki as you requested."**

"Oh! Excellent, excellent my boy!..." The mysterious figure replied excitedly, rubbing his hands like a kid given complete freedom in a candy store. He then asked, "First, your… concerns… with Akatsuki."

Nodding slightly, the weird plant-man said, "Well… there are two concerns actually…" Black Zetsu then added, **"It concerns Itachi and Konan."**

Leaning a bit, the armoured man said with an almost sung tone, "Well, what is it boy!? Is almost bedtime for me, you know that in my old age this rusty body gets sleepy at eight!"

With an almost unnoticeable sweat drop running on the back of Zetsu's weird face, the white part explained, "Well, regarding Itachi… he just doesn't seems to work for the Akatsuki, Tobi is worried that Itachi might betray us if either Naruto Uzumaki or Sasuke Uchiha are involved…" The black side then added, **"Also, he has been put in charge of capturing the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki and that might not be a good idea due to his connection with the boy."**

"And Konan?" The man asked, with a more bored tone than before.

"Well, she appears to be… distant…" White Zetsu said before black Zetsu took over, **"What we mean is, her ideals seem to be differing from Nagato's… it might cause problems in the future."**

"Hmm…" The sitting man hummed, sounding completely disinterested, "Well, Itachi is no surprise, but I don't believe he'll do something against your little squad… I believe his reasons to be in Akatsuki might be more… personal that you might believe…" He then scratched his chin in thought when he added, "And regarding Konan, well… it could indeed be a problem but as long as you capture the Tailed Beasts before any… division… arise, I don't see the problem."

 **"** **But…"** Black Zetsu was trying to push the subject but was interrupted by the sudden stern voice of the weird bipolar man.

"Zetsu, stop worrying about that stupid group, Akatsuki, Tobi, that old fool Madara, heck even YOU, are means to an end… they're not allies and as long as they serve their purpose, it doesn't matter what their individual foolish goals lead to, even if they were to fail… we still have a backup plan…" His demeanour then did another 180° turn when he continued with a more laidback tone, "Don't worry my boy, dear Granny WILL come back… kukuku…"

"Under **stood**." The Zetsu replied.

"Now… what about my dear descendants?" The man inquired.

 **"** **Ah yes, as you predicted, there appears to be a division in the clan, the current clan head seems to want to continue the hunt on their branch side members…"** Black Zetsu said with white Zetsu adding soon after, "But his son is pushing for the hunt to stop and instead, focus on bringing the clan to prosperity, he has even shown signs of wanting to place one of his youngest siblings or himself as the next Rock Lord of Earth Country."

"Kukuku… such fools… they always believed themselves to be the inheritors of my blood… they don't even know my blood is still running strong… kukuku…" The man replied with great amusement.

 **"** **What shall we** do with them?" Zetsu asked.

"Ah yes, make sure the son triumphs… his 'kindness', will be useful later on." The man answered.

"Very well…" White Zetsu said before black Zetsu regarded the last topic, **"Now, about the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki…"**

At this, the sitting man gave his entire attention, showing a strange lapse of eagerness, anticipating the information about Naruto.

"Well, his skill has increased greatly, as of now he is a tricky target, if he's not captured befo…" Zetsu was interrupted however, when the sitting man suddenly said in a threating tone that sent chills down to everyone's spines.

"No! You will make sure that he is NOT captured for now, he will be the last and I will take care of him, personally… understood?" He said, making the plant-man and even his guards flinch at the sudden show of his true power and authority.

"Y-y **es."** The Zetsu replied with an almost unnoticeable stutter in its voice.

"Good… what else!?" The man said with even more eagerness.

"Well, beyond his skill, there's not really much more, physically though…" At this the Zetsu saw that the man sitting at the throne seemed to be more eager than before, so the black Zetsu decided to describe him, **"It appears he had reached an… abnormal… growth spout, he's taller than the average height, his body mass has increased as well but the most noticeable change was his hair."**

"Elaborate." The man said so fast that Zetsu almost missed it.

"Well, he was blond but now…" White Zetsu said before his black side finished, **"His hair turned dark grey, it's not dye or genjutsu, somehow his hair really turned grey."**

"MARVELOUS!..." The man replied with huge excitement, heck, he was so excited that it freaked out the other occupants of the large hall, "Fantastic news! It appears he has awoken his bloodline or is in the process to!"

"What are **you referring to?"** The plant-like man said, still a little stunned at the powerful man's sudden excitement.

"Ah, it's nothing that concerns you my boy… kukuku…" The man responded, clearly not willing to trust his own minions with such information, "I need you to keep a closer look on him from now on, you will report EVERYTHING to me, understood?" He added with his powerful stern voice that made most people pee themselves.

"Yes…" Zetsu replied, **"Is there anything else you wish to know?"** The black side added.

"No, you may return to your duties." The mysterious elder dismissed the plant-like man.

After they were sure the Zetsu was gone from the castle, the male guard said, "What is your interest in the boy anyway?"

Chuckling with an eerie tone, he replied to his underling, "Ah, nothing that you have to worry about for now, all will be revealed in due time…" He then stood up and walked behind his throne to look at the moon before saying to his two guards, "Just know that that boy, will be extraordinary… and I will be in the front row to see it!... kukuku…"

* * *

"Ah! Fuck ya, you damn cow!..." Naruto screamed to the heavens after stepping on a giant pile of shit, getting even angrier after hearing the snickers form his teammates, "Stupid D-ranks…" He muttered annoyed.

The silver-haired Uzumaki had woken up today feeling excited, he had the feeling that Team 7 would finally be sent outside the village but apparently, fate had other plans. They were given another D-rank mission that consisted in them helping out an old farmer with moving his cows to a newly built barn, much to the ire of the genin, even Kakashi seemed a little annoyed, but they had to suck it up.

Looking threatenly straight at the shitting cow, the fuming dragon jinchūriki said between gritted teeth, "I can't wait to eat ya… ya shithead!"

"Naruto, leave the cow alone, it's not her fault you don't watch your step… gigigi…" His pink-haired teammate said in between giggles.

" _Grr_ …" Naruto seethed. He was about to turn around and continue the cleaning when he heard his brother's quite laugh, "Oi Teme! What ya laughing at, fool!?"

After calming his almost unnoticeable laughter down, the raven-haired teenager replied with a teasing tone, "Oh nothing… just seemed kinda funny seeing a pile of shit stepping on another pile of shit…" He then couldn't hold back his laughter which this time came a bit louder than before, making his silver-haired brother twitch in anger. Sasuke wanted to continue the teasing but was stopped however, when he felt something hitting him on the gut, he was expecting to see Naruto's fist but was surprised and then disgusted when he saw a brown stain on his dark blue jacket, "Did… did you just… fucking threw a piece of shit at me!?..." He said with the highest amount of indignation he could muster.

"Hahaha… yeah I did, ya fool!" Naruto said, trying his best not to roll around on the shitted floor of the barn to avoid further incidents. That was of course until he felt Sasuke launching at him in a tackle motion as the two soon ensued in a brawl between brothers, much to the exasperation of Sakura and the amusement of both Kakashi and the farmer.

After Kakashi finally cooled the two best friends down, they reluctantly continued their work in the barn but finished none the less quicker than expected, much to their relief. The team then made their way towards the Hokage Tower after the farmer said his thanks and both Naruto and Sasuke had finished their shower to cleanse all the disgusting faecal remains off of them, good thing they always carried spare clothes since they had to burn their old ones.

 _'_ _Sigh… I'm sure one of them will lose it once we see the Hokage…'_ Kakashi thought with a lazy sigh, knowing that any of them, but mainly Naruto, will voice their discomfort on being sent out to these missions and he couldn't really blame them, the silver-haired jōnin knew their individual abilities were the top of the genin, heck, even the chūnin level shinobi, they could even make him, one of the top 5 ninjas in the village, sweat heavily when they work as a team, thanks of course to their almost perfect teamwork. Kakashi knew they were ready for an outside mission but still, he was worried, no matter how much he tried to push his concerns aside, he could never forget the fact that 'Team 7' meant both greatness and tragedy, so he was worried that tragedy might strike them soon but he also knew that they need to have their first real experience with real enemies. Both Naruto and Sasuke were amazing shinobi already, they could make anyone suffer and more so when they worked as a team since they had the best teamwork the Copy-Nin has ever seen, but Kakashi also knew that even then, save for Naruto's incident with Mizuki, they have never had a true live or die situation, they needed to understand the pressure and the fear that spreads whenever your life or your comrades' lives are at stake.

After some minutes of walking, the foursome finally arrived at the Hokage Tower, they then made their way towards the missions' office where Kakashi lazily opened the door and entered the room, soon followed by his genin. He then looked at the old Hokage and said, "Team Seven reporting in, Lord Third, mission success." He then walked towards the desk to gather the rather lame pay for the mission and went back to his team before Naruto exploded.

"Old Man! Do you have any idea how much SHIT did we go through with this stupid D-rank! Literally!" Naruto said heatedly towards the charismatic village leader.

The old timer chuckled lightly, already knowing where his surrogate grandson was going to, "Now Naruto, I know D-ranks are annoying, but they're a necessary evil." He said with a grandfatherly tone.

"Hell no! I've had it with this lame shit! We don't wanna paint no fence, we don't wanna walk no dogs, we don't wanna step in cow's shit anymore!…" The silverette Namikaze exclaimed angrily while pointing an accusing finger to his adoptive grandfather before adding, "We want a real mission! We da best team around and you know it! Send us out! It's time to introduce Gloria to the world, fool!" He draw his sword out before making some practice slashes while the people around the room laughed lightly at the silver-haired prankster's usual antics.

"Naruto! Have some respect!..." Iruka Umino scolded. Seeing that a lecture was in order, he watered his mouth before explaining, "There is a reason for why genin go on this kind of missions! You see, this missions are for…" He then began a rather long explanation on how D-ranks were meant to perfect a genin team's teamwork and also how it taught them how to follow orders and such, "… so now I hope you understand why is important genin do D-ranks for a whi… HEY!" He screamed indignantly after seeing that nobody had listen to a single word he said. Naruto was telling Sasuke and Sakura about rumours saying that The Mighty Killer Bee was going to drop a new album soon and the silverette quickly had sternly declared it will be 'fire', Kakashi was immersed in his ever-present 'Icha Icha Paradise' copy and even the Third Hokage was reading the same perverted book, although with a genjutsu casted on the cover.

Everyone turned their attention back when they heard Iruka's head slamming hard against the table, "Yeah, yeah, Iruka-sensei, we get it! But our teamwork is already top notch and I even heard Team Eight had a C-rank this week! I mean we're stronger fou shou so what the hell!?" Naruto said, pressing on the matter.

Sighing heavily, the old Hokage pondered on the idea before casting a glance towards Team 7's leader, "What do you think Kakashi, are they ready?" The Third asked the silver-haired lazy man.

Nodding his head slightly, he replied with conviction, "Yes Lord Hokage, Team Seven is ready for a tougher mission."

With a small smile, the village leader said, "Okay then, let's see…" He began searching into a box labelled 'C-ranks' until he found an available mission, "Ah… here we go… a simple escort mission to the land of Waves, you are to take a bridge builder to the village and protect him while he finishes a bridge that connects Wave Country with the Land of Fire, the mission will have a duration between two weeks and one month, do you accept?" The kind old man said.

"Yes!" The three excited genins replied in unison.

"Alright, send the client in, please." The Hokage then said before gesturing one of the guards to open the door for the client.

The client turned out to be a tall man wearing a dark brown muscle shirt and grey pants, he was also wearing a weird conic hat and was holding a bottle of sake. The man was clearly half drunk since he walked into the room wobbling a bit as he focused his gaze on the three teenagers and then looked at the old Hokage saying, "Well, they look capable enough."

The teenagers just glared at the drunkard as the Third Hokage said, "Oh, believe me Tazuna, this younglings are our most promising shinobi, you'll be completely safe with them at your side."

"Mm, we'll see about that…" The bridged builder replied before taking a big sip from the sake bottle.

"Okay then, meet me at the village's gates in three hours sharp, make sure to pack enough for a month trip…" The lone sharingan wielder said to his team and client before disappearing in a poof of smoke, he was then followed by another three poofs, signalling that the genins had gone to pack. Tazuna thanked the kind Hokage before stepping out of the office to do some touring around the Leaf while the time to meet his escorts arrived.

"Umm, L-Lord Hokage?" A feminine voice was heard after one of the Hokage's ANBU guards appeared at the side of the old man.

"Yes Cat, what is it?" Hiruzen asked his ANBU Captain.

"Well, it is known that there is a lot of trouble in Wave Country, don't you think it would be wise to send some backup just in case?" The Cat ANBU suggested, with an almost unnoticeable worry in her voice.

"Ah yes, Wave Country is certainly a place were any genin team would probably be killed…" Sarutobi said, earning a few gasps between the crowd. He then appeased them when he finished his sentence, "But Team Seven is no genin team, by themselves, Sakura is at least low-chūnin level, Sasuke is at least high-chūnin and Naruto is probably low-jōnin level…" The other occupants in the room were visibly surprised by this, they've heard of course about how the new incarnation of 'Team 7' was living up to expectations, but to hear from the strongest man in the country the true skills of the so called genin, was a shock, "When they work as a team though, they can even make ME sweat…" He added with a proud smile, they have really grown strong, "Plus, they have as team leader one of the strongest ninjas in the world, so don't worry too much Cat, Naruto will be alright." He finished with a reassuring smile, knowing that the purple-haired ANBU Captain cared deeply for his adoptive grandson.

Yūgao nodded slightly and went back to her hiding place, the confident words from her leader had indeed calmed her worry a bit but she still could not shake the feeling that something might go wrong in this mission, _'Just be safe, Naruto…'_

* * *

"Booooooooi!..." Naruto mumbled while packing up his stuff. He was pumped, he was finally going to have a chance to make a name of himself outside the Leaf's walls and he knew that this mission might be perfect for that. Some might think that the silverette Namikaze was somewhat naïve and oblivious to the events happening around the continent but ever since he adopted his ambition, he has done all he could to gather information from places a mere genin shouldn't have, "For what Rosalia told me, there's some bad shit going down in Wave Country, something about a tyrant."

Rosalia, one of Naruto's most trusted people, she's an information broker. She might not be the best in the Elemental Nations or the most known, but she had something that almost nobody had, she had no heat, nobody knew a damn thing about her, her infiltration abilities were incredible. She was no ninja, she had no training as a ninja whatsoever, she was a refugee from the western continent, a continent that was well known due to its constant state of war and Naruto knew that the wars that had plagued the Elemental Nations wouldn't hold a candle against the wars from the western continent, he was impressed to see that she grew up as strong and determined as she is, yes she was a cold person and as far as Naruto knew, he was the only one she allowed to see her without her hooded coat, he still remembered fondly how he met the western beauty.

 _Flashback_

 _A 12 year old Naruto was training on the woods outside of the Leaf, he knew that if any of his family and friends finds out that he sneaks out of the village to train on a hidden location somewhat far from the village, they will definitely kill him for his recklessness but he also knew he had no choice, he needed to train with the dragon god's power and the majestic power was too noticeable, he knew the village will freak out the moment they feel the ominous aura so he had no choice but to do it outside, even knowing the dangers that that might present. But he was confident in his abilities to protect himself, plus, he knew that all it will take to alert the Leaf was a strong flare of his immense chakra, so he didn't worry that much._

 _"_ _Man… this is addicting… what power…" Naruto mumbled after successfully drawing for the first time Ddraig's power._

 ** _"_** ** _Careful, boy, power corrupts, you'll do well to remember that."_** _The mighty beast warned inside his mindscape._

 _"_ _Yeah, yeah, I know, is just… it felt so… exhilarating… ya know!?..." Naruto replied._

 _He then dusted himself up and drank some water from his canteen, he sighed contently and was ready to go back to the Leaf when a black blur appeared from the trees and painfully landed in front of the silver-haired teen, "Whatta!?…" Naruto mumbled._

 _The figure tried to stand up but found it incredibly painful, then the figure looked at his/her feet and saw the right one bleeding, "Dammit…" He/she cursed painfully._

 _"_ _Hey! You aight!?" Naruto asked while crouching to see the person._

 _When he/she realized he/she wasn't alone, the cloaked person quickly crawled back and said frantically, "G-get away f-from me! Please!" A feminine voice could be heard coming from the cloaked figure._

 _"_ _Whoa, easy there, fool… I was j…" The Namikaze Uzumaki was saying before being abruptly cut off when a group of five masked people appeared from the foliage._

 _"_ _There you are... I told you, running was useless, now stand up and let's go before you hurt yourself more, your price will drop for every scar you have." A masked man said to the now identified cloaked female._

 _"_ _Fuck you!" The female cursed, trying to stand up but the pain just wouldn't let her._

 _"_ _Oh, we can arrange that…" Another man said, sharing a sick laugh with the others._

 _"_ _Hold just a sec, what the fuck do you think YOU'RE doing fools, ya fools!?" Naruto made his presence known after seeing the situation. He has heard about a group of bandits that made their money by selling poor people, abandoned children, lost travellers and refugees, and now seeing them, he could feel his blood running hot like magma._

 _"_ _Well, what do we have here boys?… a shrimp believing himself a hero." The man that appeared to be the leader mocked, making his companions laugh loudly._

 _The silverette made his way towards the wounded female and stood between her and the masked men, "Well, at least I'm not a pig pretending to be a gangsta." He returned the mock with a smirk, while silently augmenting his aura, making the female behind him blush a little and the men more aggressive._

 _"_ _Why you stupid brat… how about I cut you limb by limb, huh? You're not even worthy enough to sell." The man replied arrogantly._

 _"_ _Boy, what are you doing!?… ah… j-just… dammit… just g-go!" The cloaked female said to him, trying to convince the teen that he was getting way over his head._

 _"_ _No can do ma'am, these pieces of shit are begging to get their asses kicked and well… who am I to deny them such wish?" He replied while looking at her over his shoulder with a fierce smirk, making the female feel safe for some strange reason._

 _"_ _Boss, can I?" One of the men in the group said to the leader, eager to cut this cocky brat down._

 _"_ _By all means." The leader replied, with a sadistic smirk planted on his face, not that Naruto could see it though._

 _The bandit then jumped straight at the unflinching Naruto with his long sword cocked back, "Hahaha… you're dead whelp! Yo…" He never got to finish though, as the hardest fist he has ever felt in his life hit him straight on the gut, making the sickening sounds of broken bones and internal bleeding loudly clear. The man then fell on his side completely unconscious._

 _"_ _What the…" The female whispered. Like the men, she never saw the silver-haired teenager move and then in a second, when she thought that the boy was dead, the charging man was doubled over in pain and went unconscious._

 _"_ _Dammit, a ninja…" The leader mumbled while starting to sweat a bit. He knew that even a 12 year old ninja was dangerous and the strange aura surrounding him was making him edgy for some odd reason, "Let's kill this rat!" He screamed to his men, making then jump at the Namikaze with a roar._

 _"_ _W-wha…" The cloaked female whispered, not even able to speak after witnessing the one sided fight. 15 seconds, that's all it took the silver-haired teen in front of her to bring those pigs to the ground and seeing their condition, she knew they will die if they didn't get medical attention soon._

 _"_ _Well… that was anticlimactic…" Naruto said while scratching his scruff. Remembering the wounded female, he walked towards her but before he spoke, he fired a fireball to the sky, "Come, let's get ya healed." He said with a smile that sent warmth throughout her body._

 _'_ _What it's going on?… he… he's just a teen…' She thought, knowing exactly what those shivers running through her body meant. She was about to speak when the silverette suddenly picked her up bridal style, making her stutter badly, "W-wait! Wh-what a-are y-you d-doing!?" She cursed herself internally for feeling like this._

 _"_ _Well, you can't walk and we need water, so I'll carry ya to the river." The youth explained while walking towards the river close by._

 _"_ _B-but what about them?" She said, strangely feeling comfortable in his oddly strong arms._

 _"_ _I already alerted some ANBU, they'll get there soon." He replied._

 _As he continued to carry her, she finally focused her eyes on him. He was tall, had haunting deep silver hair, deep blue eyes with a beautiful golden slit as pupil, she could also see his strong built through his tight shirt and his scent was, intoxicating, 'My god… he's… making me… wet…' She thought in disbelief after feeling the moisture in her panties, but even if she didn't wanted to believe it, she could not deny it, he looked like a damn Adonis._

 _Putting her down gently on the grass, Naruto asked, "Aight, can you let me see your wound?"_

 _She didn't know why she did it, but she complied without hesitation, she moved the part of the cloak that covered her legs and then took the long black boot that reached all the way to her thigh. After she winced, she took a look at her wound and it was indeed bad, it was a deep and large cut that was bleeding badly._

 _"_ _Ok, this will hurt." He said gently before scooping water from the river and throwing it on the sides of the wound to ease her pain with the cold liquid and also to clean the flesh, he then grabbed a kunai and made a large cut on his palm._

 _The female saw this and said, "H-hey wh-what… are you doing!?..."_

 _"_ _My blood is curative, I can heal you with my chakra but it'll take time, my blood will do it in seconds, aight?..." He explained. Seeing the nod in yes from the female, he dropped his gathered blood on the wound and the female marvelled when she saw the wound closing while an incredible rush ran through her body, "All done." He said with a smile after seeing the wound completely closed._

 _"_ _Th-Thanks…" She whispered, still a little flustered by the strong sensation she just felt. Moving the foot a bit, she saw that it was completely healed and didn't hurt anymore, she then lowered the hood from her cloak and Naruto was taken aback by the incredible beauty that she was. She had curly flame red hair tied in a ponytail but leaving a flock of wild curls covering her right eye, she had beautiful purple eyes and delicate porcelain skin, "My name is Rosalia." She said with a melodic voice, smirking after seeing the dazed look on the handsome youth, 'Hehe, I can knock you off your feet too, hottie…' She thought._

 _Shaking his head to the sides, the silverette stretched his hand and shook her own while saying, "Naruto, a pleasure to meet you."_

 _End Flashback_

After that, the two spent the rest of the day talking to each other, he found out that she was 21 and has been in the Elemental Nations for 5 years back then, she had no family left since they all died in the war on her home country, so she escaped. She had been making a living selling information, seizing her incredible stealth abilities that she learnt during the war. Apparently, she was starting to make a name of herself but since she really was no ninja, she was somewhat unprotected, that's when she was caught by the masked men, she was only caught for 4 hours though so Naruto was relieved to hear that nothing was done to her, he then offered her to stay in the Leaf but she politely declined, saying that she felt better traveling. When the time came to part ways both felt kinda sad so promised to keep in touch, however, before she left, Ddraig forced him to convince her to be his personal broker and to keep him informed of what was happening outside, in return, she will be getting unlimited funds thanks to his almost infinite fortune. She was stunned but accepted none the less, Naruto thought that she accepted because she wouldn't have problems with money anymore, but she actually accepted so she could keep seeing him once in a while. Back then, Naruto didn't understood why Ddraig wanted her so badly, but now he knew why.

That's also when he realized another thing, _"D… you… you sneaky lizard… you told me to pour my blood on her wound to heal her but… you wanted me to tempt her…"_ He said with a tick on his eyebrow.

 ** _"_** ** _Hahaha, I was waiting to see when you would realize…"_** The dragon said with a strong laugh, infuriating the silverette even more, **_"She was your first, boy."_** He added with an amused tone.

Taking a deep breath, he was going to retort but then remembered the beautiful redhead so he said, _"I won't complain… I'm one lucky bastard…"_ He chuckled.

 ** _"_** ** _Be quick to mate her though, informing you of the events around the continent was not the only reason I wanted you to mark her."_** Ddraig then said.

 _"_ _What was the other reason?"_ Naruto asked the giant dragon.

 ** _"_** ** _With the training you've been giving her and her impressive skills in infiltration and information gathering, she is the perfect choice for you to get info on potential mates outside this village."_** Ddraig answered.

 _"_ _Holy shit…"_ He replied while grinning widely. He has been thinking a lot about how he was going to get new targets that do not live in the Leaf since he couldn't leave the village to do that, it would draw a lot of suspicion. But with Rosalia out there, that problem could definitely be solved and knowing that the young woman was attracted to him, he knew he could solve it, _"Aight, next time I see her, I'll make my move."_

With that, he finished packing and looked at the clock. Seeing that he still has two and a half hours to meet with his team, he jumped through his window and headed towards Ichiraku's to have some ramen and some loving from Ayame since he will be away for a month or so.

* * *

"Oh shiiiiit… she sucked me dry son…" Naruto mumbled with a bit of drool running down the corner of his mouth. He had just 'said' goodbye to Ayame, a goodbye that included a dozen ramen bowls and a fantastic blowjob from the brunette hottie, "Like a vacuum…" He added as an afterthought.

He continued his trek towards the village's gates, knowing that he might be a little late but hey, he wasn't Kakashi's surrogate son for naught, he had a lazy legacy to keep, "Wonder if they're already there?" It took him 10 minutes to arrive and he saw that his teammates were already there along with Tazuna, only him and his lazy father were missing.

"Yo." Both Naruto and Kakashi appeared at the same time and greeted the same way, startling those present.

"Damn, I thought you ninjas took your job seriously, you're fifteen minutes late." Tazuna said with annoyance while taking a rather long sip from his ever present alcohol beverage.

Both Kakashi and Naruto shared a look before the jinchūriki said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Haha… yeah… you see… we got lost in the road of life… quite the bitch ya know!?"

Sakura twitched and gave the silverette Uzumaki a light bump on his head saying, "Yeah, yeah, as always, let's just go already!"

"Hn." Sasuke expressed widely.

"Alright then, do you have everything you need?…" Team 7's leader asked his genin and client. After seeing their nod in affirmation, he added, "Alright then, let's move."

"Oh yeah! World, I'm coming for ya, baby! Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, making those around him sweatdrop at his behaviour.

"Umm… is he always… you know… this eccentric?" Tazuna asked the Copy-Nin, sure he found it funny but he had the idea that ninjas were more, quiet.

"Ah yes, well, most of the time anyway, he's not what you could call umm… a 'normal' ninja… he is known as 'The Leaf's Number One Unpredictable Ninja' for a reason…" The silver-haired jōnin replied, with an eye smile that sort of freaked the bridge builder out, "But don't worry, when it comes to a battle, he's a genius." Kakashi added, trying to reassure the client.

"If you say so then…" The drunkard replied, starting to feel a little guilty for the mess he was thrusting these youngsters into.

Unfortunately for him, Naruto could somewhat feel emotions and he could see that something was off about the guy, not that he had an intention to hurt them, but that this mission could be more than he had led on, a notion that his silver-haired father shared with him, _'Oh… I knew it… dis gon be goooood…'_ Naruto thought with a heavy rush of adrenaline running through his body.

The group continued their medium pace through the roads since they were traveling with a civilian and could not go jumping through branches, when finally after some hours of walking they were nearing the border of the Land of Fire so they could take a boat and reach Wave Country, the group saw a small puddle laying on the road. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi knew it was a genjutsu while Sakura understood the silent nod shared between the team, signalling to put their guards up for a threat. However, before Kakashi could put a plan in motion, Naruto being Naruto, decided to have some fun.

He stepped in front of the small puddle and turned his back on his companions, when they were about to ask what was he doing, they could hear the zipper of his ANBU pants going down and soon after, the sound of a small stream of liquid hitting liquid could be heard, "Ah…" He moaned in content, there's no greater feeling than that of releasing your accumulated piss.

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed at her teammate's antics, she was carrying a heavy blush and was trying not to think that Naruto's member was out for all to see.

Sasuke actually chuckled slightly, greatly amused at his brother literally 'pissing' the enemy, Kakashi was showing a small chuckle while Tazuna was somewhat confused as to why would the silverette carry his business right here, he didn't really minded since as a man, you are pretty much guaranteed the world as a giant toilet.

After some seconds, the Namikaze let out a sigh in relief and gently shook off his member to get rid of the lingering drops of urine. After zipping his pants up again, he looked at his teammates and announced, "That was great! Now, let's go!"

After an amused sigh in unison from the group, they continued their trek knowing that whoever casted the genjutsu was probably pissed, both literally and figuratively. It didn't took too long for the aggressors to make their presences known though, as they appeared after some seconds, two big black-haired males wearing a metal gauntlet each, one wearing it on his right hand and the other wearing it on his left, they ambushed Kakashi and wrapped him up with what it looked like a shuriken-styled chain, the two then pulled their respective ends of the chains and shredded Kakashi's body into tiny pieces of flesh. The pair then looked towards the genin and directed their killing intent towards them, especially the silver-haired boy that pissed all over them.

"Gee fools, ya stink!" Naruto said while covering his nose with one hand while the other was waving in front of his face as if throwing the scent away from him.

The two nuke-nin and Tazuna shared a surprised gaze after seeing the laidback attitude of the three genin, they didn't seem to care that their leader was dead. The attackers broke the surprised look though, in order for them to change it to an angry one after the words of the silverette registered in their minds, "You… you…" The one wearing a brown outfit seethed at Naruto.

"Damn brat…" The other one who was wearing a shredded black cloak said in between gritted teeth, both fuming at the seemingly uninterested teen.

"What is it, yo? Ya look like somebody pissed all over ya." Naruto said with a smirk, barely containing his laugh.

That last taunt was it for them, both Demon Brothers launched at the genin, completely forgetting their target due to their fury for being ridiculed by a mere brat, "Sakura, protect Tazuna, me and the Teme will take care of this fools." Naruto ordered his team.

Sakura did as she was told and in swift move she was already in front of Tazuna who was sweating and shaking slightly, "Don't worry Tazuna, my teammates will take care of them." The pink-haired genin said to their client to calm him down. She was relieved to see that he had indeed calmed down a bit so she turned her attention back to her team to see that the missing-nins had split them up.

Sasuke was incredibly bored, he was excited at first when he saw the scratched Mist forehead protector. He was pumped when he thought that he had finally a chance to prove his strength against a worthy opponent that was not his brother or sensei since he could not really go all out against them, but he was disappointed when his opponent turned out to be at the most, a mid-chūnin level opponent, considering that he was almost jōnin level, he was quite bored.

"You damn brat, I'll show ya why I'm feared." The angry ex-Mist-nin growled, feeling infuriated when he saw that the damn brat was not even sweating. He then threw his deathly chain at him trying to wrap him up like he did with the blackette's sensei but the teenager just sidestepped the chain easily.

"Pathetic." The Uchiha said with a bored tone in his voice. In a quick motion, he grabbed a kunai and shot it straight at the free end of the chain, successfully locking it to the ground, he didn't waste any time though since he charged straight at the surprised ninja, who quickly released the chain so he could parry the black-haired teenager's attacks.

 _'_ _Dammit, he's too fast…'_ The nuke-nin thought, now heavily sweating. He knew he was starting to lose ground so in a quick motion, he kicked some dirt towards the Uchiha and used the one second distraction to gain a bit of distance from the incredibly fast genin. He then brought his metal gauntlet forward and rushed with a war-cry, trying to pierce the boy or at least poison him with the slightest touch of his gauntlet's sharp claws.

Sasuke saw this coming from a mile away though, as he agilely moved his body away from the stretched arm. He then took advantage of his position and with a strong grip, he grabbed the man by the wrist and used the attacker's own momentum to stab the gauntlet to the ground. With the target frozen in place, he kicked the man's elbow and broke his arm, earning a pained cry from his attacker, then with a swift movement, he chopped a nerve on the missing-nin's neck and sent him straight to unconsciousness, "Well, that was a waste of time." The raven-haired Uchiha mumbled while carrying the unconscious body to a tree.

While the Uchiha was bored with his fight, Naruto was having a blast making his missing-nin a fool out of himself, "Oi! I'm behind ya, fool!" The silverette screamed.

"You fucking annoyance!" The other half of the 'Demon Brothers' duo growled. The kid was turning up to be an incredibly skilled opponent, the silver-haired genin was dodging his attacks with the slightest of efforts and to top it all off, he was mocking the Mist missing-nin all the while.

"Yo, is this why the kicked ya out of the Mist? I swear the old lady from the grocery shop close to mah house throws things with better accuracy and faster speed that you do with that chain thingy of yours, fool!" The Uzumaki continued his onslaught of taunts, knowing that it was infuriating his opponent to no end, making him sloppier in his attacks.

The missing-nin had enough of the cocky brat's taunts so in a fast movement, he gained a bit of distance and threw his chain straight at the silverette, he added chakra to his arm so that the speed of his throw was increased. The chain flew dangerously towards the boy who seemed to be frozen in his position, _'Ha! I knew he'd get scared once he saw my chain up close…'_ He thought, already chanting his victory. His smirk grew even more when he saw the chain wrapping around the silver-haired teenager's hand, thinking that he had the fight won, he was about to rush at him when he widened his eyes in horror after he saw the predatory smirk on the boy's face, _'What the…'_

The Demon Brother couldn't finish his thought though, as Naruto grabbed the chain, not caring for the sharp points piercing through his skin and drawing a lot blood, when he pulled the chain with incredible strength, propelling the stunned missing-nin towards the Uzumaki with high speeds, "Get over here!" Naruto screamed before delivering an incredible punch straight at the face of the flaying ninja, breaking his nose, jaw and some teeth before sending him straight to unconsciousness, "Well that, was cool…" He said before grabbing the body of the ex-Mist-nin and dropping him beside the other downed ninja, allowing Sasuke to tie them up to the tree.

"Naruto! God, look at your hand! You reckless knucklehead!…" Sakura said after rushing towards her teammate. She grabbed his hand and saw the gruesome cuts that the chain left after he grabbed it, she was going to apply some of her medical ninjutsu but was shocked to see the wound closing up quickly, leaving no trace of it after some seconds, "Damn… I know your blood is curative but… damn…" She whispered, amazed at the regeneration abilities of her rap-lover teammate.

Naruto just rubbed his scruff sheepishly and was about to answer when they heard the voice of their 'dead' sensei say, "Great job my cute little genin, that was fantastic teamwork from you three." The silver-haired jōnin appeared and gave them an eye smile.

Naruto and Sasuke smirked but Sakura looked a little dejected. She made her depression known when she whispered, "I… I really didn't do a thing, sensei… it was all Naruto and Sasuke's…" She casted her gaze down.

"That's not true Sakura, you followed orders and trusted your teammates to get the job done, plus, you took the job of protecting the client without hesitation, just because you didn't fought, doesn't mean you did nothing." Kakashi said, trying to boost the pinkette's morale. He knew it was difficult for her since Naruto and Sasuke were growing strong and incredibly fast, but she was not as far behind as she thinks she was.

At her sensei's words and her teammates' smiles, the pink-haired medic-hopeful brought her head up again and said, "Yes, thank you Kaka-sensei." She gave them a wide smile and a nod of thanks.

"H-hold on a s-second! Weren't you dead!?" Tazuna said after regaining his composure, still a little shaken up from the attack but now completely sober due to the adrenaline rush.

"Nope, I made it look that way so I could look from afar who was their target, one of us…" The silver-haired ninja said pointing at him and then his genin before looking straight at the bridge builder and said with a stern voice, "… or you."

At this, the client began to sweat bullets, he knew he was caught and now he could only pray they won't abandon him for lying to them, "I… umm… emm…" He sputtered incoherently.

"You have some explaining to do Tazuna, care to tell us, why are missing NINJA after you? Those were no bandits, neither were low rank ninja, they were mid-chūnin level ninja, you were lucky my team is above that level because if these were to be another team of true genin, they would probably be dead." The last Hatake said harshly, he was genuinely furious for being lied to and putting his genin in unnecessary danger.

Choking from the harsh glares he was receiving, the drunkard dropped to his knees and pleaded, "Yes I'm… I'm s-sorry but… I really had no choice!... my country is suffering so much, the whole country has become a slave to Gatō and… this bridge is the only hope we have!... if… i-if we don't finish it soon, Wave Country will surely fall along with the rest of us!... I didn't have the money to pay for an A-rank mission but… please… help us." The man bowed to them and they could see the tears that the man was spilling, genuinely distressed.

"Mmm, I don't know, it is touching… but it might be something out of our league…" The Copy-Nin said before turning towards his genin and asked them, "What do you guys say?"

"I ain't backing down, ya know!?" Naruto said with a fierce smirk.

"Hn." Sasuke's only reply, which confused the rest of the people present except his brother.

"He means what I said." Naruto traduced his raven-haired rival.

Seeing the determination on her teammates, Sakura smirked as well and replied with conviction, "I'm in, let's help them!"

"Well…" Kakashi said before turning towards the still kneeling man, "It seems we will help you Tazuna." He then summoned a small dog and ordered it to deliver a message to the Hokage, detailing the change in their mission.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, you will be doing me, my daughter, my grandchild and my people a great service, I will repay you as soon as we get back on our feet, I promise." The man said with great relief adorning his face.

Kakashi nodded at the man and then ordered his group to move, with his genin feeling increasingly excited and one silver-haired Namikaze thinking devilishly, _'Daughter huh?… gigigi…'_

* * *

A blue-haired beauty was walking through a dark corridor, she was wearing the typical Akatsuki cloak and she couldn't help but feel more and more distraught every time she wore it. The damn thing was like a daily reminder of how much they have failed Yahiko and his memory, worst, she could feel her emotions flowing stronger every day and she knew that if she's not careful around the other members, she will get in trouble. She was already sure that Nagato noticed the distance she was building between them but she really didn't know what to do anymore, she was sure however, that she could not leave Akatsuki, one, she still loved her friend dearly and could not just abandon him without even trying to save him, and two, he will not let her go alive.

Arriving at a large door, she opened the wooden door and stepped inside a large room that had a desk and some statues at the sides. There was also a large window that allowed a view of the village of Rain, this was Nagato's office, "You called, Leader?" She said stoically while bowing at the man, or corpse, sitting behind the desk.

"Yes Konan, I have received a report from Zetsu, it appears that the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki is heading towards Wave Country, I want you to go and watch him, I need an assessment of his skills." Nagato said through his late best friend's corpse.

"I understand but… I thought Zetsu or Itachi and Kisame had that covered?" She inquired, a little uncertain for the request.

"We both know Zetsu works for Tobi so I cannot completely trust his assessments…" Pain explained, earning a nod in understanding from the origami user, "Itachi and Kisame are currently looking for the Four-Tails, so they are not available at the moment and you are the only one I can trust with this." He added.

"Understood Leader, I'll leave at once." She replied while bowing before leaving the room and heading towards her quarters to prepare some gear. The trip to Wave Country will take her 3 days at the most so she needed to be quick if she didn't wanted to lose the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki, _'If you know that not even your minions work for you then why in the hell do you allow it, Nagato?… just how arrogant have you… have WE become?…'_ She thought with exasperation. She really was lost, since the day she saw those haunting blue eyes with that piercing golden slit, she cannot stop her bottled emotions to come out and it was freaking her out, there was only one thing she knew for sure, _'I wanna know who those eyes belong to…'_

With that, she walked outside her quarters and headed towards the balcony at the top of the 'God's Tower', she called on her paper wings and flew towards Wave Country, with the rain adding more sorrow to her already troubled thoughts.

* * *

 **A/N: There you go, I hope it was to your liking. For those wondering who Rosalia is, she's was the leader of one of the Guilds that killed player in the 'Sword Art Online' series, I really liked her so I decided to include her and some more from that story. I'll see ya lads next chap, cheers!**


	9. Among Waves (Part 2)

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late chapter but since I've decided to add some characters from other franchises, I had trouble deciding whether to make Hake a female or not, the thing is, I have already a new character doing the thing I was planing for Haku but I really won't have any problem with adding Haku as a female, that's why I've decided to let that decision to you. I've made a poll that you can check on my profile, you got until Monday to vote. This will be the first decision I'll leave for you lads but there'll be some more along the road, so make sure to vote!**

 **Also, this chapter is more about Naruto and Tsunami, for all of those who wanted to see more of them.**

 **Anyways, without further ado, let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **Among Waves (Part 2)**

"So, the Demon Brothers got their asses handed to them, huh?" A man with a deep voice said to the other occupant in the room. He had short dark and spiky hair, his face was mostly covered in bandages that only let the upper part of his face uncovered that showed his piercing dark eyes, his torso was naked except for the belt that served to carry his gigantic sword that now rested beside the sitting man and was wearing baggy pants with the stripped pattern typical of Mist with mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, he was also sporting matching leg-warmers and had a Mist forehead protector with a scratch on the plate, signalling his status as a missing-nin.

"Yes, they were easily handled, it was unexpected." A softer and melodic voice replied, this voice belonged to a masked figure standing in front of the bandaged man. The figure seemed to have long black hair that was mostly gathered in a white bun holder while two locks of the masked figure's black hair fell loose in front of the mask, the figure was wearing Mist-hunter mask that only showed the person's eyes and had Mist's symbol etched on its forehead. The youngster was wearing a standard Mist pinstriped outfit which stopped at the knees, over this, a green haori with white trimmings and around the waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around it twice, the person wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same colour as the kimono and nail polish on the fingernails and toenails in matching blue green colour.

The sitting missing-nin raised his none-existent eyebrow and said, "Unexpected? How so, Haku?"

The now identified Haku replied with a soft voice, "Well, for what I could see at first, the bridge builder was accompanied by a genin team from the Leaf, led by 'Kakashi of the Sharingan'."

"Then I don't see the surprise there, Kakashi is an S-rank shinobi Haku, just like me." The bandaged man replied, not seeing the surprise in hearing that an S-rank shinobi had easily taken down two B-rank shinobi by himself.

"Yes I know, but the thing is that he wasn't the one that took the Demon Brothers down, it was two of his genin, a silver-haired boy and a black-haired boy, they handled them with ease, barely moving from their spots." Haku explained.

The sitting man hummed in response, now seeing why would that be unexpected, _'I was expecting the jōnin to be strong since the Leaf's jōnin are top quality, to have Kakashi as an opponent is already tricky, but to have two genin capable of easily taking down mid-chūnin level shinobi… this is troublesome…'_ The swordsman thought grimly, knowing that things will get complicated after this development, "What could you gather from those two?" He asked to his protégé.

"Well, I couldn't gather much since the fight was pretty short and one-sided, but they were fast, the black-haired one seemed to be the one with the most finesse, his movements were accurate and not wasteful in any way, he took down one of the brothers with a calculated counter attack…" Haku took a breath and then continued the explanation, "The silver-haired one didn't seemed to be subtle, he took down the other brother with pure strength, one punch to be exact. For what I could see, the silver-haired one is the most dangerous, he appears to have a great lack of care for his own safety." Haku finished while remembering the gruesome way in which that silverette genin grabbed the deathly chain to propel the Demon Brother towards him, not even fazed by his severely harmed hand.

"Hm… strong and reckless… those are the trickiest opponents…" The man replied while scratching his chin, he was going to continue his pondering but was interrupted when the door of the room in which they were currently in burst open. Soon after, three figures appeared and walked inside the room, _'Sigh…'_ The swordsman sighed tiredly, controlling himself to not kill these pests.

One was a tall muscular man, his torso was naked and one could see a tribal tattoo on his left shoulder, he had some bandages wrapped around his waist and had a purple robe that covered his legs. On his side there was a shorter man, his built seem slim and was wearing a purple hat that covered his shoulder length silver hair, he had a line running down the middle of both eyes and was wearing a light blue jacket. Both were standing behind a shorter man who was wearing a business suit, the midget was also wearing glasses and had an arrogant smirk on his face, "I hope you're not getting too comfortable here doing nothing, Zabuza." The short man said with an arrogant tone on his voice.

"What do you want, Gatō?" Zabuza replied with clear annoyance in his voice.

"I came to see how was my investment doing, is that damn bridge builder dead already?" The now identified Gatō said, a little irritated by Zabuza's lack of respect.

"No, but he will be." Zabuza replied dryly.

"He better, I'm paying you good money and I'm starting to feel somewhat cheated." The midget said with an arrogant smirk, action mimicked by his two bodyguards.

"Stop worrying or you'll get shorter…" Zabuza said mockingly, infuriating the tycoon. But before the midget could reply the insult, Zabuza added, "I will kill him myself."

The short man huffed in irritation but turned on his heel towards the door, leaving some words before leaving, "Don't forget, there's no money without the builder's head." And with that, he left the room with his two bodyguards in tail.

"Relax Haku." The swordsman said to his clearly angered companion, who seemed to be holding the necessity to pummel the midget to the ground.

"I'm sorry Zabuza, I just can't stand that bastard." Haku replied, finally able to calm a bit.

"Neither can I, but we're doing this for the money, nothing more…" The bandaged swordsman said before adding, "As soon as we get this job done, we won't have to deal with that midget anymore."

Haku just stood there without moving, seemingly ignoring the swordsman's words. While knowing that they indeed needed the money, the knowledge that they were aiding a tyrant did not sit well with Haku who just sighed tiredly.

* * *

"At this rate I'll get to Wave Country in one more day." A flying blue-haired beauty muttered while making her way through the clouds. Konan was still a bit troubled but strangely, the moment she left Rain, she felt slightly better, as if there were no more guilt surrounding her, that lingering guilt that's been chasing her ever since her emotions had started to rouse from within her.

"Yahiko, what would you say to us if you were still alive?…" She whispered, unable to forget her beloved friend, that goofy smile that he had whenever he was doing some mischiefs when they were young, or that fierce will that led him, Nagato and her through Rain's civil war, "You would probably spit on our faces." She answered herself with a small bittersweet chuckle.

As she continued to sail through the sky, she kept reminiscing her memories until they suddenly changed their direction towards Itachi. The stoic Uchiha that seemed to have a higher purpose, one that the amber-eyed beauty just couldn't figure out, no matter how much she ascertains into his motives, the sharingan wielder just wouldn't reveal anything more to her.

"He did said that once I find the person who those eyes belong to, he'll reveal more about him being a 'step' for his legacy." She muttered.

Since her talk with the black-haired missing-nin, she has been trying to understand what he meant when he said those words, his tone revealed a sense of pride and love when he said that he's just a step on his legacy's way to peace, it made her believe that maybe, this legacy of his would gain something from Itachi after a confrontation with the Uchiha, just what that 'something' was, is a mystery she just couldn't solve.

"The things I would do to see those eyes in person… dammit! Why am I so drawn to them!?…" She exclaimed with frustration, knowing that she was being greatly affected by the memory of said eyes, "Just how in the hell am I supposed to find the owner? There a thousands of people in the Leaf, but…" She narrowed her eyes when she seemed to realize something, "Whenever Itachi speaks of his 'legacy', he seems to show great care for this person, but, Zetsu said that he was attached to two people and only two… the surviving Uchiha who's also his younger brother…" She then started to think on what she knew about the younger Uchiha before continuing, "But, the eyes were blue… and as far as I know, all Uchiha have obsidian eyes so it can't be him… the other one was…" Her eyes then widened a little after the realization and whispered with a small glint of hope on her voice, "C-could it be!?"

With that, she concentrated more chakra into her wings and headed towards Wave Country in a hurry, unable to stop the anxious feeling in her heart and the small shiver running through her body as if she was to meet again with a lost lover.

* * *

"Whoa… so cool…" A silver-haired ramen lover whispered after looking with awe at the silhouette of the incomplete bridge.

After the confrontation with the Demon Brothers, Team 7 and Tazuna resumed their trek towards Wave Country. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't hold back their excitement, since this was their first time outside the village and knowing the situation the country they're traveling is in, they were pumped and itching for a good fight to prove themselves against enemies they can actually harm. Sakura wasn't so excited since she still believed that they might be getting in a situation that's above their current level but whenever she turned to see her teammates, she found herself infected with the same determination, she wanted to prove to herself that she was worthy of being in the legendary 'Team 7'. Kakashi was relaxed as usual but deep inside, the feeling that something big might happen on this mission just wouldn't budge.

"I know right! It is of MY design of course!" Tazuna proclaimed while pointing his thumb towards his inflated chest, not able to hold his pride over his own skill whenever he hears someone praising them.

"I wasn't expecting it to be so big." Sakura mumbled, awed by the massive structure that will serve to connect Wave Country and The Land of Fire.

"Hn." Was all Sasuke contributed to the conversation.

Turning towards his surrogate father, the silverette Uzumaki saw that Kakashi was kinda lost in his own thoughts. Confused and slightly worried, Naruto voiced his confusion, "Kaka-sensei, you okay?"

Shaking his head to the sides, the silver-haired copy ninja broke his mind from his troubling thoughts and turned to see his surrogate son, who could see that something might be bothering the experienced jōnin, "I'm alright Naruto, don't worry…" He walked towards him and ruffled his hair affectionately before adding, "I'm just thinking on how we can free this country from Gatō, that's all."

"Well! We kick his sorry ass, fou shou!" The jinchūriki replied excitedly while raising his fist.

"Shh… don't make too much noise or Gatō's men will hear us!" The man that was paddling their boat shushed them, with obvious fear in his voice at the idea of getting caught by the tycoon's thugs, seemingly forgetting that he was in the company of trained ninja.

After a few more minutes of traveling through the water, they finally reached land where the rower said, "This is as far as I go, sorry." He bowed apologetically to the ninja and their client.

"Don't worry Genzo, I can take it from here." Tazuna said to the man, understanding his resistance to travel further into Wave Country.

After saying their goodbyes and thanks to the rower, Team 7 and co. made their way into Wave, Tazuna was leading them towards the village but Team 7 could see that the surrounding thick mist covering the road was not a normal mist.

 _'_ _This is a strong technique, only a jōnin from Mist could make a mist this thick…'_ Kakashi thought while getting his guard up and silently signalling his team to be prepared for anything, to which they nodded in affirmative.

The group continued their trek on the barely visible road leading towards the village when suddenly, Kakashi could hear the faint sound of metal cutting air, "Duck!" Team 7's leader screamed while grabbing Tazuna and forced him to plunge to the ground. Sakura and Sasuke did as they were ordered and quickly threw themselves on their stomachs, they were waiting on the sword to pass above their heads but they were surprised when they heard the sound of metal hitting metal.

"What the…" Zabuza said stunned. Sure, he wasn't expecting that to beat these brats but he never expected the silver-haired boy to draw a beautiful katana and actually parry his slash, the boy wasn't even winded after his strong swing that would no doubt cut clean had it successfully hit his target, _'T-this damn brat… I held nothing back in my swing and he didn't even flinched…'_ The swordsman thought, genuinely impressed with the boy.

Zabuza then jumped away and landed on a tree branch. After getting rid of all sense of surprise from his face, he returned to his threatening-self and said, "Well, what do we have here… 'Kakashi of the Sharingan'… no wonder the Demon Brothers are currently sitting on a cell in the Leaf."

Kakashi lifted himself up and after lazily dusting himself, he replied, "Mah, mah, Zabuza Momochi, aka 'The Demon of The Hidden Mist'… I'm sorry but… I'm afraid that feat belongs to my cute students." He gave the missing-nin an eye smile while gesturing his genin with his right hand.

"Hm…" Zabuza grumbled. He then rested Kubikiribōchō on his shoulder, not even struggling to hold the massive sword and then added, "I have no quarrel with you Kakashi or your team, so give me the builder and you're free to go, you know your 'cute' genin will die if you don't do as I say."

Kakashi was going to say where he could stick that giant sword of his but was interrupted when Naruto jumped in front of him and said excitedly, while jumping up and down like a kid begging for candy to his father, "Oh! Oh! Oh! T-that's… one of the 'Seven Swordsman of the Mist' yo! This is soooooo coooool!…" He then turned towards the sweatdropping figure of his surrogate father and asked, "Kaka-sensei! Kaka-sensei! Can I fight him!? Pleeeease…"

Nobody could stop their stupefied expression after seeing the silver-haired teenager asking to fight an S-rank ninja that could clearly kill him like it was something as trivial as to ask for a cone of ice cream. After some seconds, Kakashi Hatake regained his composure and with an eye smile, replied to his excited son, "Sure Naruto, go ahead, just be careful."

Naruto smirked fiercely while releasing a powerful aura that made everybody sweat a little, he then sent a quick glance towards Sasuke who nodded almost unnoticeably and turned towards Zabuza, who was now on the ground narrowing his eyes at the silverette.

" _Huff,_ Never thought I'd see someone so eager to die, you did well when you stopped my Kubikiribōchō earlier, but you're nothing but a pest when compared to me." Zabuza taunted, hiding the uneasiness he was starting to feel after seeing the fierce gaze on the silver-haired genin.

Naruto was just standing there, holding his sword while taking a deep breath. After some seconds, crimson flames started to appear from his body, covering him in a cloak that was starting to resemble a humanoid dragon.

 _'_ _Wha… w-what is… h-hapenning to Naru?…'_ Sakura thought while calming her rapid beating heart, she had never felt such aura coming from her goofy teammate but she was both uneasy and aroused. She could not explain it, she was uneasy because this aura felt ominous, like if she was in the presence of a commanding beast ready to devour any fool that oppose it, but she was feeling hot as well, shivers were running wild down her body, totally entranced by the amazing presence of her teammate.

 _'_ _What is this kid!?...'_ Tazuna thought, he had heard about the feats that ninja could do but even he, a simple civilian, could tell that this silverette young man was different, whether good different or bad different, he couldn't tell.

Kakashi and Sasuke didn't even blinked, they were already used to their son/brother's power by now, so they only smirked, eager to see the fight.

Zabuza on the other hand, surprisingly for the first time in a long time, was feeling a tiny bit of fear for the boy's power, _'What the hell is this kid!?… this is no chakra… but… it feels… so oppressive…'_ He narrowed his eyes to the silverette who was calmly waiting for him to begin when the swordsman realized something that sent chills to his body, _'Dammit!... I have only felt this kind of presence once and… it was not good… Yagura… that means this damn brat is…'_ He gritted his teeth after the realization of what was he confronting hit him.

"Oooooo I'm so pumped, ya know!? Let's get this show started fool, ya fool!" Naruto said with a mad grin on his face.

"Don't think too high of yourself brat." Zabuza grumbled, controlling his minor fear down.

Zabuza was going to make the first move but was stunned when the boy suddenly disappeared from sight, nobody even saw him move, but Zabuza's heightened senses warned him that something was coming from above. Looking up, he saw Naruto dropping while holding his sword in a strange backwards grip, if Zabuza was any other ninja he would have laughed at seeing the apparently stupid grip, but he was Zabuza Momochi, one of the 'Seven Swordsman of the Mist' and after training for so many years alongside other prolific swordsman, he could tell that strange grip, was powerful.

Zabuza jumped back to avoid the slash and threw one slash of himself, but Naruto quickly recovered from the landing and parried the hit again. The two then stayed on a stalemate for some seconds when Zabuza finally proved that at the moment, his strength was superior. He managed to throw the boy back a few steps before jumping at Naruto with great speed while drawing Kubikiribōchō back, he then sent a hard slash towards Naruto who narrowly jumped to evade the deadly weapon that no doubt would have cut him in half had the slash connected.

Utilizing his heightened speed thanks to Ddraig's cloak, Naruto recovered quickly and jumped straight towards Zabuza, intending to cut him down. Zabuza saw this and brought his sword up to parry the blow but was stunned when he felt a current of electricity running through his sword.

 _'_ _Damn… this brat can channel chakra into the sword… he's full of surprises…'_ Momochi thought while gaining an excited smirk on his face, it has been a long time since he had a good sword fight and this boy was proving to be an excellent swordsman of his own. After gaining some space from each other, Zabuza and Naruto jumped at each other again and the two soon continued their deadly yet rhythmic dance of swords.

"Wow…" Sakura whispered. She knew her teammate was good with swords but she never thought he would be that good, she knew who the bandaged man was since she studied the Bingo Book to be prepared for this kinds of situations, so she knew that Zabuza was a powerful swordsman and seeing the silver-haired Uzumaki apparently being equally skilled to the deadly swordsman, was impressive.

"Say that again…" Tazuna said while taking a sip of his sake. He was awed as well at the fierce battle but seeing this fight and remembering the last fight with the Demon Brothers, he now was starting to believe that his beloved country will be freed at last.

Kakashi and Sasuke were silent, intently watching the amazing display of swordsmanship that those two were showing, _'It still seems like it was yesterday when you needed help with tying your shoes… you've grown, my son…'_ Kakashi thought with immense pride. He never thought he would become so attached to the boy when he first saw him, he thought that he was doing it for the memory of his sensei but he soon realized that he loved the boy as his own, and seeing him now going toe to toe against an opponent who was still superior to him, was filling him with pride that only a father could feel.

 _'_ _Damn… I seriously underestimated this brat… he won't beat me… but he still has three allies that haven't move… and one of them is Kakashi…'_ Zabuza thought while still sending powerful slashes towards the incredibly fast genin. He knew that in the end the boy would lose but he also knew that the silverette has already tired him up a lot, and if Kakashi decides to intervene now, he was done for.

 _'_ _Damn yo… there's no doubt this fool's a demon with his sword… he's relentless…'_ Naruto thought while throwing another counter towards Zabuza, this time with some lighting chakra added to it. Zabuza managed to dodge but Naruto didn't allowed him time to breathe since he launched himself fiercely towards the missing-nin, throwing a fury of slashes, he smirked madly when he saw that he had finally inflicted a wound to his opponent, it was a large cut on the ex-Mist-nin's shoulder but Naruto didn't had time to enjoy his momentarily victory since Zabuza seemed to become angry and with renewed strength, threw a heavy slash that Naruto managed to stop with his sword, but the sheer force behind the hit managed to hurt his wrists due to the immense strength of the semi-naked man, _'Damn… I need to end this now or I won't be able to hold much longer…'_ Naruto thought with gritted teeth.

After a few evasions of his enemy's fierce slashes, Naruto managed to stop Zabuza's sword and the two got stuck on a stalemate again. The silverette then gathered the last of his fading strength and locked his gaze with his opponent's.

"You definitely impressed boy, to last this long and actually managing to land a hit on me… not many can say they've done it… at least, you'll die with your swordsman's pride intact." Zabuza said to Naruto, with a tone of voice that contained true praise and respect that only a swordsman could tell.

Smirking fiercely at Zabuza, Naruto responded, "You're not so bad yoself… hehe… actually… you're fucking good…" Naruto then smiled wider before adding, "But I'm not the one that's going to lose."

With a small chuckle, Zabuza was impressed by the silverette's willpower and guts, he could see that the boy actually believed those words he just spoke, but he replied while strengthening his push, "Don't delude yourself kid, you don't even have the strength to deliver the last blow anymore."

Instead of the frown that Zabuza was expecting to see, Naruto flashed an even fiercer smirk as he replied, "True… but who said it would be me the one that will deliver the final blow…"

"Wha…" Zabuza was confused by the genin's words but before he could inquire further, Naruto lifted his sword a little without breaking the stalemate and using the last of his strength, he pushed Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō down, using Zabuza's own strength to stab the massive sword into the ground and kept it for at least some seconds stuck there. Those seconds were enough though, because as soon as the sword stabbed the ground, Naruto disappeared in a poof of smoke and was replaced by the raven-haired genin that seized the frozen state of Zabuza to stab Mikoto's katana full of lightning chakra into Zabuza's chest, shocking the swordsman who could only scream in pain when he felt the seemingly infinite amount of electricity running through his body.

"What the!?" Sakura and Tazuna exclaimed, completely stunned after seeing that, they never saw Naruto and Sasuke talk before or during the fight, so they couldn't understand how the two of them pulled such complicated plan in motion without even planning it on the first place.

"Gigigi…" Kakashi giggled after seeing such a fantastic duo effort, he understood perfectly what just happened. While Sasuke was faster and better at countering attacks, he was still way inferior to Naruto when it comes to kenjutsu, seeing that Zabuza is an expert in the art of kenjutsu, he understood that Naruto had the best chance to tire the ex-Mist-nin enough so that he could be frozen in place for a couple seconds. Sasuke had been charging his katana with lightning during the whole fight, waiting for his brother to give the word and once Naruto forced Zabuza to stab the ground, Sasuke used substitution with Naruto and charged the lightning katana into Zabuza's chest, "These two… are impressive indeed…" He stated, with immense proud over his genin.

Zabuza just dropped to the ground and could not move a finger, the pain of being pierced by a katana charged with lightning chakra still lingered. After some moments, Zabuza managed to regain his breath and weakly said, "Y-you… damn… b-brats… that… t-that was… i-impressive…" Zabuza said to Sasuke, giving him a smirk that tell that he recognized that he was bested by those two.

"Hn, Naruto told you but you didn't listen." Sasuke replied, he then lifted his katana and aimed the tip to Zabuza's chest but before he could plunged it into the missing-nin's heart, three senbon hit Zabuza in the neck, apparently killing him.

A masked figure appeared out of nowhere and kneeled beside Zabuza before grabbing the massive sword. The mysterious masked ninja then said, "Thank you for dealing with Zabuza, I've been chasing him for quite some time now…" The hunter ninja then grabbed the body of Zabuza and carried it on the shoulders, apparently, having no problems carrying a body twice the masked figure's own size, "I will dispose of him now, thank you and safe travels." The person gave them a curt nod and silently disappeared from sight along with Zabuza.

"Well that was umm… weird…" Naruto said while breathing hard and almost dragging his feet on the ground.

"Yeah…" Sasuke replied and then looked towards his brother before adding, "…you okay, Dobe?"

"HA! Of course foo…" Naruto was saying before abruptly collapsing head on to the ground.

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed while quickly running towards her downed teammate. She kneeled beside him and gave him a quick check before letting out a relieved sigh while turning towards her team and client to say, "He's alright, just chakra depletion."

"Hn, idiot…" Sasuke mumbled while giving an air of indifference, although the rest of Team 7 knew he was worried for his brother, but hey, got a reputation to keep, ya know?

Kakashi chuckled and then turned towards his client to say, "Well, Tazuna, could you please lead us to your home, Naruto will need some days to rest."

Tazuna just nodded and gave them a smile before he asked them to follow him and the rest of the team followed behind him, with Sasuke carrying on his back the unconscious form of his brother.

* * *

After some minutes of walking through the forest, Team 7 and Tazuna finally arrived at the village. The group soon entered the village's streets and Team 7 could say they were baffled by the state the country was in.

"My god, for how long have you been living this way?" Sakura asked sadly after seeing the amount of people that were begging for coin on the streets, old people, adults, young ones and kids, dozens of them just sitting on the streets begging for coin to whoever walks by them, even the people that appeared to have money seemed miserable.

"More than we should have…" Tazuna replied solemnly, he was already used to seeing his beloved country in such poor state but it never stopped hurting, seeing his people denigrated to such extent. The only solace he had was knowing that both his daughter and grandson had a house and enough food to survive, even if the food were mere leftovers from all the food that Gatō forcibly took, they at least had that luxury.

"Don't worry Tazuna, all tyrants meet their end sooner or later, and I have a feeling that Gatō will meet his soon." Kakashi said to Tazuna, seeing that the man had developed a depressed face.

Turning around, the bridge builder gave Kakashi a small smile and with a nod, he said, "You don't how much my people have dreamt that, and after seeing what you and your team can do…" He looked towards the unconscious form of Naruto who was laying on Sasuke's back before turning at the front again and adding, "I truly believe our dream might come true."

After some more walking, the group arrived to Tazuna's house which was placed above a lake, built within a pier that connected the house to the land. There was a big mill beside the house and the house itself was two storeys tall, "Come on, my daughter must have some food already made so you can recharge your energies and place your friend to rest." Tazuna said with a smile to his companions who nodded eagerly at the idea of homemade food.

"Tsunami! Are you home!?" Tazuna asked once they entered the house.

Soon, steps could be heard from the floor above and after some seconds, a beautiful blue-haired woman appeared walking down the stairs. She seemed to be in her late twenties and was wearing a short-sleeved pink shirt with the end of the sleeves and the collar being red in colour and a long blue skirt. Despite the loose clothes, her body figure seemed to be well endowed and carried a warm and loving aura around.

"Dad! Thank god you're safe!" Tsunami said after running towards her father the moment she laid eyes on him, knowing how Gatō's men were targeting him, she couldn't help but worry.

"Haha, it's okay Tsunami! I was accompanied by great guards!" The man returned the embrace while praising the ninja that were with him.

Turning towards the group, Tsunami now realized that they had guests so after releasing the embrace with her father, she bowed and said to the Leaf team, "Thank you so much for taking care of him and bringing him home safe." She flashed them a warm smile.

"Don't worry, it's our job after all." Sakura replied while returning the smile towards the lovely single mother.

"Excuse me Tazuna?…" Kakashi said. After earning the attention of the bridge builder, he asked, "Where can we put my cute genin to rest?" He gestured towards the now snoring boy who was almost drooling on his brother's back, much to the raven-haired pseudo-avenger's despair.

"Ah right!…" Tazuna exclaimed after remembering that they had an unconscious man. He then turned towards his daughter and said, "Tsunami sweetie, can you lead the boy to a room? He made quite the effort while protecting me and he's exhausted."

Smiling back, she turned towards Sasuke and gently said, "Of course, please follow me…" Tsunami then turned towards the stairs with Sasuke on her tail and led him to a guest room with a lone bed there, "You can rest him here." She said to the blackette.

"Thanks." Sasuke replied before dropping Naruto unceremoniously to the bed and moved him so he was well placed on the comfortable mattress.

Seeing the unconscious silverette, Tsunami giggled and said, "He must have really used all of his energy to end in such state."

Huffing, Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest and replied with a smirk on his face, "Yeah… the Dobe has the tendency to overdo things without a care in the world."

Smiling, Tsunami added, "Mhm, he does seem to be the reckless type… gigigi…" Turning her head towards the Uchiha, she then said, "Why don't you go downstairs with your team while I go and fetch some covers for your friend? I'll go down to serve you some food once I finish."

"Yeah, thanks." The Uchiha replied with a nod before turning on his heel and heading towards the door to go downstairs and meet with the rest of Team 7.

Tsunami then went to a wardrobe and grabbed fresh sheets from the drawer, she approached the sleeping teenager and then covered him with the fresh and cool sheet. Now that she was alone, she finally noticed the silverette's face, _'Wow… he really is handsome…'_ She then shook her head to the sides to dismiss her thoughts and pondered while wearing a small blush on her face, _'What am I thinking?…'_ With that, she turned around and left the room to serve the ninjas that helped her father some food, knowing that they must be dead hungry.

* * *

"Ugh… damn brats…" A pained voice was heard inside a room, said voice belonged to Zabuza Momochi, who was currently laying down on his bed, covered with bandages and a dampened cloth on his forehead to cool down his body.

"I must admit, I really thought they were going to kill you…" A soft voice said from the corner of the room where a masked figure stood. Preparing another cloth dampened in the bowl that was filled with cold water, the young ninja then walked towards the swordsman and proceeded to remove the already hot cloth on his forehead. Placing the new cold one, the masked ninja said, "How could a mere genin be capable of go toe to toe against you… and with a sword!?"

Chuckling painfully, still feeling the effects of being electrocuted nearly to death, the ex-Mist-nin replied, "That's because those are no mere genin."

Tilting the head slightly, the youngling was confused so asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters, the black-haired one, the one that pierced my chest and electrocuted me…" Zabuza said with a little of spite, feeling his pride hurt remembering his defeat, "He's an Uchiha, that black hair and those onyx eyes can only belong to an Uchiha."

The masked youngster lifted the eyebrow and then asked, "An Uchiha? Weren't they supposed to be extinct?"

"Hehe… no… for what I know, there are two Uchiha alive… the one that carried out the massacre, Itachi Uchiha…" Zabuza said and one could hear a hint of respect hidden in his voice when he spoke Itachi's name and then continued, "And a lone survivor, that black-haired boy has all the facial traits of the Uchiha, so I have no doubt in my mind that he is that survivor."

"But I heard that all Uchiha were extremely prideful, to sit down a fight and allow someone else to fight a powerful opponent… that doesn't sound so Uchiha-like." Haku said, gathering all the knowledge about the Uchiha he/she possess.

"True… but I believe this boy is smart… I could tell he wanted to fight, but maybe he knew that the other brat was better with the sword than he is." Zabuza replied to his protégé, he also felt the behaviour strange for an Uchiha but when you're the last of a family that has been massacred, personalities are sure to change.

"And what about the silver-haired one?" Haku asked.

"Ah… he's the dangerous one… even more dangerous than Kakashi…" Zabuza replied, remembering the incredible fight the silverette gave him. Momochi could tell that he was being trained by a powerful swordsman and knowing that the teenager was a Leaf-nin, there was only one person he knew could teach that boy, Hayate Gekko, the most powerful swordsman the Leaf has.

"What!? Really!? W-why would you say that?…" Haku said, not able to hide the uneasiness in her/his voice. Kakashi Hatake was an S-rank ninja, granted, Zabuza and even Haku could defeat him since Haku was no pushover either, even Zabuza says that Haku is stronger than him, but still, the Copy-Ninja was a fearsome opponent. But hearing from his/her mentor that the silverette was more dangerous than Hatake, was troubling indeed, "I know he managed to fight on equal footing with you for most of the fight, but you were still going to win in the end." Haku added.

"Yes, but he only used his sword… as you already know, when a swordsman encounters another swordsman, if a fight is to break out, only kenjutsu is allowed, even if one of them is merciless killer, a true swordsman respects another one, using techniques not related to your sword is a grave insult to the art of swordsmanship…" Zabuza replied as he then looked towards the youngster and added, "But what I truly meant about him being more dangerous was because he is no ordinary human."

Feeling her/his shock growing slightly, Haku asked, "W-what do you mean?"

"Do you remember the aura he released? You were close to the fight so I know you could feel it, that ominous presence." Zabuza asked.

"Y-yeah…" Haku whispered, unable to stop the chill running through his/her body when the memory of the feeling that that incredibly strong but dark aura haunting the area was giving, "It felt powerful… but there was no chakra trace in it… yet… the feeling was… suffocating…" Haku added.

"Yeah, even I felt a small bit of fear…" Zabuza said, managing to earn a gasp from his protégé after hearing the confession, "The reason why he's no ordinary human, is because he is like Yagura… a jinchūriki." Zabuza ended his sentence with a serious voice.

"W-wha…" Haku could only whisper. She/he knew all too well what a jinchūriki could do, they were army killers, if angered, they could even take down an entire ninja village by themselves and now knowing what they were confronting, victory was now somewhat away from them.

"Yeah, things are now definitely more complicated and for what I know, there are only two Tailed Beasts that could possibly be under the Leaf's control, The Nine Tailed Fox and The Twelve Winged Dragon." Zabuza said with a voice that revealed a small hint of doubt in their odds.

"T-the strongest… damn… if Yagura can cause so much destruction with the Two-Tails, what could this boy do with the power of the Nine-Tails or the Twelve-Wings?" Haku deduced, now completely sure that unless they completely went all out and then some, they stood no chance against that jinchūriki.

"Yeah, we're gonna have to force him out of the fight before he can call on the Tailed Beast's chakra…" Zabuza said. He wanted to lay back and rest now but the door suddenly burst open and soon after, the midget tycoon Gatō and his two guards waltzed inside the room, earning a tired sigh from Zabuza and an annoyed glare from Haku.

"Pitiful, is this all the famed 'Demon of The Mist' can do!? Lay on his bed and lose to mere children!" Gatō said mockingly while flashing an arrogant smirk.

"What do you want now, Gatō?" Zabuza said with an annoyed voice.

Scowling at the lack of respect he believed he deserved, the tycoon replied with an irked tone, "What do you mean whit that!? I want that damned builder's head! That's what I'm paying you for! Yet, I see no freaking head anywhere!"

"Quit your yapping, he'll be dead soon enough." Zabuza said with a lazy tone, not even caring for the angry gaze the short man was sending his way.

"That's what you said before! Yet, here you are! All beaten up!... perhaps, I should let my men do it themselves?…" Gatō said before smirking evilly. Then with a nod to his guards, the two guards grinned and then jumped towards the bedridden Zabuza, intending to kill the swordsman, but before they could even reach the bed, they were suddenly disarmed and froze in their place when they felt their own swords aimed at their throats.

"What the…" The half-naked thug said. He, like his fellow guard and employer, never saw Haku move until the masked ninja was already threatening the two bodyguards.

"Move a finger and you die." Haku said with a soft but cold voice that sent shivers down the thugs' spines.

"Haku, don't waste your breath on these vermin." Zabuza ordered his protégé.

With that silent command, Haku pushed the bodyguards towards the midget and threw their swords at their feet before turning back towards his/her master's bed, still glaring angrily to the two thugs and the tycoon.

" _Tsk,_ Just do what I paid you for before my patience fades!" Gatō tried to threat the two missing-nin while releasing a pathetic killing intent that didn't even tickled the two ninjas.

"Yeah yeah…" Zabuza just waved off the annoying mob boss. Gatō then just angrily walked out of the room with his two scowling bodyguards on his tail, leaving Zabuza and Haku alone again.

" _Sigh,_ I don't know if I can stand that pest much longer." Haku mumbled.

"You can kill him after he pays us if you want." Zabuza replied.

"He's not worth the effort, let's just get this over with so we don't have to deal with that midget much longer." Haku replied. He/she then went back to nurse the fallen swordsman and after the anger towards the tycoon faded, Haku again pondered on their situation and the battle that is to come against the jinchūriki, not feeling confident in their odds anymore.

* * *

 _"_ _Y-you can't do this!... p-please Naru, d-don't leave me!" A beautiful black-haired teenager pleaded on her knees. She had onyx eyes and was wearing a purple turtle neck top with no sleeves and dark blue shorts that showed her shapely legs, she could strike any man unconscious by her mere beauty and usual cold demeanour which earned her the title of the Leaf's 'Brunhilde', but anybody who could see her now will have the shock of their lives at seeing her in such pitiful state, she was kneeling and crying her heart out, begging a handsome silver-haired teen to stay by her side._

 _Naruto could not stand seeing his beloved like this, she was his world, but life was as spiteful as ever and because of outside forces they were being forced apart. He kneeled and hugged the crying girl tightly while whispering, "Th-there's nothing I c-can do, Suki… I pleaded… I begged… but those bastards never listened… if I don't go… a war between the Leaf and Whirlpool might break out…" He couldn't stop the tears falling from his eyes anymore since the pain of being separated from the only person he cared about was too much._

 _"_ _But why!? Why would they do this!? Why would they allowed this to happen to their own SON!?" Suki replied back almost hysterically._

 _"_ _You'll have to ask Minato and Kushina yourself, for I don't know." Naruto said, with an incredible amount of venom at the mention of his parents, even Suki flinched when he heard the hatred in her beloved's voice._

 _Releasing the embrace slightly, Naruto cupped Suki's cheeks and rested his forehead against hers so they could look directly into each other's eyes. He then said gently and with great amount of love in his voice, "Suki… I promise you… we will see each other again… even if I have to burn Whirlpool and the Leaf to the ground… I will keep my promise to you." With that, he kissed the raven-haired beauty deeply, a kiss that contained all the love the two have for each other, their memories, their promises and their own lives._

 _The two then rested against each other's forehead for some minutes after ending the kiss, not opening their eyes trying to avoid the sorrow of what could probably be, their last goodbye. Naruto then stood up and walked towards the door leading outside the house, he was about to leave when he looked above his shoulder and left some parting words to Suki, "Everything I've done, everything I do and everything I'll do… is for you Suki… never forget that, my love…" With that, he walked out of Suki's house for the last time, leaving a completely heartbroken goddess crying her heart out, completely collapsed on the floor._

"Ah!…" Naruto screamed, completely covered in sweat and breathing heavily, "What the hell was that!?…" The silverette whispered while regaining his breath, he was completely baffled after having that weird dream, "I don't even know if you could call such thing a dream… it was so damn real…" He muttered while massaging his scalp, _"Yo D, do you know what that was!?"_ He asked mentally to the Red Dragon Emperor.

 ** _'_** ** _Hm, there was a sudden increase in his power, that means she's starting to wake up… but that 'dream'… could it be?…'_** The dragon god thought before he answered his tenant's question, **_"I'm not really sure, I may have an idea about what it was, but such thing should not be possible, yet, you do tend to disregard such limit."_** Ddraig answered with a small hint of mirth in his divine powerful voice.

 _"_ _Yo! Is not funny, ya fool! I don't even know who this 'Suki' girl is!…"_ Naruto replied with a little exasperation in his voice, still recovering his breath and sweating a little, _"What's your guess then?"_ He added.

 ** _"_** ** _Sorry kid, but if it is what I think, you're still not ready to know."_** Ddraig replied dismissively, not letting any room to discuss any further.

 _'_ _Sigh…'_ Naruto just sighed deeply and kept himself from asking any further, he knew that Ddraig would not reveal anything to him that he believed was too early for the silverette to know, but he wasn't annoyed by the dismissal since he also knew that the mighty dragon will eventually tell him, so for the time being, he just shrugged it off, "Huh?… where am I?" He muttered after he finally realized his surroundings. He was currently in a medium sized bed inside a medium sized room, he looked at the window and could see a lake and the silhouette of a forest at the far distance, almost covered by a mist.

 ** _"_** ** _You're on that bridge builder's house, you lost consciousness after your fight with that half-naked swordsman, your team carried you here."_** Ddraig informed his confused successor.

 _"_ _Oh yeah, I remember now…"_ He replied. He then massaged his temples and after a long yawn, he asked, _"How long was I out?"_

 ** _"_** ** _Mm… 2 days… you used a lot of my power and since you restricted yourself to swordsmanship, you over taxed your body since it had to disperse the unused essence because you didn't utilized any jutsu."_** The dragon explained.

 _"_ _Gotta work on that then…"_ He mentally replied.

Naruto was about to step out of the bed when suddenly, he heard the door of the room he was in opening. Soon after, a beautiful blue-haired woman carrying a tray with soup and a glass of water walked in, she didn't seemed to have noticed that Naruto was already awake since she walked towards a table on the corner of the room and started to blow on the hot soup. But seeing the beautiful woman's porcelain face, Naruto's heart ached hard, _'M-Miko…'_ He couldn't stop thinking about the woman he loved the most since the female he was watching right now carried a strong resemblance to the deceased Uchiha matriarch, _'No… she's not Miko, you fool…'_ He thought while shaking his head to the sides to dismiss his depressing thoughts. He then looked back at the woman who seemed to be happily cooling the soup and thought, _'But she's still beautiful, almost as beautiful as Miko…'_ He then decided to make his presence known when he asked a little timidly, "Umm… hello miss…"

Said woman let out a cute yelp after being startled by the sudden voice of the other occupant in the room. She stopped what she was doing and turned around to greet the boy who has been unconscious for two days, but before she could reply, she got completely stunned after she saw his eyes. For the past two days, she and the pink-haired ninja have been taking care of the boy, more she though, since the team's jōnin has been training the other two members of the team so she's the one that spends the most with the boy, she had already accepted that she liked the young man since he was incredibly handsome and he exuded an incredible presence that made her body heat whenever she was near him but now that she got to see his eyes, she couldn't stop her gawking, they were beautiful, the deep blue of his iris that resembled the most beautiful sea she has seen and that beautiful golden slit that replaced the natural black dot that seemed to pierce into your soul and warm your body, it was haunting, beautifully so. After some seconds of silent gawking, she finally realized that she has been staring and hasn't even replied so after shaking her head to the sides, she replied timidly and with a cute blush adorning her face, "Umm s-sorry… y-you s-startled me… hihi…" She fidgeted her fingers and looked at the floor embarrassed.

 _'_ _Oh… I really hope she's single because she's damn gorgeous!...'_ Naruto thought mischievously while inwardly smirking devilishly at seeing the woman's obvious attraction to him. He decided to play the fool and then asked while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Haha… yeah sorry… you must be Tazuna's daughter right?"

Recovering somehow from her original embarrassment, Tsunami smiled and replied, "Y-yes I am, m-my name is Tsunami, ni-nice to meet you." She bowed courtly while still wearing the cute blush.

Smiling back, he returned the polite action and said with a soft but manly voice, "I'm Naruto, is nice to meet you too Tsunami."

Looking back at him, she smiled widely before returning to her slight timid self and asked with worry evident in her eyes, "Umm, how are you feeling? You've been out for a while…"

Grinning back, Naruto chuckled a little and said with confidence, "I'm aight, don't worry too much Tsunami!"

"That's g-good, I h-hope you're feeling comfortable, I've umm… I-I've been tending y-your wounds… I kn-know I'm not g-good but… I h-hope it h-helped…" Tsunami said, averting her eyes from the silver-haired young man to hide her embarrassment.

Laughing wholeheartedly, Naruto stood up from the bed and decided to be a little bold so he walked towards her and after getting within arms' reach, he gently placed his left hand on her shoulder and replied, "Tsunami, don't worry, my wounds are completely healed and I feel like a new man, no doubt thanks to the care of such a beautiful and kind woman like yourself." He gave her a manly smirk while releasing some pheromones on the air.

Tsunami was dead stunned, not able to break eye contact with the young man, it's been so long since someone has said such kind and loving words to her that she almost forgot the feeling of having butterflies flying wildly inside her stomach. And seeing the honesty in his eyes when he spoke those words, she couldn't help but blush madly, "I… um… t-thank y-you… y… y-you're t-too kind…" She said, stuttering hard and looking at the side to avoid further embarrassment.

Smirking widely after seeing the flustered Tsunami, he gently took his hand away from her shoulder, much to Tsunami's strange disappointment, and then walked towards the window to see outside, "I'm just telling the truth…" He added while looking at her from his shoulder. Turning back towards the window, he asked, "Where's mah team and your father?"

Getting out of her stupor, she walked towards the handsome young man and stood beside him before replying, "Well, Kakashi took your teammate Sasuke to train inside the woods and my father went to work on the bridge while being guarded by Sakura, your sensei told me to let him know when you woke up since he wanted to discuss something with you and the rest of your team."

Nodding his head, Naruto looked at the tray with the food and said while smiling warmly, "Is this for me, Tsunami?"

Blushing a bit, she brought her hands to her back and fidgeted her fingers while replying, "Y-yes… I was cooling it for you… so eat up..."

Grabbing the two chairs that were in the room, he sat on the one close to the small table and gestured Tsunami to sit on the other, she did as told and the two soon started to chat amicably, with Naruto intending to find more about the woman he has now mentally added to his targets list.

* * *

After the lovely time that Naruto and Tsunami had with each other, the silverette set out to look for his father to let him know he was awake now. He was carrying a big stupid grin on his face after hearing that Tsunami was single and after spending almost all morning speaking to her and hearing some things about herself, Naruto couldn't help but like the beautiful single mother. However, he was actually afraid that she would react poorly when he reveal to her his ambition and how he was going to achieve it since Tsunami seemed to be a more reserved woman.

After some minutes of walking into the woods, Naruto shook his head to release his mind of Tsunami after he heard the sounds of jutsus firing at the distance. Knowing that it was his father and brother, he quickened his pace and soon later, he found Sasuke on his butt panting hard while his silver-haired adoptive father was reading his ever present 'Icha Icha', "Yo!" He greeted them after getting close to his team.

Both sensei and student turned towards the familiar voice and saw Naruto walking lazily towards them, "Mah, mah, you shouldn't force yourself after all the effort you pulled with Zabuza, Naruto." Kakashi said casually to his son, but there was a small glimpse of worry in the jōnin words.

"Hn, always the masochist." Sasuke said while smirking at his rival.

Resting both hands behind his head, the silver-haired Namikaze replied, "Oi! Ya know me! Amma killer baby! And killers ain't need no rest!"

Chuckling at his son's antics, the last Hatake returned to his book but asked, "How are you feeling, son?"

Sitting next to the Uchiha, the Uzumaki laid back on the grass and closed his eyes while still resting his head on his hands before replying, "Other than that weird dream I just woke up from, I actually feel good."

Both Kakashi and Sasuke raised their eyebrow after hearing what their son/brother said, so making their confusion known, Sasuke asked, "Dream? What do you mean?"

Looking at his team for some seconds, Naruto returned his gaze towards the sky and replied, "I really don't even know if it was a dream…" Seeing that his words only confused the two other males more, he decided to explain, "Let me explain first what I saw…" He sat up and then continued, "When I umm… could 'see'… I was inside a house, it seemed like a house that belonged to a clan head or something like that, but the weird part was that… there was this… beautiful girl around my age, crying a lot… she was clearly saying my name and was on her knees begging me not to leave… I then kneeled down and said that I had done all I could to stay but…" He suddenly struggled to continue after remembering the amount of hate he felt towards his parents at that moment. He has never hated them, sure he resented them but he still understood their motives so he really never hated them, but in this dream, he despised them almost religiously, "For what I heard myself saying, Minato and Kushina had something to do with me leaving… I then kissed her and said that I loved her and then left… but the thing is… it was too real…" He added after regaining his courage before turning towards Kakashi and Sasuke who were intently listening to his words before the silverette continued, "I could feel it… the love I had for that girl who, let me tell ya, I have no idea who the fuck she is, I only heard her name, 'Suki' I said… I also could feel the… hatred… pure raw hatred towards Minato and Kushina… those feelings… they were too damn real…"

Both men were silent, not really knowing what to say since they knew that while Naruto was eccentric and usually did goofy things, he never lied or pretended to feel something he didn't, more so when it came to his parents since both knew that he never hated or disliked them in anyway, it was just the resentment of them choosing the Leaf over their son. Kakashi decided to voice his opinion after some seconds of silence when he said, "Could you move or talk when you were in this… 'dream'?"

Turning towards Team 7's leader, Naruto shook his head to the sides saying, "Nope, all I could do was watch, I mean, I was seeing it from umm… how can I say it… 'my perspective' if you know what I mean… but I could do nothing but just watch."

"Don't you recognize the girl, Dobe?" Sasuke joined the conversation when he asked.

"Nope, she seemed familiar though… wait… now that I think about it…" He stopped there not knowing if he should tell them who the girl looked like since it was sort of a taboo topic for both Sasuke and him, but knowing that Sasuke won't get mad, he finished, "She kinda looked like… a younger version of… _sigh_ … Mikoto…"

Both Kakashi and Sasuke actually widened their eyes when they heard that, they now knew this was serious. Naruto never, never spoke about Mikoto, not out of respect for Sasuke, but because Mikoto was the woman that Naruto truly loved first and even if neither of them expressed it openly to their silverette comrade, they knew his love for the deceased matriarch never dimmed in the slightest.

Seeing that both his father and brother were frozen silent, Naruto decided to dismiss his own troubles when he tried to wave off his experience by saying, "Ah I know… hehe… I'm probably just hallucinating or going crazy with stress… hehe…"

Surprisingly though, it was Sasuke who decided to validate the strange occurrence when he said, "I don't think so, I would have think it's just you dreaming about a different life where you got to be with my mother since you did said the love you felt for this girl was too real, and knowing that you DO loved her, I might have thought that as well…" He then turned to look at his surprised best friend and added, "But not once in your life have you actually hated Minato and Kushina, if you say that you actually felt immense hatred in this dream, then… I don't think is just a hallucination."

"Sasuke's right Naruto, whatever that was, if what you say is true, then there's got to be something more, unfortunately though, I don't know how I could help you, so let's wait until we go back to the Leaf and we'll talk with the Third, alright?" Kakashi said while cupping his chin, not really knowing what to do in this strange situation.

After seeing the nod in response from his silver-haired surrogate son, Kakashi decided to tackle the next topic he wanted to talk about with Naruto, "I trust you already know that Zabuza is alive, right?" He asked.

Looking at the jōnin, Naruto nodded in yes while saying, "Yeah, I figured as much, hunter-nin are supposed to cut the head and burn the rest of the body immediately, the hunter-nin that appeared, probably put Zabuza in a near death state so we wouldn't follow."

"Mhm, which means that things will get complicated, while Gatō's men are pitiful at best, Zabuza's another thing, the only reason you two were able to beat him was because he underestimated Naruto and never expected Sasuke finishing off." He explained, he wasn't trying to undermine his genin's amazing plan, but he needed them to know that they snatched the win due to the lack of seriousness of their opponent.

Fortunately for him though, he was once again reminded of his students' maturity after seeing the two nodded in acceptance, "Yeah, we know, it was probably the only chance we had of defeating him, now that he knows us better, only you stand a chance Kaka-sensei." Sasuke said, proving the immense change of attitude he underwent after developing his brotherhood with Naruto. The old stock up Uchiha would've refuted the Copy-Nin's words extensively, but now he was more humble and learnt to never overestimate himself, as Naruto once told him, 'Even a King can be overthrown by a mere pawn, all it takes is one second, one mistake, to change the foreseen outcome', Sasuke took those words to heart and finally learnt how to never underestimate anyone.

"So, what we gon do, Pa?" Naruto asked.

"We'll train, Zabuza will take at least two weeks to recover from that shock so for the time being, one of us will accompany Tazuna to the bridge every day while the others come here to train." Kakashi said.

The two genins nodded and then stood up to continue training, now eager to fight Zabuza again and finally free Wave Country from Gatō's clutches.

* * *

"Oh Yuna, as naughty as ever… gigigi…" A perverted old man muttered while chuckling perversely. The old man was wearing a white coat over his red robe and a red hat that had the kanji for 'Fire' written on the front tip. Needless to say, this perverted old man was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.

The rest of the occupants in the room were just sweatdropping at their leader's usual pervetedness. The four ANBU guards of the Hokage never understood why he even wasted his energy in casting a genjutsu over the book to cover up what it really is about when everybody already knew what he was reading, since almost all the male population were fond of that book, plus, the blood running down the old man's nose was a pretty dead giveaway.

Everything was interrupted however, when they all heard the sound of someone tapping the window. Hiruzen turned towards the sound and saw a small pug with a blue forehead protector with the Leaf symbol etched on the metal plate. Knowing that it was one of Kakashi's dog summons, the Third stood up and walked towards the window to open it, the small dog then jumped inside and leapt to the Hokage's desk, "Ah Pakkun, hello, what is it?" The kind old timer said to the dog while lightly petting the pug's head.

"Hello Lord Third…" The dog said in a strong and deep voice that seemed to belong to another body, "I was sent by Kakashi, it appears that their mission in Wave Country has moved up to an A-rank." He added, earning narrowed eyes from the Hokage's wrinkled face and a small panic rush from a cat masked ANBU.

"Explain." The Hokage said with a stern yet gentle voice.

Nodding slightly, the small dog informed the village's leader, "According to Kakashi, the country is being enslaved by a tycoon named 'Gatō', the country is in extreme poverty and there are many disappearances from the population, women mainly."

Sighing heavily, Hiruzen replied, "Yes, I've heard about this 'Gatō' person, it is unfortunate his oppression has lasted for this long but none the less, for what I know, he's nothing but a simple mob boss, what would make Kakashi rank this mission as an A-rank if their opponents are common thugs?"

"As you said, the problem is not Gatō nor his men, the problem is one of his hired help, Zabuza Momochi." The pug replied.

The room fell into an eerie silence, Yūgao was now really starting to panic for her beloved goofball's safety but she managed to keep her emotions to herself, barely though. The old Hokage was also troubled by the news, "Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, chased out of Mist after a failed assassination attempt on the Fourth Mizukage, classified as an S-rank missing-nin, this is troubling indeed."

"Yes, there was also another ninja with him disguised as a hunter-nin, this hunter-nin saved Zabuza before he could be killed by Sasuke." Pakkun said.

Raising an eyebrow, Sarutobi asked further, "Sasuke? What happened?"

"Well, apparently, Zabuza ambushed Team Seven and Tazuna when they were making their way through the woods, after it was revealed that it was him, Naruto asked to fight him one on one." Pakkun replied. Hiruzen widened his eyes and Yūgao actually gasped in her hiding spot, now openly showing her worry.

"What happened next?" Hiruzen urged the small dog to continue.

"Well, Naruto fought on equal footing actually, Zabuza underestimated him and Naruto seized that, he pushed and tired Zabuza enough for Sasuke to take advantage of the frozen state Naruto left him in and charged his katana infused with lightning chakra, Zabuza couldn't move and Sasuke was about to go through the final blow when the hunter-nin appeared and put Zabuza on a near-death state to take him away, Kakashi wanted to give chase but Naruto collapsed due to chakra exhaustion, so they call it off and went straight to the bridge builder's house." He finished explaining, his words calming Yūgao down now that she knew that Naruto was okay, and she alongside the Hokage felt proud of the silverette, to be able to go toe to toe against a superior opponent and fool him to defeat him, was no small feat.

Chuckling slightly, Hiruzen said, "Only those two could pull of something like that…" Taking a smoke from his pipe, he then asked, "I take it Kakashi believes Zabuza will show up again?"

Nodding, the pug replied, "Yes, he estimates two weeks at least for Zabuza to recover fully."

"Very well, thank you Pakkun…" The Third Hokage said kindly to the dog. Soon after, the dog disappeared in a poof of smoke and Sarutobi called, "Cat."

The cat masked ANBU appeared immediately after being called and said, "Yes, Lord Hokage?"

"I want you to be ready, you'll head to Wave Country next week, you'll be support for them but do not show yourself unless you're truly needed or the mission is over." Hiruzen ordered.

"But…" She wanted to retort and say that she could go now and support them, but she was cut off when Sarutobi spoke.

"I know you're worried, Cat, but Naruto and Sasuke will become high profile targets and there's nothing we can do to stop it, they need to learn how to fight this kind of opponents, one is a jinchūriki and the other is the last Uchiha, there are countless countries that would stop at naught to get their hands on them." He finished sternly but with a kind tone as well, knowing that Yūgao was really afraid that something might happen to Naruto.

"I-I understand sir, I'll be ready when you give the word." She agreed reluctantly but also knowing that her leader was right. With that she disappeared from the room and Hiruzen went back to his orange book.

* * *

Three days have passed since Naruto woke up from his slumber and those three days have been relatively calm, no major problems have occurred except for the occasional confrontation with Gatō's men, since they foolishly believed they could kidnap Sakura, thinking that she was no threat, the 6 men that tried to caught her ended up with almost all of their bones broken and the word about a group of ninja being in the village spread quickly, putting Gatō on edge since Zabuza was still injured and his men could not match the Leaf-nin's strength.

For Naruto though, it has been fantastic, he and Tsunami have become quite close over the past days, he now knew her story and she now knew most of his, he really enjoyed her company and now Naruto finally saw Tsunami as Tsunami and not as a woman that looked like Mikoto. He knew he was being an asshole at first for wanting her just for her resemblance to Mikoto but after knowing her and spending time with her, he now knew he really wanted Tsunami for herself, he was still a bit scared of how she would react once he told her the whole truth because her attraction to him was obvious, even Tazuna had teased her about it, but he decided to left that for later since now he was enjoying a walk around the village in the company of the beautiful bluenette single mother.

"Naru calm down, I can even hear your teeth gritting." Tsunami's melodic voice said to a clearly angered Naruto.

Calming himself a bit, the silverette closed his eyes and answered, "I'm sorry Nami, it's just… pisses me off so much, ya know!?… seeing this…" He gestured the decayed village around him, with countless people begging on the streets and most of the inhabitants with clothes so wore down that they looked like rags, "I want to kick Gatō's ass so bad." He added, unconsciously releasing his powerful killing intent, making everyone around including Tsunami to cower.

"N-Naru…" Tsunami whispered, feeling her feet wobble a bit for the powerful sense of dread exuding from the silverette.

Shaking his head, Naruto realized he was scaring everyone including Tsunami and quickly apologized, "I-I'm sorry Nami… I… kinda lost it there… hehe…" He scratched his scruff sheepishly while easing his aura.

Blushing a bit at the affectionate way Naruto refers to her, she replied, "It's okay… don't worry, I'm actually very grateful that you and your team are willing to free us."

"I cannot turn a blind eye to something like this, it goes against everything I believe, I told ya about my dream, didn't I? This is just a step towards it." Naruto replied with a dreamy smirk that made Tsunami's heart jump faster.

She was going to reply but suddenly, a small frame tugged Naruto's jacket sleeve and said, "Umm, e-excuse mi-mister… do… d-do you h-ave any f-food?" A beautiful golden-haired little girl who could not be older than 5 said. She had beautiful blue eyes that seemed the same shade of blue as Naruto's, her skin was pale-white and her figure was really frail, indicating she has been malnourished for some time now, her ragged white dress was covered in dirt and her voice seemed really tired.

This scene broke both Naruto and Tsunami's heart, more so Naruto since he knew what it was like to be in those kinds of conditions. Naruto kneeled down to be face to face with the girl and said, "Sure beautiful, but, the food I have requires to be cooked, do you have a home?"

Smiling widely, no doubt really happy to have some food in her stomach, the little girl nodded and replied timidly, "Y-yes."

"Aight, can you take me and my friend there so we can make you some food?" Naruto replied while smiling warmly at the girl.

The girl nodded and timidly grabbed the silverette's hand and soon led them through the streets. After some walking, they arrived to an ally that had a set of boxes and some blankets and the girl said, "T-this is m-my home."

Naruto had to fight his anger down with all his might, he wanted to go down towards Gatō's lair and slaughter all of his men, but knowing that his anger will scare the whole village if released, he instead patted the girl's head and asked, "What is your name?"

The girl developed a cute blush on her pale cheeks for the affectionate touch and warm voice of the stranger but managed to stutter a response, "M-my na-name i-is E-Emi."

Smiling warmly at the little girl, Naruto replied "What a beautiful name Emi, my name is Naruto and this right here, is Tsunami." He gestured towards the woman standing at their side.

"Hello Emi, is nice to meet such a cutie like you." She said while affectionately cupping her cheeks, not able to stop her maternal instincts from flowing out.

The little girl smiled and seemed a little overwhelmed by the sudden affection she was receiving, but Naruto kneeled to eye level again and said with a kind voice, "Do you have anything of value here?"

Both Tsunami and Emi seemed to be confused by the question but Emi eventually replied a little sadly, "N-no…"

"Okay…" Naruto said before abruptly picking the small girl up on his arms, earning a cute yelp form the girl and a confused gaze from Tsunami, "Come on Nami." He said while boldly grabbing the older woman's hand, much to her delight.

The three walked through the village and after some minutes, they arrived to a clearing near the lake. The place wasn't too far away from Tsunami's house and the view was really gorgeous had it not be covered by that damn mist, Naruto made sure that the little girl learnt her way into the village and then set her down, he then grabbed a scroll from his pouch and after pouring some chakra into it, a big set of camping tools appeared. He then fixed his tent which was quite big, three people could easily fit there, he fixed some covers inside and left all the canned food he had there as well. After getting out of the tent, he faced the two confused ladies and said after kneeling in front of Emi, "This will be your temporal new home…" Both females widened their eyes, Emi's eyes were watering hard, not able to believe this was real, but Naruto made sure to make her see it was real, "Inside there are covers, a lamp, a jacket and canned food that can last you for almost a mon…" He couldn't continue though, since the little girl launched at him to hug him like if her life depended on it, he was surprised at first but quickly returned the hug, allowing the girl to openly cry.

Tsunami was at a loss of words, she has never seen such act of kindness before, not even from her late husband Kaiza, so she just smiled widely and cried a few tears of awe, _'He's just not making it easier for me…'_ She thought while watching the touching scene.

After some minutes, Emi finally calmed down and Naruto said, "Let's make something to eat, aight?" Both females nodded and Naruto fetched two cans of beans and three cans of dry meat, he then used a fire jutsu to make a bonfire, much to the amazement of the little girl since she has never seen a ninja before.

After some minutes of cooking, the trio ate while chatting amicably with the girl who couldn't get enough of their company and the food. Night was arriving though and both Naruto and Tsunami had to leave.

"D-do y-you really h-have to l-leave?" Emi whispered sadly while looking down at the ground.

Neither Naruto nor Tsunami wanted to leave the girl alone but as long as Gatō was in charge of the country, Naruto could not do much. He caressed her pale cheeks and gently said, "Yes Emi, I'm sorry, but there are things we need to do but I promise you, I will come every day to visit and I have a surprise for you, you just gotta wait three days, aight?"

The little girl smiled a little but was still scared the she won't see the two again, so said, "Y-you pro-promise?"

Naruto smiled warmly and then took a black butterfly-shaped hairpin that he always carries around from his pocket, he looked at it for some seconds while thinking, _'Is time… is time for me to let go of this pain for you… you are in a better place now and I know you'll be suffering if I keep remembering you like this… it's time to look at the front… to the future… Miko…'_ He looked at the girl and placed the hairpin on the little girl's blond hair and said with a melancholic voice, "This hairpin belonged to a person I loved dearly, she died a while ago and this was all I had left of her, but now, it belongs to you…" He then rested his hand on the girl's shoulder who was now sobbing slightly but Naruto knew it was out of happiness, so continued, "This represents my promise to you, okay?"

The girl jumped at him again and Naruto could feel her small head nodding against his chest, the two stayed like this for some seconds when she then jumped at Tsunami and hugged her tightly, which the older woman happily returned with some tears in her eyes, "I promise you Emi…" Tsunami whispered before looking at Naruto who was smiling while seeing them, "…things will get better."

The girl nodded and soon after, Naruto and Tsunami left. After some distance, Naruto placed a genjutsu around the area that will dispel sending a pulse of chakra to him in the event any hostile intent is detected.

Tsunami could not stop looking at Naruto, she was enamoured by him, he was kind but realistic as well, he showed her something that she has never seen before, the actual will to change the world. She has heard many people saying that they wanted to change the way the world moves but none of them had the determination to achieve it, but Naruto was different, she didn't know the extent of his power but his will alone was immense, she could see it in his eyes, the fire to make this a better world, the determination to stop at naught, and for the first time in her life, she was not afraid anymore because she now knew, the amazing young man walking beside her, was going to change the world.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, a blue-haired beauty was watching them the whole time and like Tsunami, she was entranced by Naruto's attitude. She has only seen this kind of act once in her life and it was with her late best friend, who showed the same kindness to her when the two met in the middle of the Second Great War and offered to accompany her to try and survive by themselves.

 _'_ _He… he's so much like Yahiko…'_ She thought with a sad smile on her porcelain face. She still didn't know if this silver-haired jinchūriki was Itachi's so called legacy since she could not see his eyes, but seeing the way he acted towards that orphan and how genuinely angry he was for the country's state, she was inclined to believe he was.

 _'_ _Instead of amassing power for himself like us, he's nurturing the new generation by showing them kindness… just like Yahiko believed…'_ She continued her thoughts, now feeling guiltier than ever due to her actions and the way she decided to turn a blind eye when Nagato lost his way. Seeing the great impact that a simple action like giving a small orphan girl a tent, covers and food made, opened her eyes a little bit more.

 _'_ _I need to see him eye to eye… I need to…'_ She thought with a needy look in her eyes, her interest in the jinchūriki and the things she just saw in only one day have begun to awaken a sleeping part of Konan that she thought she would never see again, the part of her that still believed in true peace.

* * *

As the days passed by, Naruto and Tsunami kept their promise to Emi, Tsunami visited the small girl the past three days while Naruto visited two since one of those days he had to guard Tazuna at the bridge. In those days, Tsunami bought her some clothes and her health seemed to be slightly better thanks to now being able to eat three times a day, but now, three days after they met the blonde little girl, it was time for Naruto to reveal the surprise.

"Yo Nami! Wanna go with me to reveal Emi's surprise!?" Naruto said excitedly to the beautiful single mother. He made sure to seize the chance they have now that Sasuke is at the bridge with Tazuna and Sakura is with Kakashi on the woods training, with them gone an Inari being his bratty-self locked in his room, they had the chance to act more friendly towards each other.

Smiling widely at the silverette, Tsunami nodded eagerly and replied, "Oh god yes! I've been dying to see what this 'surprise' is!…" She finished cleaning the dishes and went towards the stairs to scream, "Inari sweetie, I need to go to the village so I'll be back later, Naruto's with me so don't worry, okay?" She waited a few seconds for a reply but after nothing came, she just sighed sadly and turned towards Naruto to leave.

"Don't worry Nami, he'll grow up eventually." Naruto said, knowing how much Inari's whimsical attitude saddened the young mother.

"I hope so…" Tsunami replied with a warm smile, really thankful to have the support that she so greatly missed since Kaiza's death, with Naruto around, she felt stronger and more confident, "But enough with the gloominess, let's go!" She exclaimed more happily, really eager to see what Naruto had in store for their gorgeous little Emi.

Smirking, the silverette Namikaze nodded and with that, the two left the house. It didn't took them long to arrive to Emi's tent since Naruto made sure to place it near Tsunami's house in case any of Gatō's men got any funny ideas, just a few minutes of walking inside the woods that surrounded the property. Soon, they found the small blonde seating at the shore with a medium sized fishing rod that Tsunami had given her after she started teaching the little blonde how to fish, seeing this, the two smiled proudly after seeing the girl that used to be so frail now trying to get her own food.

"Hey Emi!" Tsunami happily greeted.

Hearing the melodic voice that she now knew and loved so much, Emi frantically turned towards Tsunami and Naruto who were standing beside each other and quickly dropped the rod to the ground, she jumped to her feet and quickly made her way towards the two, throwing her small arms at the pair in a bear hug, "Nami! Naru! I'm so happy to see you!" Emi exclaimed happily, tightening the hug with all the strength she could muster.

"And we're happy to see you too, Emi." Tsunami said lovingly while petting the blonde's little head affectionately.

Gently releasing the hug, Naruto kneeled down to eye level and said to the excited girl, "Now Emi, do you know what day is today?"

Tilting her head a little, confused for some minutes, Emi then widened her eyes after remembering and said with even more excitement, "Yes! Yes! You said you'd give me a s-surprise!"

Ruffling the girl's blonde locks, the silver-haired Uzumaki smirked fiercely and said, "Correct! Are you ready for your surprise?"

Nodding eagerly, the little girl exclaimed yes and Naruto laughed a little at her excitement, he couldn't blame her though, she's been an orphan since her father was killed by Gatō's man two years ago and hasn't had any gift or anything she could call her own since then. Naruto then walked towards the tent and then grabbed a scroll from his pouch, getting inside the tent, he opened the scroll and poured some chakra into it, he then walked out of the tent and seconds later, the tent and all the things inside disappeared into the scroll.

Both females were confused as to what Naruto was doing but since now both of them knew that he was full of surprises, they just shrugged it off and waited for the unveil, "Come Emi, Nami." Naruto said while extending his left hand which the little blonde quickly grabbed with her own, she then used her free hand to grab Tsunami's right hand and the trio began to walk.

They walked for some minutes, a little closer to Tsunami's house but a little deeper into the woods, Naruto then suddenly stopped and grabbed two cloths from his jacket's pocket, "Aight, let me put this on ya!" He said. The two other people just nodded eagerly and allowed Naruto to cover their eyes with the cloths and after covering them, he grabbed both ladies by their hands and led them through the woods.

It didn't took them long to arrive to the place Naruto had prepared the surprise though, just a couple of minutes more of walking. He then stopped and released the ladies' hands in order to get behind them, "Are ya girls ready?" He asked and after seeing their nod as yes, Naruto smirked and grabbed the knots of the cloths and gently pulled them to untie them and allow them to see.

When they could finally see again, both Tsunami and Emi were speechless, there, in front of their eyes, there was a beautiful small cottage. The cottage was extremely cute, the inferior part of the house was made of sturdy rock while the upper part, including the roof, was made of wood, the cottage had a window on the left side of the front beside the door, "Come on…" Naruto said after allowing them some seconds of sightseeing. He then grabbed their hands and pulled them with him, he walked into the house with them so they could see the interior.

They were stunned again after seeing the simple beauty of it, inside, there was small table in the middle of the room with three chairs, on the far side of the room, there was a stove and a sink with a few utensils kept on the upper cabinets above the stove, there was also a small chimney on the left side of the room and a small window near the kitchen area, "Come on…" He said again, pulling them towards the stairs that were behind the wall where the stove and the kitchen were. They walked through the stairs and soon they got to the second floor which was as cute as the first one, on the far side of the room, there was a medium sized bed, a small desk on the right and a wardrobe on the opposite wall to the stairs, there was also a door that led them to a medium sized bathroom, quite comfortable actually. He then took them back down stairs and sat on one of the chairs before saying, "Well Emi, what'cha think about the house?"

The little blonde tilted her head a little and said, "I th-think is r-really cute N-Naru! Whoever lives here i-is very lucky." She fidgeted her fingers while looking around.

Tsunami already had an idea of what was going on since she was quietly tearing up, _'I don't believe it… he built this house for her… god… that's not fair Naruto…'_ She thought, overwhelmed by the kindness Naruto was displaying and at the same time whining because Naruto was making it hard for Tsunami to resist him.

Seeing that Emi hasn't figure it out yet, Naruto reached her head and patted it affectionately while saying, "What'cha talkin 'bout Emi!? This is YOUR home now."

Said girl's eyes went wide as saucers, her little brain could not believe what was happening to her, three days ago, she was struggling to get a small piece of bread and now, this incredibly kind person was giving her a home, "W-what?…" She whispered weakly, still hoping that this was not a dream and that soon she'll wake up on the alley again.

Smiling warmly at the teary eyed girl, Naruto explained, "This is the surprise I had for ya, you see, I have a technique that allows me to create physical clones of myself, for the past three days, I had twenty clones working on building this house for ya, this is your new home Emi and no, it's not a dream." He then picked the small girl up and hugged her tightly, she couldn't stop the tears from falling anymore and cried freely.

"Thank you, I love you so much Naru…" She repeated those words over and over again, making Naruto feel a sense of happiness he's never felt before, seeing the happiness the small girl was showing made his resolve to fight for a better world and to stop at naught stronger than ever. He didn't know now, but this small gift to Emi was a big step towards a brighter future.

Tsunami was openly crying as well, she could not express how much she was touched by this incredible man. He built a house by himself just for Emi and he had asked nothing in return, not even recognition, she just touched her chest and thought while looking at Naruto hugging Emi tightly, _'How I wish you could stay here… I really wish I had a chance with you…'_ She couldn't stop the sadness to flow, she wanted him to stay here, she wanted this precious man to be by her side but she knew it would be incredibly selfish, he was needed, the world needed him, for he was the only one that could make such great feats as this, seem so small and easy.

After Emi calmed down, the trio helped her settle up in her new home, Naruto explained all she needed to know about the house and left a map for her that showed the way to Tsunami's house, the village and the lake so she wouldn't get lost. He had also placed the same genjutsu around the cottage so she would be safe. After helping her, Tsunami went to the small kitchen and made some food for the three, they stayed there talking amicably, giving the vibe of a happy family.

Just like three days ago, Konan was intently watching the scene from afar and just like Tsunami, she was stunned, she never thought that the jinchūriki would go and spend so much energy to build the cute blond-haired girl a new home, sure, It was small, just for her, but she knew that no one, including herself, would have done such a fantastic deed. Now more than ever, she was eager to meet him face to face but she knew she needed to be careful, for she did not know if the silverette knew of her organization's goals.

* * *

" _GRR_ STOP IT ALREADY!…" A visibly furious 8 year old screamed in the middle of having dinner with his family and the Leaf ninja. He was getting furious at seeing everyone, including his mother and grandfather, acting so carefree, they were laughing and exchanging stories and he couldn't take it anymore, "STOP ACTING AS IF YOU HAD ANY CHANCE! YOU'RE NOT HEROES! YOU'LL JUST DIE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!" Inari added while slamming his hands against the table.

Everybody except Naruto were startled by the sudden outburst, Tazuna was kind of expecting it sooner or later but still, he was feeling a little embarrassed by his grandson's bratty attitude, "Inari please calm d…" Tsunami was saying, trying to calm her raging son and also feeling really embarrassed and sad at the black-haired kid's attitude before being rudely cut off by him.

"NO! EVEN YOU'RE ACTING AS IF EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT! IT'S USELESS DON'T YOU SEE!? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" He whined while pointing accusingly to the ninja.

"Kid, shut up and eat, respect the effort your mother put into making us dinner and don't talk so rudely to her, so shut it and eat." A very calm Naruto said coldly, making everyone flinch due to the authority his voice carried, although Tsunami could feel her special place heating up badly after being defended by the silverette that has captivated her so much.

Inari did lose some of his confidence after hearing such strong voice coming from the still eating Naruto, but he still wanted to show them off so he gathered enough courage to say, "S-shut u-up! Y-you don't even k-know how m-much we've s-suffered! You i-idiots k-know nothing a-about pain!…" Inari wanted to keep going and retort angrily at them, but he had to stop when suddenly, it turned really hard to breathe and for what he could see, everyone, including the ninjas except Naruto, were having the same problem.

Putting his chopsticks aside, Naruto calmly and elegantly cleaned his mouth with a napkin before turning to lock his gaze to Inari's eyes to say with a cold and powerful low voice, "Is that so, huh?… tell me kid, have you been stabbed in the gut when you were three? Have you been forced to eat food from the trash to avoid starvation? Have you lived on the streets with nothing but your ragged clothes for at least a day? Have you been spat, insulted, punched, kicked and almost assassinated by your own village for carrying something that was forced into you? Or perhaps, have you seen your whole family being massacred by your own brother? Have you?…" He asked the now sobbing and greatly scared boy. Seeing that he didn't had the strength to even stutter, Uzumaki continued, "Then I suggest you to shut the hell up kid, because you still have a wonderful mother who takes care of you and who loves you, you still have a grandfather that gets you the things you need to live, you may know pain kid, but you know NOTHING about despair!…" He finished, unconsciously releasing more of his suffocating presence, that's when he turned to see Tsunami who was breathing heavily, this broke Naruto out of his anger and immediately cut his aura off, "I'm sorry for this Tsunami, it was uncalled of me." He apologized while standing up and walking to the door to leave but was stopped by a voice.

"N-naru, w-where are you g-going?" Sakura asked with a weak whisper, still catching her breath after her silverette teammate's show of power when angry.

"I need to cool off, don't wait for me." Naruto replied dryly and with that, he left the house.

Turning around, the pink-haired kunoichi turned towards her sensei and other teammate and said a little worriedly, "D-don't you think someone s-should go with him? H-he looked r-really pissed off." A sentiment that was shared by a worried Tsunami since she has never seen this side of Naruto before.

"Nah, when Naruto gets like this he tends to get 'destructive', you'll end up hurt if you get in his way when angry, he'll cool off so don't worry." Sasuke replied calmly, shivering a little when the memory of the time he accidently walked into a really pissed off Naruto came to his mind.

Sakura just nodded a little reluctantly but this time, Tsunami asked, "W-what he said… i-is it true?" She knew some stuff about him, like him being a jinchūriki and that Sasuke was the last Uchiha, since they have grown really close and have talked about their lives a lot, but he never said anything about the abuse he's been through, so hearing it now, was pretty painful for her.

Sighing deeply, Kakashi nodded sadly while saying, "I'm afraid so, one of the things he said didn't happened to him but the rest did, I was there to see it, and even I had to be convinced to not to take Naruto and leave the Leaf since I was getting really pissed off, but all the pain he's been through has turned him into the man he is now." He gave them an eye smile that everyone could see carried a lot of regret in it.

With that, everyone stayed silent, only the sobs of the still shocked and crying Inari could be heard in the house. Minutes later, Tsunami carried Inari to his room while the rest of the people present turned in for the day, knowing that Naruto will likely not come back for the night.

* * *

"Stupid brat…" Naruto mumbled angrily while throwing a lightning wolf to a tree, destroying it completely, "Thinking he's suffering… if it wasn't for Nami, I would have really kicked his sorry ass…" He added while throwing a hurricane of wind blades to a group of trees who shared the same fatal fate that the last tree had.

Seeing that he's successor was not cooling off at all, Ddraig decided to speak, **_"Calm down boy, you're losing it."_** The mighty god warned.

Sighing deeply, Naruto tried to calm himself but he was just getting angrier and angrier, _"I know! I'm fucking trying but I fucking can't, dammit!"_ He then subconsciously threw a rasengan towards another group of trees but when he saw the ball of chakra on his hand, he got a little freaked out, _"Wh-what the h-hell!?..."_ On his hand, instead of the regular blue ball of chakra, there was a pitch-black ball that was even uncomfortable to see due to the blackness it had, the ball had an eerie crimson hue around it, dancing like flames.

Shaking his hand frighteningly, the ball of black energy clashed with the ground and a very powerful explosion resulted, creating a medium size crater in the process. He was going to say something but when he noticed his hand again, he was again freaked out when he saw the strange energy still surrounding his hand, similar to how Ddraig's cloak looked whenever he releases it, "Wh-what the h-hell is this!?…" He muttered while shaking his hand, trying to get rid of the strange energy.

 ** _'_** ** _Hm, it seems her awakening it's starting to affect his power, interesting…'_** Ddraig thought while watching the scene with great interest. He then decided to calm his freaked out container saying, **_"Relax brat, that's demonic power, your anger must have called on it subconsciously."_**

Widening his eyes, Naruto made his great confusion known when he asked the dragon, _"D-demonic power!? Oi, what the hell is that!?"_

Sighing tiredly, the Red Dragon Emperor replied, **_"Exactly that, power drawn from pure darkness itself."_**

Staring at his still covered hand, he got over his initial scare and said more calmly, _"But why would I have this? Is it you? Or what?"_

 ** _"_** ** _While I do can control it since I am the god that governs it, this power does not comes from me, but it does not comes from you either."_** The dragon replied.

Tilting his head in confusion, he said, _"Then, from whom?"_

 ** _"_** ** _I'm still not sure, but I'll figure it out soon."_** Ddraig said. He was lying though, he knew exactly where that power was coming from but he still thought that Naruto was still too emotional right now to know the truth, so he wanted to wait until the Uzumaki calmed down to tell him.

 _"_ _Alright…"_ Naruto said while sighing. He continued to look at the demonic energy when he remembered something, "Where have I seen this before?…" He muttered as he cupped his chin and narrowed his eyes in thought. Some seconds after, it finally hit him, "Oh shit, yo! The girl that's been watching me! The ANBU that's not an ANBU! That silver-haired hottie used this when she helped mah clone with those damn six-legged bastards!" He got confused again after realizing that fact. Knowing that Ddraig probably knew best, he decided to ask, _"It was the same thing, right D?"_

 ** _"_** ** _I don't know for sure since I wasn't there with your clone, but from your memories, it does seemed like demonic energy."_** Ddraig replied and after hearing his own words, he too realized something he really wish he hadn't, **_'Hm, if that woman can use demonic energy that means she's a descendant of that bastard…'_** He thought, restraining his boiling anger after remembering someone he greatly disliked.

 _"_ _I guess we won't know until I see her face to face again."_ The Namikaze thought. After some seconds, he finally was able to calm his anger down and soon, the demonic energy coating his hand disappeared, "It's late and I don't really want to continue destroying shit, better go back now." He muttered.

Naruto then made his way back towards Tsunami's house, he arrived after some minutes of tree hopping but before he could enter the house, he saw the figure of a beautiful blue-haired female sitting on one of the decks surrounding the house, _'Nami!? What's she doing here at this hour?...'_ Naruto thought after he confirmed the scent of the young single mother.

He then walked towards her and he could hear the faint sounds of sobbing, so getting worried, he hurried a little and said, "Nami…" He sat next to her and continued, "Are you okay?"

Tsunami was startled at first but when she recognized Naruto, she quickly turned to the side to avoid his gaze so he could not see her puffy eyes. After calming herself a little, she managed to say, "Y-yes Naru, I-I was just h-having trouble sleeping, that's all."

Not believing a word, Naruto gently grabbed Tsunami's chin and forced her to look at him, he then saw her puffy eyes and said gently, "You're crying Nami, tell me what's wrong."

Not able to deny it anymore, she smiled a little but still tried to avoid the question when she said, "I should be the one asking you that, you got me pretty worried when you left."

Snorting a little after seeing her clear attempt to shift focus, he replied none the less when he said, "Yeah, but I already cooled off so stop avoiding the question, what's wrong?" Naruto finished with a more commanding tone that Tsunami could not fight back anymore.

Looking down sadly, she replied with a voice that was barely a whisper, "I-it's just… after s-seeing Inari today… I… feel like such a failure as a mother…" Tears then started to form again but she continued, "Seeing him so lost in his own pain… I failed Naru… I've tried to get him out of that attitude but… I just can't do it…" She finished while hugging herself, not able to stop her tears anymore.

Getting a little angry at Inari again for seeing how much his attitude was affecting such a kind and beautiful woman, Naruto gently grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look straight at him again when he said, "Nami stop that, you didn't failed, Inari's just lost in his own selfishness, for what I can see, you've been there for him every day, it's not your fault that he's the one that's lying to himself, he's just putting up excuses to stop himself from actually doing something, I know you've done all you can to make him smile again, but when someone just don't want to face the truth, it doesn't matter how much you try, they won't open their eyes unless they want to." He cleaned her tears with his thumb while gently caressing her shoulder, giving her a small but warm smile as well.

Seeing the truth in his words and the genuine care for her in his eyes, Tsunami couldn't stop the small smile form appearing on her face when she replied, "You're right Naru… I just hope Inari opens his eyes soon so I can see him smile again…"

Caressing her cheek, the silverette said, "I'm sure he will."

The two spent some moments lost in each other's eyes, totally at peace. Tsunami broke the comfortable silence though, when she said, "Y-you know… I… I was really happy when… you scolded Inari and said such wonderful things about me." She looked down timidly while a cute blush was starting forming on her cheeks.

"Really?" Naruto replied, smirking inwardly when he realized that this might be his opportunity with her.

Nodding slightly, she looked down for some seconds before she brought her gaze up again when she said, "Yes… it made me feel… supported… protected… safe…" She then looked to the lake trying to avoid his eyes due to the embarrassment of her confession.

Naruto felt a little embarrassed as well, he never thought his words would have such an impact but seeing that Tsunami has been suffering from loneliness for some time now, he understood.

Naruto decided to make his move now so he brought his hands towards her cheeks and then suddenly, kissed her deeply. Tsunami at first went wide-eyed due to the sudden move but she soon lost herself into her own feelings and quickly brought her hands around his neck in order to deepen the kiss. They kissed for some seconds before the necessity to breathe knocked the door, they broke down the kiss and Tsunami just locked her dazed eyes to Naruto, she never felt such rush running down her body, she could even feel that her vagina was starting to drip by just this kiss, _'God…'_ Was all her dazed mind could gather.

Smirking devilishly after seeing her dazed expression, Naruto continued caressing her cheeks when he said with a loving voice, "Tsunami, do you want to keep feeling the same with me?"

Getting out of her daze, Tsunami said with a whisper, "Y-yes Naruto… I… I want y-you to m-make me feel like t-that… always…"

Smiling, Naruto couldn't stop feeling nervous knowing that it was time to reveal the truth to the beautiful single mother, "Before you say that, there are some things you need to know first but I need you to promise me that you'll let me finish all I have to say before you give me your answer, okay? If after what I say to you, you still want to be with me, then I promise you, I will protect you, support you and cherish you forever." He said with a serious voice.

Feeling a little confused by his words, Tsunami really wanted to be with him after such amazing kiss so she nodded none the less and with that, Naruto began to explain his ambition and how was he with her help, going to achieve it.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya go! Thanks for continuing reading the story, I hope you liked the chapter and don't forget to vote on the poll! See ya later, cheers!**


	10. Among Waves (Part 3)

**A/N: Yo guys, sup! I was planning to end the Wave arc here but it seems that my imagination got the better of me so the next and final chapter of the story's first arc will probably be shorter.**

 **Regarding Haku, I don't even now what I was expecting when I posted the poll, you guys would obviously want a Fem Haku so you got your wish.**

 **I don't know what else to say, so without any more delay, let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **Among Waves (Part 3)**

Naruto was sweating, bad, he was cracking his brain for a way to defuse a dangerous situation that might arise. He had just finished explaining Tsunami about his plans, well, he finished 5 minutes ago but in those 5 minutes Tsunami hadn't spoken a single word, she was there frozen, not even looking at him, her gaze was lost into the lake, _'Oooh shit… she mad!?...'_ The Uzumaki heir thought, not able to read anything from the goddess seating beside him, her porcelain face had an unreadable look and her emotions seemed eerily calm.

"Why do it this way?" Finally after what is seemed like forever, Tsunami spoke in a very calm voice.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked down at the lake and replied, "To be honest with you, Ddraig was the one that came up with the plan, at the time, I really had no other way that I could think of… when I took on this ambition, I had this idea that maybe, maybe if a kicked every baddies' ass I would get rid of the darkness plaguing this world…" He then looked up and continued, "But after everything was revealed to me by Ddraig, I realized that the darkness, is a necessary thing."

Hearing this, Tsunami turned to look at him with a slightly tilted head before asking, "What do you mean?"

Looking at her for some seconds, he brought his gaze back to the lake and replied, "Well, tell me… if there was no darkness in this world, how would we know something's wrong? How could you distinguish a good deed from a bad deed if you don't even know what darkness is?…" He looked back at her and then added, "How can you feel love when you have never felt hate? To be able to differentiate those emotions, you had to feel both, in order to know what is good and what is bad, you need to know how both feel…" Looking back at the night sky, he continued, "After I realized that, I understood that just like the necessity to fight is deeply engraved in our DNA, therefore can never be truly eradicated, darkness is deeply engraved in life's DNA as well, so it can never be eradicated… I may be able to get rid of all the baddies out there, but they'll just show up again because they're needed… life needs to constantly remind us about darkness, so we can enjoy light whenever it comes."

Tsunami was transfixed, yes she felt a little uneasy when Naruto explained everything to her, she had no trouble with him being a god, immortal or a humanoid dragon for that, surprisingly, she had no trouble with her becoming immortal and outliving her son, because Naruto reassured her that she could change her appearance at will and that way she could stay with her son until her 'time' comes, that way she would be able to live a normal life before joining the silverette in eternity and she did not have a problem with Naruto shaping the world from the shadows. She had a slight problem with how he was going to do it though, she was a woman, and she wanted Naruto to herself, it wasn't the fact that she would be sharing him that bothered her, it was the fact that she was afraid that Naruto might love her less because in her eyes, she was a simple civilian who had no real value for his ambition whatsoever, yet, hearing such passionate words and an understanding for life she knew was godlike, she was starting to get over her fear for a bit.

Knowing that she was silent because he hadn't really answered her question, Naruto looked at her again and said, "When you realize those things, you also realize there is no such thing as true peace, for the necessity to always want more is something that's decoded into humanity so deeply that it is impossible to get rid of, so even if we were to achieve a true peace, someone, someday, out there, will want more and war will break out…" Looking back at the lake, he finally revealed his reasoning, "The reason why I chose to do it this way, to achieve an understanding amongst humanity by manipulating the world from the shadows by seducing women and using their positions to further my ambition, is very simple…" Looking at her so she could see the truth in his eyes, he finished, "Is because it's the easiest way for me, I have the advantage of being a dragon, a god, thanks to it, it is impossible to resist me, so why not seize my advantage? I know it sounds like I'm just an asshole who will only care for women with the power to change things, but that is not true at all, because Nami, everybody can change the world, you don't need money, political power or physical power to change it, you need the will, the determination to do it, because if you truly believe you can change the world, then even if you had nothing to start with, one day, you'll find a way… so to me, everybody can help… I also know that I want the women I choose to help me willingly and to believe in my ambition… our ambition… so that is why my commitment and my duty… is solely to you."

Tsunami has been intently listening to the silverette's mesmerizing words, the conviction and the fire within those magnificent words were immense, then, the last part finally registered in her mind and confused, she asked, "I-I d-don't understand…"

Chuckling a bit, Naruto kept his eyes on the single mother's ones and replied, "I know you might think that I feel like I have a duty to change the world due to the immense power granted to me, with great power comes great responsibility and such…" He laughed a little when he remembered that book about a weird spider-like guy who's uncle said those words to him, "But the truth is, if I am to ask so much of you women, then it is only fair that I return as much. To put it simply, I'll grant YOU women the power, the means, the connections and the expansion to change the world, that'll be YOUR responsibility, while mine will be to love you, cherish you and protect you for eternity. I don't care where you come from, if you possess political or physical power or not, if I feel that I can truly love someone, then I will love them equally no matter what, I might be a god, but bringing humanity together, is a job for a lot of gods." He finished.

That almost did it for her, he wasn't using them, no, he was giving the women he chose the power to change the world themselves, he wasn't enlisting an army or agents, no, he was sharing his power, his godlike power with those willing to help, while many would choose to amass power to do it themselves, he was willing to share it and that, spoke mountains about him. Still, she wanted to hear something from him so she asked timidly with a mad blush on her cheeks, "T-then… if I… umm… agree… w-will y-you promise to… lo-love me and cherish m-me forever?" She knew she sounded like if she was asking for marriage, but that was basically what Naruto was asking for, an eternal marriage, so she didn't felt so embarrassed when she spoke those words.

Smiling warmly, the silverette Uzumaki cupped Tsunami's cheeks lovingly and said while locking his eyes to hers, "I promise you Tsunami, it doesn't matter how many I mate, I will love each and every one of you equally and I will never forget anything about you, it would be a disgrace to my new race if a were to break this promise, dragons take pride in their word, and I am one."

Tsunami teared up a little, she could not believe how happy she was feeling after hearing those words. Finally, she had someone to love again and someone who would love her back, she knew he would be traveling for the next years so she won't be able to see him as much as she would like and as the time went by, his lovers would increase, but she didn't felt sad at all, because she knew that after they achieve their ambition, they'll have an eternity to spend at each other's sides. And also now, she had a new dream, a goal, to make the dreams of the man she has fallen for, come true.

So finally after understanding that, Tsunami jumped at Naruto's arms and kissed him deeply, with all the love she could gather in her heart. Naruto happily returned the kiss of course and after some minutes of intense make out, Tsunami buried her head on his chest and said, "T-thank you Naru… y-you don't k-know how happy I f-feel right now…"

Caressing her head, Naruto kissed it and then said happily, "And you don't know how happy you make me feel right now, Nami."

After crying in happiness for some more minutes, Tsunami brought her gaze back at the silver-haired jinchūriki and said something that's been making her feel down since the reveal, "I-I'm j-just sorry I c-can't really d-do anything to help you…"

Naruto smiled at her and said with confidence, "What are you talking about, Nami? The people in this country loves you, you are the most prepared out of all of them, once we free Wave form that midget, you'll be taking charge of the country."

Widening her eyes in surprise, Tsunami stuttered, "B-but how!? N-Naru, it will require a lot to bring Wave out o-of this state."

Laughing a bit, Naruto replied, "I'm as rich as the Feudal Lord of Fire Country remember? I will give you the money you need to start Wave's restoring, plus, after we're done with Gatō, I'll be taking all his money and I'll give it to you, I'm sure that'll be enough to bring Wave out of its misery."

Tsunami just stared blankly at him for some seconds before hugging him like if her life depended on it. She didn't felt useless anymore, now, she felt like she could contribute something important, and also, she was happy to finally have the chance to help her country, "So… mark me then…" She said timidly after releasing the hug.

"Ok, where do you want my mark?" Naruto said.

Tsunami, wanting to entice him a bit, brought her dress up until her thigh was revealed and said with a mad blush adorning her gorgeous face, "Here…" She pointed her left thigh timidly.

Smirking devilishly at such daring act, Naruto nodded and brought his face towards her legs, he then smelled her scent and had to fight hard to control the necessity to ravish her magnificent body right there as he opened his mouth and bit her thigh gently, injecting her with his essence.

Tsunami couldn't help but moan loudly, fuck it felt amazing, her whole body felt like if it was in flames, her breath was ragged and she was tightly grasping Naruto's silver locks with her hands. After some seconds that to her felt like an eternity of pleasure, Naruto stopped his action and allowed Tsunami to calm down. She then regained her wits and after some seconds, said, "G-god… that… t-that was amazing…" Her eyes were glistening and her face was covered in a lovely red.

Smirking, Naruto replied, "I can tell…" She looked to the side to avoid further embarrassment, making Naruto laugh, "Now, focus your mind on the mark and tell what you feel or see." He said after calming his laugh.

Nodding, Tsunami did as told and soon closed her eyes so she could focus, for some moments nothing happened but then all of a sudden, she felt connected, she could feel Naruto's presence and also another presence some distance away, _'Must be this Ayame girl he spoke of…'_ She thought, then, a breath-taking scene appeared in her mind, she could see it, a gigantic sun, burning strongly and proud, this amazing sun was fierce, untameable, frightening even, but strangely, she felt warm, protected and loved. She understood that this sun was her mind's representation of Naruto and at the distance she could also see what it looked like a small planet orbiting around the sun, no doubt Ayame's presence.

"I c-can feel you!... and Ayame as well!..." She opened her eyes back and added, "My mind, is picturing it like… like a sun! And Ayame looks like a small planet orbiting around you!" She smiled happily, feeling like she belonged to something amazing now.

 _'_ _I wonder why? Aya seems to picture it like that as well…'_ He thought, a little confused. Shaking his head from his thoughts, Naruto said, "Hehe… ok…" He then picked her up bridal style, earning a cute yelp from the bluenette beauty, and said, "Come on, let's go to your room."

Widening her eyes, Tsunami felt her body heat to unmeasurable heights after her imagination started to run wild with lewd thoughts before she managed to stutter, "N-Naru, this… umm... this is so sudden…"

Chuckling at the flushed single mother, he said, "As much as I would like to eat this magnificent body of yours and claim you as mine fully…" Tsunami blushed even wilder after hearing his words, "I'll have to ask you to be patient with me for a while Nami, Ayame has loved me for almost all her life now, my virginity, I owe it to her, I'm sorry." He said, he genuinely felt bad, he was hoping Tsunami wouldn't get mad but he also couldn't do that to Ayame, he wanted to thank her long lasting love by waiting for her, with his own virginity intact.

Thankfully though, Tsunami wasn't mad at all, _'Even having the opportunity to take me now, he's still able to stop his lust for something like that… I made the right choice…'_ She thought, now feeling completely sure about her decision after seeing that when he said that he's duty was to the women he mated, he wasn't lying at all, "I understand honey, I feel even happier to see that you are a man of your word, I will patiently wait for you." She said, with great love and admiration in her eyes.

Smiling at seeing the loving gaze of the bluenette, Naruto kissed her forehead and said, "Thank you, I promise you, the wait will be worth it…" With that, he jumped towards her window and approached the bed, he gently set her down on it and explained, "I'll stay with you tonight, okay? The mark will change your body in some ways so I want to be sure nothing happens."

Seeing the worry on his eyes, Tsunami couldn't stop feeling happier by the moment, "Okay…" She then took off her clothes and got herself under the covers, "Come honey." She patted the empty side on her bed and Naruto happily obliged. Soon, Tsunami fell onto a happy sleep while Naruto hugged her tightly, feeling really content with how things worked out with Tsunami.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto sneaked out of Tsunami's room really early since he didn't wanted to raise any suspicion about what transpired with the kind young mother he just semi-mated, so after being sure that nothing wrong went with Tsunami's partial evolution, he kissed the sleeping beauty lightly on the lips to which she sleepily smiled, left a note explaining what he was going to do and after that, he jumped through the window and disappeared into the woods.

"Oh man, that went really good, son." The Red Dragon Emperor's container muttered after stretching his body a bit, he felt really rested and fresh after spending the whole night scooping Tsunami while peacefully sleeping, _"Yo D, things are going smoothly, don't ya think!?"_ He mentally asked the dragon.

 ** _"_** ** _Yeah, you're also doing it faster than I thought, you already have two mates and seven tempted."_** Ddraig replied, praising his successor's success so far.

 _'_ _Seven?_ _Umm… Ko… Hani… Ino… Hina…_ _Rosy… Tsubaki… and that ANBU that's not really an ANBU… gee I really need to find out her name…'_ He pondered, _"Yeah, hopefully I'll have at least most of them mated before the Chūnin Exams start so I can focus on the kunoichi that'll surely come from different villages since I've heard that Sand, Mist, Cloud, Rain and Waterfall will participate this year, this could prove beneficial to us."_ Naruto commented while smirking mischievously.

 ** _'_** ** _Hehe… look at him… thinking like a true mastermind… I might even feel proud of him sooner than later…'_** Ddraig thought, not so impressed since he personally made sure that Naruto became really intelligent and observant for he would need it if he is to manipulate the world from the shadows, **_"True, the two girls will be no problem since they seem ready to be mated by you, your Handlers might give a little trouble due to them believing you're thirteen years old, the older woman councillor might be difficult but she also seems really attracted to you and the agent that's been chasing you though… that's an unknown."_** He replied to his container.

 _"_ _Yeah, she's a wild card… but I believe in my skills…"_ He responded with conviction, not doubting his seduction abilities one bit.

After some more minutes of walking inside the forest, Naruto could see that the sun had been out for at least 30 minutes so it was still really early. He decided to kill some time by training and seeing if he could call on the demonic power he seems to possess, he didn't wanted it to interfere with his regular moves due to his inability to control it, so he made it a priority to train it. But just as he was about to arrive to a suitable place for training, he saw a beautiful girl wearing a pink kimono, crouching while picking up some flowers, _'Damn son… she looks like a doll…'_ He thought transfixed by her beauty. Wanting to approach the girl, he closed their distance and then made his presence known when he said, "Excuse me miss? Do you need assistance?"

Said girl gasped almost inaudibly after being startled by the sudden voice. Turning around to see who the voice belonged to, Haku almost freaked out after seeing that it was the silver-haired genin that almost killed Zabuza, _'Damn, he sneaked up on me…'_ She thought a little worried. She then calmed down after realizing he didn't know who she was since he's never seen her without her mask, so after regaining her composure, she replied with a soft and melodic voice, "Oh, hello… umm, that's nice of you but… I wouldn't want to impose…"

"Ah don't worry, spending my free time helping such a beautiful woman like yourself is actually my pleasure, so please allow me." He said while sending a charming smile and releasing a strong amount of pheromones on the air, _'So this is the hunter-nin, huh?…'_ He thought. If it weren't for his dragon-like sense of smell, he would have never guessed this beautiful black-haired girl was the hunter-nin that rescued Zabuza, but thanks to him catching her scent back in the fight before she disappeared with the swordsman, he knew she was that person.

She blushed a bit after his charming words and started feeling strangely hot, _'What i-is ha-happening to m-my body?…'_ She thought, distressed by the strong necessity to jump at the handsome silverette in front of her and let him have his way with her. Controlling her body a few milliseconds later, she replied with a smile, "Oh well, if you insist then, please."

Naruto nodded and returned the smile while he crouched and asked her what kind of flowers she was looking for, "I need to find this medicinal herbs…" She showed him a small green herb and then continued, "Just help me sort out the greener ones please."

He nodded and then asked while feigning ignorance, "Is someone you care for hurt?"

Smiling at his deduction, Haku nodded and said, "Yes, he got badly hurt after a confrontation with Gatō's thugs, so he is bedridden for the moment."

"Ah I see…" He said while continuing looking for the right herbs, "Is he precious to you?" He then asked.

Giving him a smile, she replied without hesitation, "Very, he gave me a purpose for my life, I didn't had one when he found me but after he did, he gave me one and I've lived for him ever since." Her voice carried unmistakable devotion towards Zabuza when she said those words, even if she was just his weapon to use, it was still better than being homeless and without purpose.

Naruto did felt a little bad for trying to seduce her, thinking that she might have a relationship with Zabuza, but after seeing the devotion in her eyes that spoke of a slave's devotion rather than a lover's one, he quickly got rid of his doubts and kept the pheromones flowing, "That's good then, I'm sure he appreciates everything you're doing for him." He said. The moment he said that though, for a millisecond, he could see a hint of sadness in her eyes, probably for Zabuza only seeing her as a weapon rather than a companion.

"Yes…" She said with a smile that to almost everybody seemed real, but to Naruto who could somewhat read people's emotions, he could see it was fake, "Are you a ninja?" She asked, wanting to know more about this interesting young man.

Nodding in yes, the Namikaze replied, "Yes I am."

Smiling, she asked, "And what do you fight for?" Haku wanted to know what drove him forward, his village, his country, his family, a lover perhaps, she wanted to see if this young man was another weapon like her or a free person.

Feeling a little confused as to why she would ask that, Naruto titled his head in thought and then replied back, "I fight to protect those precious to me, even from my own village if necessary." His voice carried no hesitation whatsoever and the desire to protect his loved ones was almost visible due to the strength his conviction carried.

 _'_ _I see, he really is free…'_ She thought, feeling really impressed after hearing his passionate and honest answer, "Then you'll be really strong, fighting for one's loved ones pushes us to do the impossible…" She said while smiling. She then added, "What is your name?"

Remembering that they haven't introduce themselves yet, Naruto scratched his scruff and replied with a small chuckle, "I'm Naruto, yo! Nice to meet you, ya know!?" He extended his hand and gave her a charming smirk that made her heart beat a little faster.

"A-and I'm H-Haku, nice t-to meet you too." She said with a little bit of stutter on her voice due to the strange way her body was reacting to him.

After that, the two focused on the task at hand and soon after some minutes, they managed to gather all the herbs she needed for Zabuza's treatment, "Well, this should be enough…" Looking back at boy, the two stood up and she then said with a beautiful smile, "Thank you so much for both the help and the company, I really enjoyed it."

Smiling back, Naruto said, "Don't worry, I also enjoyed your company a lot…" He then said something that made her freeze, "I just wish we wouldn't be enemies, if you weren't working with Zabuza, I'm sure we could share this moments more often." His voice was still pleasant but the smile on his face faded.

 _'_ _H-how?…'_ She was frozen and a little scared, she had no idea how the silverette knew who she was, she knew it was not for the herbs since many people use them as well, but how he knew, she couldn't tell. After getting her wits back, she put her guard up and said with a calm voice, "You are right, it is a pity… but if I may ask, if you knew all along who I was, why not attack me? Why help me even?" She knew there was no point in lying so she just spoke the truth.

"I don't see the reason to attack ya, you're obviously against everything Gatō and his cockroaches are doing so I don't feel the necessity to harm ya, and I helped ya because if I am to face Zabuza again, as a swordsman, I cannot let another swordsman face me while injured." He shrugged and replied calmly.

Smiling a little, she answered, "You're really good at reading people… and I always like to see the respect and honour that only a true swordsman can show…" She then turned to leave but said before leaving, "Thank you for today and I'm afraid we'll see each other again, this time as enemies."

"Yes, it is unfortunate…" He replied with genuine sorrow at the thought, making her feel the same.

She then remembered how he seemed to see her as a girl, so wanting to cover up, she said, "I'm a boy though."

Chuckling, Naruto replied with a devilish smirk on his face, "No you're not."

She felt a little taken aback, his voice carried an authority she has never heard before and he seemed so sure that it made her turn her body to face him. She regained her composure and stuttered a response, "H-how w-would you know?"

Keeping his fierce smirk on his face, he began to slowly walk towards her, making her walk back with his pace while still facing him, "Simple…" He continued his walk and soon, she was almost cornered against a tree, "I can smell ya." He said while releasing a stronger amount of pheromones to make her wobble.

Feeling incredibly helpless under his intense gaze for some reason, she wanted to respond but for some strange reason, her body was just not responding her commands at all, _'W-what is h-happening?…'_ She thought distressed, she has never felt like this before. After some seconds, she finally regained some strength and asked with a weak voice, "W-what do y-you mean?"

Closing his distance with her until his body was touching hers, he brought his head beside hers and whispered seductively on her ear, "Your arousal, I can tell you're incredibly aroused since your 'treasure' seems to be dripping wet…" He sniffed her scent seductively and the added, "This enticing smell can only belong to a female, Haku."

She was breathing heavily, her body became pudding the moment his strong body came into contact with hers, but when she felt his hot breath touching her neck and when she heard his husky voice, she almost lost consciousness after the incredible rush of arousal she felt running through her whole body. She wanted to stutter a denial but then out of nowhere, Naruto claimed her lips, his kiss was strong and fierce, it carried a strong command, an order to return the kiss, which she did without hesitation, _'M-my f-first kiss… god… i-it feels s-so good…'_ She thought while kissing him deeply. She then let go of the basket with the medicinal herbs and brought her arms around the jinchuuriki's neck to deepen the kiss even more. After some minutes of passionate kissing, the two separated due to the necessity to breathe.

Smirking after seeing her beautiful face completely red, he allowed her some seconds to recover from her high and after he saw she was a bit calmer, he said with a gentle yet strong voice, "Haku…" Said girl opened her eyes and locked them to his before he said, "Come with me."

She widened her eyes after hearing his words, her heart was beating extremely fast, she knew she should've been able to say no without a problem but for some reason, she was hesitant. But then remembering Zabuza and how much she owed him, she steeled her resolve and replied weakly while feeling a painful sting in her heart, "I c-can't…"

"Why not?" He asked gently while caressing her cheek lovingly, not at all surprised by her refusal knowing how devoted she seemed to be to Zabuza.

"Zabuza… I o-owe him so much… I… w-wish… want to… but… I can't…" She replied sadly while leaning against his touch.

"But why be so devoted to a man that only sees you as a weapon? He might have saved you Haku, but he took away your freedom… tell me, what does it matter to be safe, if you are not free?" Naruto countered.

She just stared at him blankly for some seconds, unable to come up with a good counter for his incredibly precise words, it seemed almost as if he could see inside her heart. Yes she was devoted to Zabuza and she would gladly lay down her life for him, but deep inside her, she always had a small bit of resentment towards him for exactly that, taking her freedom away, "B-but… he… gave me purpose…" She said, almost as if she was trying to convince herself rather than him.

Continuing caressing her soft cheeks, he questioned, "You're afraid that if you leave his side, you'll have no purpose right?..." The girl widened her eyes after hearing such a spot on remark, so seeing her reaction, he knew he was right so he kept his verbal assault to break her walls, "Then if a purpose is what you need, fight for me Haku, give me your life and in return, I'll give you mine." His voiced carried a strong commitment than made her heart beat really fast.

She was shocked, she has never seen someone speaking with such conviction in her life, his honest words almost made her say yes at the very moment, but she was very confused, "P-please… let me… t-think this for so-some days…"

Knowing she must be feeling really confused, he nodded while saying, "Of course Haku, I just don't want to hurt you and I know you already know that if we are to fight, you'll lose."

She knew that of course and Zabuza knew it as well, but they still needed the money, so they weren't going to back down. But still, after all they've done and said in the last hour, she didn't know if she was even capable to hurt such a wonderful man anymore, "I'll g-give you m-my answer be-before any confrontation arises."

Nodding, he gave her a last kiss on the forehead and allowed the blushing girl to walk off. He stared at the retreating form of the black-haired girl and couldn't help but feel sad, such a kind woman, but she looked so broken, even if you had a purpose in life, it wouldn't make a damn difference if said purpose was ill, _'I hope you choose wisely, Haku…'_ He thought and with that, he went back to the clearing and began his training, hoping that Haku, will choose to be by his side.

* * *

A long yawn could be heard from inside a big room, the yawn belonged to a beautiful blue-haired woman clearly in her late 20's. She was feeling incredible, ever since her husband died she hadn't had such a nice sleep, not once did she felt cold at night, not once did she felt alone and she knew too well why she felt that way, since even in her dream, the blue-eyed silverette kept her warm, "Wow… I feel soooo good…" Tsunami claimed happily while stretching her well-endowed body.

"Uh? Naru?…" She muttered after turning to the other side of the bed where the silverette should be resting as well. She felt a little down after seeing him gone but then she saw a small sheet of paper on the pillow, knowing it was a note from her beloved dragon, she took it and read it.

 _Yo hottie, sorry that you couldn't wake up by my side but ya know we can't raise any suspicion and my father will no doubtedly notice, so I had to leave to go back to the woods and pretend I slept there. Anyway, you must be experiencing some changes, I'm sure you've noticed you feel more rested now, that's because your body has rejuvenated due to my essence in your body, you'll feel a little dizzy and no doubt a headache will assault you due to your senses heightening a little, but don't worry it'll pass soon. Also, be careful not to feel too much stress or any strong emotion, you have chakra now and since you don't know how to access it, it could be risky so just be calm. Sorry again and I promise I'll make it up to you soon, I'll be spending the rest of the morning with Emi so I'll see ya later._

 _Love, Naruto._

After reading the letter she felt better, she was indeed feeling as Naruto described in his letter but knowing it was due to her new life, she wasn't scared at all, _'Chakra? Oh god yes! I forgot! I'll finally be able to defend myself and Inari!…'_ She thought excitedly. For so long now she had to rely on others to protect her and her son, but now that she had the chance to be strong, she felt incredibly happy and more so knowing that she had Naruto's support.

Tsunami then stood up from the bed and headed towards her closet, after opening it, she saw her reflection on the big mirror placed in the closet's door and couldn't help but to feel proud of her body, "God, he wasn't kidding when he said my body rejuvenated, I can feel everything's firmer…" She admired while tracing her hands towards her fantastic figure, "Naruto sure will love it…" She then smirked mischievously when she thought of the indecent acts she would be carrying one day with the amazing silver-haired ninja, "If this are the effects of just the marking, I cannot imagine how good will I look after being fully mated." She said to herself, really eager now to embrace her new life and purpose fully.

After the admiration time she just had, Tsunami dressed herself and prepared for the day to come. Her thoughts then shifted to Inari, who seemed pretty down after being scolded by Naruto, she wasn't mad for the strong words that Naruto used to force Inari out of his rant, she knew that he needed that scolding but she just couldn't speak that way to her son, Inari is and will always be her baby, and lashing out or speaking with a strong and cold voice was something she just couldn't do, so having Naruto do it instead of her filled her with great relief and sadness, sadness because she knew that those words really hit Inari hard and she was a little anxious to see whether the silverette's words would snap Inari out of it, or sink him further into his own self-pity.

Her thoughts were interrupted however, when the sound of somebody knocking on her door could be heard, _'Who could it be?…'_ Tsunami thought, it was still pretty early so she found it strange that somebody would be awake at this hour since for the past week, she was the one that woke up first. She then walked towards the door and when she opened it, she was surprised, there in front of her, was a very timid looking Inari, "Baby, what's wrong?" She asked with great worry after seeing the slightly depressed state her son was in.

Gathering his strength, Inari looked at the side and said with a small stutter in his voice, "Hi mom… umm… c-can I… c-come in?…"

Tsunami stopped feeling worried and instead felt confused, her son was never this timid and it had been a while since he spoke to her with that kind of voice, the voice of a child needing his mother, "Of course baby…" She stepped aside to allow the small black-haired boy entrance. The boy timidly walked inside and looked at his mother, clearly wanting to say something but for some reason, not able to speak, "Baby, what is it? You know you can tell me anything you want, I'm your mother, there's nothing you need to be afraid of me." She said after kneeling down and motherly caressing his cheek, her voice was soft and melodic and carried with it all the love she could gather for her son.

Inari just blushed due to the immense affection his loving mother was giving him, but after some seconds, he finally managed to gather some guts and said, "Mom… I umm… I wanted to say…" He steeled his resolve and locked his eyes to hers, wanting her to see how honest he was with his confession, "I'm sorry mom."

Tsunami felt shocked, she had no idea what he was apologizing for but the shock was due to the truly sorrowful face he was carrying, she could see it clearly, he was truly sorry, "Baby, what are you apologizing for?" She said while continuing her loving caressing on his cheeks.

Inari couldn't help but feel guiltier, his mother was so kind and gentle that she didn't even knew what he did to her, or maybe she knew but just didn't want to acknowledge it, "I'm sorry because… of my attitude…" After hearing this, Tsunami went wide-eyed, now seeing where her son was going, but before she could say anything, Inari continued, "After he-hearing Naruto last n-night… I re-realized how w-wrong I was… I… wasn't right… I was ju-just… selfish and scared… I've… I've been so r-rude to y-you mom… I've said s-so many bad t-things to you and you've do-done nothing but l-love me in return…" He then bowed to her and finished with an apologetic yet strong voice, "I promise you mom, I won't be scared anymore, I will get strong enough to protect you and our home… just like Naruto would…"

Tsunami was openly crying, this was the moment she had been craving for so long now, the day her son would finally open his eyes and learn to be strong, to look forward. But even so, finally hearing her beloved son speak such heartfelt words, made her feel so happy, she just hugged him tightly and said with a loving voice, "Oh my baby, you don't have to apologize to me… I am your mother and I will never stop loving you… but I am really happy to see that you've found your resolve."

Inari gently released the embrace and wiped his mother tears with his thumbs while saying, "Yes mom, I owed it to you and grandpa… and big brother Naruto." He said with conviction.

Tsunami just smiled at his son, he seemed so different, so calm, so strong, and hearing the way he was referring to Naruto now, just made her feel happier if it was even possible for her decision to be with him, Naruto has completely turned her life upside down in the span of a week, now she had a partner to love and to love her back, her son seemed to be out of his depression and Wave was on the road of liberation, all this made Tsunami vowed to do everything she could to make Naruto's ambition, no, their ambition, a reality.

* * *

"… Papa… I love papa…" A sleeping small form mumbled quietly while happily smiling and cooing in Naruto's warm embrace, she had a cute smile on her face and was exuding happiness.

Naruto just chuckled after hearing Emi's mumbling. While Emi avoided calling him that way whenever she's awake, he had caught her saying that a few times in her sleep or when it almost unconsciously slipped through her tongue before she caught herself and stopped. He couldn't blame her though since for the past week, he and Tsunami have been taking care of her, so it was obvious that sooner or later the little blonde will relate to them in that way. Naruto didn't have a problem with that but he did feel a little uncomfortable, he loved the girl yes, but he knew himself, and he knew that if he was to take on Emi as his daughter, he would have a lot of trouble in outliving her due to his immortality, he could make her immortal, but since the only method he had to do so would be by mating her, Emi will feel drawn to him in a more intimate way and he wasn't so sure about that.

 ** _"_** ** _I don't see what the problem is, the girl already loves you, is obvious she will grow up devoting her life solely to you."_** Ddraig said to his confused successor.

Sighing after hearing the God's words, the Uzumaki replied, _"Yeah I know, but the problem is… I don't know what to feel about that… looking at her makes me… want to protect her from the world… to just stay here and coo her…"_ He lovingly caressed the sleeping girl's head.

 ** _"_** ** _Well, there's no need to dwell on it now, she's five years old, you have plenty of time to think until she grows up."_** The Absolute God of End replied.

 _"_ _Yeah… whatever happens… I will always protect her…"_ He said with huge conviction, he already made up his mind, while he couldn't stay here in Wave since he had to do a lot of shit around the world, he will continue to send money to Tsunami not just for the single mother, but for Emi as well, to cover all the little blonde's needs. He will also place a Thunder God seal on her the moment he finally learns the move so whenever she needs help, he can be there in a flash, _"Can you tell her power now, D?"_ He then asked the dragon.

Emi was a complete anomaly in Naruto's eyes. The girl had chakra, a lot of it, but for some strange reason it was a different kind of chakra, he couldn't explain it but he had never felt that kind of power in his life. He thought that it might be demonic energy but her aura felt calm, warm, no way could it be demonic energy. He immediately ruled out essence since she's no god and therefore cannot wield it, so Naruto was a total loss on what it was and that worried him.

Thankfully though, Ddraig had finally realized what her power was after they discovered it yesterday, **_"Don't worry, I know now what her power is…"_** Taking a big breath since he knew it would take some time to explain, Naruto could see in his mind the form of the resting dragon when he continued, **_"It appears that in this continent people believe that you are the only ones capable of wielding 'chakra', but you are wrong…"_** Naruto widened his eyes a little at that before Ddraig continued, ** _"When Hagoromo spread the use of chakra, he did it to the whole world, not just the Elemental Nations, but since the people of the other continents matured in a slightly different way, their way to use chakra changed as well. In Europa, the western continent, they utilize their 'chakra' in a different way, they mixed it with equations to create spells, it is difficult to explain so I'll save that for later since you'll need to know about it once the girl unlocks her power, but for now I'll just tell you what they call their version of chakra… magic."_**

Raising his eyebrow, Naruto continued his gentle caressing on the girl's head while asking, _"Magic? What's the difference?"_

 ** _"_** ** _There aren't many differences really…"_** Ddraig said before stopping so he could think of a good answer, **_"Chakra is limited by the caster's body, the stronger the 'jutsu' the more taxing it becomes for the user's body, Magic however does not knows such limit, a magic user can invoke the strongest spell even if his/her body is weak since they are basically 'calling' on the power, not 'creating' it like with chakra..."_** Seeing that Naruto was intently listening his words, he continued, **_"Magic on the other hand, is a lot harder to learn, to cast a spell you require the right equation and even the easiest of the equations may even require months of learning for the weakest casters. Another difference is that chakra can be used to augment the user's body, their strength, vision, smell, agility, they can all be augmented by applying chakra, this also helps in creating a stronger body. Magic otherwise, cannot be used in such way, you can create barriers to protect you but your body still remains weak in comparison to a chakra wielder."_**

 _"_ _Wow…"_ Naruto said. He was amazed, he never knew that the use of chakra was a global thing, but hearing that it was and that the use of it varied from land to land, it was astonishing, and he was intrigued by it, _"So, which way would you say is stronger?"_ He asked.

 ** _"_** ** _None, they are the same thing, their use is the only difference, chakra works on a more personal level, like a one on one fight, and magic works on a wider scale, like a one on a hundred fight, magic also lasts longer, but chakra is deadlier."_** Ddraig replied.

 _"_ _So basically, chakra is 'creating' power from the user's own power, while magic is 'calling' power from an already existing plane by using the caster's own power?"_ Naruto summarized, finally understanding.

 ** _"_** ** _And people say you're dumb…"_** The Red Dragon Emperor replied with mirth in his voice, he was genuinely impressed by Naruto's intelligence which has steadily been growing through the years. To be able to understand such complicated subjects in a matter of minutes truly spoke of his now godly mind, if he were to still be a human, he wouldn't be able to comprehend such things, not unless he was a genius, which he sure wasn't.

Naruto chuckled and then mentally replied, _"Well, I do have my moments…"_ He then stood up from the sofa he was sitting on and gently carried the small form of Emi towards her bed. After walking up the stairs, he approached the bed and slowly placed Emi on the soft surface of the mattress, he then placed the cover over her and kissed her forehead lovingly, ' _But, that does present a problem, once she awakens her power, I'm gonna need someone capable of using magic to teach her…'_ He thought, he had no idea where he was going to find a magic user.

All his pondering was interrupted however, when he suddenly felt a small flair of chakra coming from just outside the house, a clear sign of someone calling for him. He didn't recognize the chakra signature but he couldn't risk endangering Emi's wellbeing, so he had no choice but to answer the call.

He walked downstairs and headed towards the door and when he opened it, there outside he thought he saw an angel, _'Gee… what is it with me encountering this goddesses one by one…'_ He thought while seeing the beautiful blue-haired woman that was standing in front of the house. Her hair was short and had a cute blue origami flower attached to her hair, her eyes were amber-coloured and the fact that her eyelids were half closed did not deterred their beauty at all, he wanted to observe her body which no doubt was as beautifully godly as her face but that's when he noticed her attire, she was wearing a black cloak with red clouds that covered all her body, a cloak he recognized due to the warning his godfather Jiraiya of the Sannin gave him. Locking his eyes to hers, he said calmly while leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, "Akatsuki, huh?…"

* * *

"Finally I can get out of this damn bed…" An almost fully recovered Zabuza exclaimed. He was starting to feel really annoyed by being forced to stay in bed due to his fatal wounds. He didn't complained aloud though since he knew he was damn lucky to be alive, "Only a few more days and I'll be fully recovered." He added after stretching his stiff body.

"Yes…" The soft voice of Haku could be heard saying. She was watching her master stretching his stiff body as she worried about him but knowing Zabuza as well as she did, she knew it would be a waste of time to tell him to take it easy, "What are we going to do?" She asked.

Zabuza noticed the troubled voice of his protégé, he has also noticed that she seemed to be bothered by something since the black-haired girl has been spacing out a lot since this morning, _'She must be worried about the jinchūriki…'_ He deduced and he definitely couldn't blame her, facing a jinchūriki is almost suicide, you not only have to defeat a human being, you also have to defeat a Tailed Beast and unless you had chakra reserves as big as them, it would be a lost battle even before it began, "We will complete our job, Haku." He replied dryly, hiding his own doubts deep within his mind.

Sighing tiredly, the female missing-nin asked, "Is it really worth it, Zabuza? Fighting a jinchūriki? You already did that and you lost." She wasn't mocking her master at all, but she really wanted to avoid a fight, not just because there was an S-rank ninja, an Uchiha and a jinchūriki at the other side of the battle, but also because she knew she could not hurt Naruto. She didn't know if she was in love since she didn't even know how you're supposed to feel in such circumstances, but something about him, something she couldn't tell, made her doubt everything about her current life, her viewing herself as a weapon for Zabuza to use no longer seemed enough and helping a tyrant who has done nothing but despicable things just to get some money has never sit well with her from the beginning. But remembering the way her body felt when Naruto touched her and that amazing rush that flowed through her body when he kissed her so fiercely, primitively, so possessive, made her unable to harm him.

Feeling a little confused for Haku's hesitation, he asked, "Haku, is something bothering you? You seem a lot less cooperative…" Said girl only stared at him and nodded slightly, as if telling him that everything was alright, he didn't believed her, but he shrugged it off for later none the less. He then said, "Anyway, yes you are right, I lost miserably against Yagura but this kid, is different…" He could imagine the raised eyebrow of his blackette protégé so he elaborated, "I don't mean he's weaker than Yagura, far from it actually, what I meant is, Yagura didn't cared about collateral damage, but this kid, he seems the kind of person that would rather walk away than to hurt innocent people."

Haku started to feel really uneasy about what her master could be implying, so she said with wary evident in her melodic voice, "You don't mean…"

"No, we won't use innocent people as shields or hostages…" He quickly dismissed his troubled companion's thoughts when he immediately knew what she was thinking. While he was indeed known as the 'Demon of the Mist', he was also a swordsman, and the swordsman code is something to respect above all, using innocent people to further your own goals was a huge breach of said code, he would feel disappointed with himself for using weaklings tactics, "My plan is to confront them at the bridge when all the workers are around, that way, he will be forced to fight with his own power since I know he would not use the Tailed Beast's chakra when so many innocents are around."

Haku did felt a little relieved after hearing that they wouldn't be sinking so low but then felt a little confused for her master apparently being so sure that Naruto would not use his tenant's chakra, so she asked, "How are you so sure he won't use it?"

"Simple, first, the Tailed Beasts' chakra is corrosive, the moment you touch it, it burns you like some sort of acid, and second, jinchūriki tend to lose themselves to bloodlust whenever they use their tenants' chakra, knowing that he could lose control over himself around so many people, I'm confident he will not use it." He explained. For what he could see about the boy, he knew he wouldn't risk anyone to the dangers of his own power, so he hoped that by being surrounded by many bystanders, he would stick to his own chakra to avoid incidents, that'll certainly lift their chance of winning.

"I see…" Haku replied dryly, it's not the she wasn't convinced that that way they did had a chance of victory, but the thing was that the more she thought about her life and what they were doing, the more she found herself inclining to accept the silverette's offer. But still, she cared for Zabuza deeply so she didn't wanted to see him get hurt, so she tried to throw another rock at his plan to see if he might back down peacefully, "I do see your point but it will still be difficult with just the two of us." She added.

"Yes, you're right about that…" Zabuza complied without hesitation. He knew that as well, even if the jinchūriki didn't use his Tailed Beast's power, he was still a formidable opponent by himself, not even mentioning the fact that there was also Kakashi and the Uchiha boy, but fortunately, he had a trump card to use, "That's why we'll have back up." He said.

Haku was surprised, she didn't have to ask who was their backup since she already knew, a pathetic swordsman-wannabe who thought of himself as Zabuza's apprentice. He wasn't bad at all, he was really good actually but he was nowhere near at the level he thought himself to be, she hated him, he was arrogant, a cheater and had no respect for life whatsoever, but still, as a temporary ally, it would do. Unfortunately for Zabuza and the lowlife, Haku had already made her decision, but she was still going to make sure that Zabuza survives, just so that she could pay her debt to him.

* * *

The next couple of days went by normally for Team 7, one of them would go and guard Tazuna and his workers on the bridge while the rest would go to train. Sasuke and Kakashi were the ones spending more time training since Kakashi wanted to develop Sasuke's sharingan as fast as possible, Naruto spent most of his time training to control his apparent new ability to wield demonic energy and accessing Ddraig's 2-winged state, which was proving somewhat difficult, not because he couldn't access it, but because in that state, Naruto could for the first time feel the corruption curse, it was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, the amount of lust he felt for power and blood was immense.

Ddraig had explained to him that he felt that way because he was new to feeling the presence of true darkness, the piece of the living being known as darkness that resided within him, eventually though, he did managed to suppress most of the curse but due to some of his complicated feelings, he could not control it entirely. The Absolute God of End had a solution for that thankfully, but Naruto wasn't so comfortable with it, since the corruption curse nourished from negative emotions until satisfied, there was a way to subdue it temporarily and that was by feeding it. The solution Ddraig gave him was simple, kill, feed the curse's necessity of negative feelings and then before it could take over, Ddraig will break the hold, the idea was to do it until Naruto solved enough of his inner demons and manage to subdue the curse on his own. He accepted reluctantly but there was no other way, for he needed to master his own power if he was to achieve his goal.

Breaking his head out of his pondering, Naruto stepped out of the shower and headed towards the room he was in right now, Tsunami's room. Since yesterday was Naruto's turn to guard Tazuna at the bridge, Kakashi decided to take both Sasuke and Sakura to camp for the night at the woods, he wanted to train them extra since apparently he had the feeling that today would be the day Zabuza will appear again. So after the silver-haired Namikaze returned from the bridge alone since Tazuna decided to go to the bar to have some pints, Tsunami immediately took advantage and dragged her beloved silverette to her room so she could sleep by his side, the next Absolute God of End didn't mind that at all of course, sleeping beside such godly woman was a gift bestowed by Lord Great Red himself and he would be a fool if he ever were to decline it.

"Naru, are you sure Zabuza will show up today?" A clearly worried Tsunami said to her soon to be lover, she was feeling very distressed about the idea. While she had no doubts that the young man she decided to follow will succeed alongside his team, still the idea of something bad happening to Naruto or her father would not leave her be, she was scared to lose Naruto because she didn't know what she would do if she were to lose her beloved again.

"Well, my dad has a pretty good record with his hunches, so we're inclined to believe so…" Seeing the distress in the single mother's eyes, Naruto walked towards her and gently cupped her cheeks while saying, "Nami, nothing bad is gonna happen, I am a god remember? Only another god can kill me…" After seeing that Tsunami did calmed down quite a bit, apparently she had indeed forgotten that little detail about Naruto, he said, "And your dad will be okay as well, promise."

Naruto then sat next to her and brought her into a warm embrace before saying, "Today will be the day Wave Country will be freed Nami, I'll make sure you and Emi get to live in a peaceful country, I promise you."

Smiling at him, Tsunami lost herself into his haunting blue eyes and couldn't help but feel happy, this young man has changed her life in so many ways and the thought of knowing that they had a whole eternity to be happy just made her heart beat faster with joy, "I know… did Emi felt okay with your idea of rooming her with Haku?" She then asked. She wanted to bring Emi to her home as soon as Gatō was defeated, but Naruto came yesterday saying that Haku, Zabuza's companion, had decided to side with him, while she still didn't know if she would mate with him, she happily accepted to be part of his ambition, Naruto wanted her to stay with Emi so that both of them could form a bond, he wanted Haku to develop bonds for herself and he also wanted Emi to trust other people, plus, Haku would take on Tsunami's ninja training now that she was capable of wielding chakra and when the time comes, she would also take on Emi's basic training if the little blonde so wishes to.

"Yeah, as soon as I told her that I trusted Haku with my life, she ran and gave her a bear hug… hehe… you should've seen Haku's face…" Naruto replied while chuckling before he started telling Tsunami the conversation he had with Haku just yesterday.

 _Flashback._

 _It was a beautiful morning in Wave Country and Naruto was calmly walking through the forest that surrounded the village. Earlier in the day, an ice senbon imbedded itself into Naruto's right thigh, he understood the message but he still wished Haku had communicated in a less painful way._

 _"_ _For Great Red's sake… a little further up and it would've damaged the goods… son…" He mumbled with a small shiver running down his body._

 _After some more minutes of walk, he finally arrived to the place where he met Haku for the first time and as predicted, she was there sitting on the grass patiently waiting for him, "Hey gorgeous." He said while giving the black-haired beauty a fierce smirk._

 _Blushing while timidly looking to the side due to embarrassment, Haku smiled a little none the less and said, "H-how are y-you today, Na-Naruto?"_

 _Getting close to her, he sat right in front of her and replied, "I'm great thanks, well except for the thigh, you almost damaged the goods, ya know!?"_

 _Blushing even more, Haku apologized, "I-I'm so s-sorry… I wanted to… wanted t-to aim f-for the floor but I… umm… got… nervous…" She was stuttering badly, her whole body was shivering and her heart was beating at such an incredible speed that she was starting to get worried for a possible heart attack._

 _Chuckling at the flustered girl, the Uzumaki couldn't help but admire her beauty, and that cute embarrassed look on her face spoke of how truly innocent and pure this beautiful lady was, "Hey… is okay… I was really happy to hear from you…" He said gently while caressing her cheek._

 _Haku felt really warm when Naruto touched her cheek and subconsciously leaned on his touch as she looked at him straight and said a little timidly, "I… umm… have decided…" She saw Naruto nodding at her with a smile and taking it as a sign to continue, she exclaimed, "I'll take your offer… I want… I want to experience what it is to live… for myself…"_

 _The last Uzumaki just smiled wide, hearing those words made him feel greatly relieved, he really didn't wanted to fight her, but hearing that she had decided to take on his offer, he felt really good, "That is great, ya know!? I promise ya Haku, you won't regret this." He said with a really happy voice._

 _Haku smiled, she knew she would not regret it at all, but still, there was something she wanted to ask of him, "Can I ask you for something though?…" Naruto just nodded and she then said, "Just allow me to make sure Zabuza survives… I… I still owe him a lot… I want to pay that debt before I begin a new life."_

 _Naruto smiled and nodded, "Of course, I'll make sure of it, don't worry…" Haku smiled back and then after some seconds of staring at each other, the Namikaze asked, "Haku?… do you remember what I told ya about us?…" Said girl blushed mad after remembering their meeting and what was said and done but she still managed to nod so Naruto added, "Before anything more is done, there's something you need to know about me…" With that, he began his long explanation of everything he was to do and extended an offer to join him, he was pretty nervous as usual, Haku seemed so pure that Naruto was feeling like if he was dishonouring her, but he knew that is she was to aid him, she deserved to know the truth._

 _After hearing everything Naruto said, Haku felt really stunned, she has never had to put her brain to work so much, everything Naruto told her seemed so surreal, but she knew it was true for it explained a lot of him. Then when he explained how he wanted to attain his ambition and how she could be part of it, she felt a little sad, she thought that Naruto was seeing her as an asset, practically the same as a weapon, but then he told her how he would cherish her, love her and protect her equally and when she saw the honesty in his eyes, all traces of sadness or distrust disappeared._

 _"_ _I… I would like to live for myself for a while before I… umm… commit to you like that…" She said after some minutes of silence. She wasn't rejecting him, far from it, but she wanted to know what it was like to live for yourself for at least some months before committing herself like that again, she knew Naruto will allow her to pursue her own goals and that is why she wanted to make sure he knew her heart was already his, "But… my heart already belongs to you… I just want to find something for me first." She said before timidly planting a chaste kiss on his lips_

 _Smiling even wider after hearing her words, all sense of distress disappeared from his body and was quickly replaced by relief. He then gently kissed her forehead and said after, "Thank you Haku, I promise I will cherish it forever…" Said girl blushed madly but smiled and a little timidly, hugged the silverette while burying her head on the crook of his neck, "I might have an idea for ya though." He then added as he caressed her hair._

 _Haku just turned to look at him and then made her confusion known when she asked, "What do you mean?"_

 _"_ _Well, there is a favour I would like to ask of you." The jinchūriki of the Red Dragon Emperor said._

 _He then began to tell her about Emi and how he wanted her to befriend the little blonde and maybe share the house with her so she wouldn't be alone for most of the day. Haku was again impressed after hearing his story, whenever he mentioned the little girl's name, Haku could see the love and protectiveness in the jinchūriki's eyes, she was also feeling happy when he asked her to train one of his lovers who he wanted to leave in charge of Wave and after Emi grew a little older, to also train her. All this made Haku feel so good knowing that she will be useful in a good way by helping others instead of harming them._

 _After hearing everything, Haku happily agreed but then said a little dejected, "B-but… would… she want to live with me?..."_

 _"_ _Well let's find out." Naruto said with a warm smile._

 _He then grabbed her hand and led her through the woods. It took some minutes to arrive to the place but soon later, Haku saw a beautiful cottage near the lake, the vibe of the place felt so warm, she felt at peace, and she was hoping that soon, she could feel at home here._

 _Naruto walked towards the cottage and screamed, "Emi! Ya there!?"_

 _It only took some seconds for the door to be abruptly opened and soon after, a beautiful golden-haired little girl with eyes as blue and piercing as Naruto showed up, she looked a lot like Naruto. The girl smiled so brightly the moment she saw Naruto that Haku thought she could light the whole place with her happiness alone._

 _"_ _Pa… I mean Naru!" The girl was going to call him 'Papa' before she caught herself. She didn't know how he might feel if she called him that way so decided to avoid anything that might get her beloved Papa angry._

 _Naruto just chuckled when he heard the girl almost calling him 'Papa', he was going to tease her a bit but said little girl ran with speeds he didn't even knew she had and embraced him with all of her strength, "Hey sunshine, how are ya?" He said while picking her up in his arms._

 _Emi just happily cooed herself into his warm embrace before replying, "I'm great! I just caught a BIG fish, all by myself!" She said while making hand gestures detailing how big the fish was._

 _Laughing at his beloved sunshine's antics, Naruto said proudly, "You see, I told ya you could do anything as long as you never give up." He pinched her nose affectionately._

 _Giggling, she wanted to coo more with Naruto but then she realized there was another person there, "Umm… Naru… who is the pretty lady?" She asked innocently._

 _Haku just blushed at the compliment of the cute little girl, so far she has been silently watching the exchange and she was transfixed. Naruto seemed so natural with the kid that to anybody who didn't know the truth they would appear to be true father and daughter._

 _Chuckling after seeing Haku's blush, Naruto replied, "Emi, this gorgeous lady is Haku and she will be living with you soon." Haku started to feel a little scared after Naruto revealed who she was, she didn't know if the cute girl would react badly after hearing the news, but she was surprised however, when the girl excitedly asked Naruto._

 _"_ _R-really!?" Emi beamed with excited eyes._

 _Smiling brightly at her, Naruto explained, "Yes Emi, really, I want you and Haku to keep each other company, this way, you won't be alone whenever me or Tsunami are unable to come and visit."_

 _In a quick movement, Emi released herself from Naruto's arms and quickly ran towards the surprised Haku, "Yay! I'm gonna have a big sister!" She said happily while hugging Haku tightly._

 _Haku was frozen, she never expected the little girl to accept her so readily, but she then managed to break her body out of her frozen state and returned the hug while saying, "Umm… Emi… you really d-don't mind m-me staying wi-with you?" She stuttered a little due to the unknown affection she was receiving._

 _Emi just looked at her with those beautiful blue eyes and said without hesitation, "Nope! If Naru trusts you, than I trust you! I will do whatever Papa… Ah!... umm… I mean Naru!... says!" She blushed madly after her little slip._

 _Haku was almost at tears, she has never seen such a kind soul, Emi was so innocent and loving, and Naruto was so strong yet kind, she was overwhelmed. She then kneeled down and hugged Emi tightly before saying, "Then I promise you Emi, you and I will stay together forever."_

 _Naruto was smiling seeing the heart-warming scene, seeing both Haku and Emi so happy filled him with immense happiness and relief, now, finally Emi won't live alone and Haku would have someone to protect, not out of debt, but out of true friendship. Adding the fact that Tsunami will receive training from such strong kunoichi like Haku and that she will stay here to protect Wave alongside Tsunami, Naruto knew things were working out nicely._

 _End Flashback._

"That little brat would apparently do anything her 'Papa' asks… hehe…" The silverette said with a chuckle after finishing telling Tsunami the story.

Tsunami was giggling happily, she felt very relieved to know that her little sunshine was not going to be alone anymore. Naruto will leave soon and the chances of him visiting will be a little scarce and if Tsunami does becomes Wave's governor she will be busy, so she was getting really stressed over how to keep Emi close to her so she wouldn't feel alone. Thankfully, Haku will be with her and even still Tsunami will try to keep her little sunshine close to her as much as she can, "Yeah she would… how do you feel with the 'Papa' thing, though?" She asked. She had no trouble at all with being called 'Mama' by Emi, she loved it, but Naruto was young and knowing all the things he wanted to do, she knew he must feel somewhat weird.

Smiling a little, Naruto looked at the floor and replied, "Well… I gotta admit it feels… a little weird… I mean I love the little bugger and I will protect her until my very last breath… but knowing that she will no doubt devote her life to me, forces me to reveal the truth about everything and I honestly don't know what I'll do when that day comes."

Nodding in understanding, Tsunami had also figured as much, Emi herself told her that she would devote her whole life to her 'Papa' because he saved her. Tsunami wanted to tell Emi not to do it out of debt but Emi beat her to the punch when she said that she will do it for the love she felt towards him and not to pay a debt, Tsunami smiled after hearing those words, "Will you make her one of your lovers as well?" She then asked. She didn't found anything wrong with it and knowing Emi's adoration for Naruto, she would be surprised if Emi didn't fell in love with him in a more intimate way.

Sighing deeply, Naruto just stayed silent for a while, he has been thinking about that for the last few days since he found out about her ability to wield magic. At first he was totally lost, he had no clue what to do, but after some heavy thinking, he arrived to a conclusion, "Only if she asks me to, if she doesn't want to be with me as a lover but rather as a daughter, than I will ask her if she wants to be immortal, if she does, I'll find a way to make her immortal without mating her."

Tsunami nodded, she was satisfied with his answer. With that, the two got ready for the day, Tsunami went into the bathroom to take her morning shower and Naruto headed to his room to change his clothes and prepare for the strategic meeting his team will no doubt hold today.

* * *

Kakashi, Sasuke, Tazuna and Sakura were heading towards the bridge, their strategic meeting just ended some minutes ago and it was decided that Naruto will stay with Tsunami and Inari in case some of Gatō's thugs decide to pay them a visit while the rest of Team 7 will guard Tazuna and his workers at the bridge.

While Kakashi wasn't really sure Zabuza will show up today, something in his gust was telling him he will. It took them some minutes to finally arrive at the bridge and when they did, Kakashi's hunch proved to be right, the bridge was covered by a thick and eerie mist but once their eyes got used to it, they saw all the workers laying on the ground unmoving, "So I was right…" The Copy-Nin muttered grimly.

"Wh-what happened t-to them!?" Tazuna screamed after seeing his co-workers laying on the ground. He was thinking the worst, seeing them like that and not moving not even an inch made him believe they were dead.

His momentary worry was dispersed however, when the pinkette of the group said after kneeling down and touching one of the downed man's throat, " _Sigh,_ They're alive Tazuna, don't worry, they're just unconscious." The bridge builder then let out a sigh of relief after knowing they were okay.

The silver-haired jōnin wasn't so relieved though, he found it very strange that Zabuza would only knocked them down and leave them there on the ground, _'Why would he do that? It makes no sense…'_ He thought. While he did knew Zabuza wouldn't just slaughter people left and right, he knew that Zabuza wasn't someone to leave loose ends and even if he wasn't someone to kill discriminatively, to leave the bodies scattered all over the bridge was strange, "Ok guys be ready, Zabuza must be planning something, to leave the workers alive and scattered all over the place is way out of Zabuza's character." Hatake warned his genin and client at which both Sasuke and Sakura nodded, understanding what their sensei was saying.

"Very clever Kakashi." A low and strong voice was heard saying from the other side of the mist, drawing Team 7 and Tazuna's attention. The thick mist soon receded a little and three figures could be seen standing opposite to Team 7.

"Good to see you're feeling better Zabuza." Team 7's leader said while showing his trademark eye smile.

"Yeah, it took some time but I'm finally back…" Zabuza replied while a small excited smirk appeared on his face, not that it was visible though since the bottom half of his face was covered in bandages, "Since you already know that something's up, I'll tell you already, I know that the silver-haired brat is a jinchūriki…" He added, earning narrowed eyes from both Sasuke and Kakashi, a confused look from Tazuna and a gasp from Sakura who knew what a jinchūriki was, one of her idols, Kushina Uzumaki, was one but she never knew Naruto was one as well, but since they were in the middle of a brewing conflict, the pinkette decided to leave it for later for now, "Now, we all know that if he were to use his tenant's power, we'll all die, so seeing that he seems to be the type of guy who will not harm innocents…" He added before trailing off at the end, wanting to see if they understood his plan.

"They are your insurance so Naruto won't go all out, clever…" Kakashi deduced the last part of the Kubikiribōchō's wielder. This definitely lowered their chances of success, Naruto's power was a big part of Kakashi's plan knowing how strong Zabuza is, but with so many people around that will no doubtedly get hurt by being in the mere presence of the Twelve-Wings' power, Naruto will avoid using it for sure, "So this is what you've been doing, huh Aoi?" Kakashi said after focusing his eye to the man beside Zabuza, he knew him very well since he was his classmate back in the Academy, Aoi Rokushō, a former Leaf-nin who betrayed the village after stealing the legendary lightning chakra sword, the 'Sword of the Thunder God' which had once belonged to Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage.

Said man had messy green hair, purple eyes and was wearing a jumpsuit with a large dark blue line in the middle and light purple lines at both sides of the sleeveless jumpsuit, he had a scratched Leaf forehead protector and was sporting a nasty grin on his smug face, "Hehe… Kakashi… when Zabuza told me you were the enemy… I couldn't refuse… you always humiliated me back at the Academy but now… I'll have my revenge." He then brought forward the strange sword handle that had no blade and immediately after, Aoi channelled some of his chakra and a blade made of pure lightning chakra appeared.

Both Sasuke and Sakura recognized the sword, they've read about it back at the Academy, the sword that belonged to the Second and was said to be one of the strongest swords in the whole world, "Kaka-sensei, is that?…" Sakura asked her sensei, wanting to have a confirmation of her suspicions.

"Yes… the 'Sword of the Thunder God' that belonged to Lord Second… Aoi here stole it some years ago." Kakashi replied while raising his guard up.

"What are you going to do, Kakashi? Your biggest weapon is probably protecting the bridge builder's daughter so he's out of the fight…" Zabuza said before adding, "Your two genin seem very strong and you are one of the Leaf's elite but still, you are going against a low-jōnin level ninja…" He gestured Aoi who was shaking wildly in excitement, "An S-rank ninja who is also one of Mist's elites…" He put his thumb against his chest and then said, "And a high-jōnin level shinobi with a mastery over silent killing." He gestured Haku who has been stiff and silent ever since they appeared.

Kakashi knew they were in trouble, Kakashi could fight toe to toe with Zabuza, but Aoi and Haku were above Sasuke and Sakura's level, fortunately for him though, an unexpected backup arrived, "Good look for them that I'm here then…" A feminine but cold voice suddenly said and seconds later, a slender and well-endowed woman appeared next to Kakashi, she was wearing the standard ANBU armour and her face was covered by a cat mask that only allowed her purple hair which was falling freely to show.

"Yūgao…" Aoi practically hissed her name. Back at the Academy he was in love with her so he did everything to get her attention, even after they graduated from class he still tried anything to get her attention, including steeling the 'Sword of the Thunder God', but not even then she appeared, "How's Hayate?" He asked with a psychotic smirk plastered on his face, he hated the man, the man that stole her from him.

Smirking behind her mask, Yūgao stood there calmly and threw a jab at him that will surely piss him off greatly, "Ah, he's probably comfortably sleeping on my bed right now, don't worry, I'll let him know you said 'hi' when I join him." The sneer had the desired effect since Aoi got really pissed off, Kakashi chuckled and Sasuke and Sakura who had no idea what was going on just stared at the scene with blank expressions.

"I'll enjoy killing you, bitch!" Aoi said with his teeth gritted.

 _'_ _Damn, that's the 'Shadow Cat', an expert swordswoman trained by the Red Hot Habanero herself… if that damn brat shows up as well… we're done for…'_ Zabuza thought grimly. With the ANBU here things have turned against them again and Zabuza knew it, "Aoi, you take care of the ANBU…" He ordered the fuming Aoi who was getting impatient, "Haku, you take care of the brats…" Haku just nodded in response, "I'll take care of Kakashi." He finished.

With that, everybody got their guards up and after some seconds, they all jumped at their designated opponents and soon, the battle to free Wave began.

* * *

"Aight, all set, nothing will be able to pass this barrier." Naruto mumbled after finally finishing the genjutsu barrier around Emi's house. He had previously put Emi under a genjutsu so she would go to sleep for the rest of the day since he didn't wanted to take any chances when it comes to Emi.

"Time to go back to Nami." He said to himself.

The last Uzumaki then began his way back to Tsunami's house, it didn't took him long since Emi's cottage was close enough to the bluenette's house but as soon as he got close enough though, he could hear Inari's voice screaming.

"No! Mom!" Inari screamed while chasing the two thugs who took Tsunami hostage.

"Inari get back to the house!" The boy's mother screamed back while being dragged away by the two thugs. The two thugs suddenly broke into the house just minutes ago and grabbed her by force, Inari wanted to fight them but she quickly told him to stay back and to trust Naruto, it didn't work though since Inari has been screaming nonstop.

"This damn brat is getting on my nerves." The thug with the hat said irately.

"Then hurry up and silence him already." The bulky thug that was dragging Tsunami said after having enough of the annoying brat.

"NO! I told you I will kill myself if you even touch him!" Tsunami screamed, willing to carry out her threat if it allowed her beloved son to live.

" _Huff,_ Like we'll let you…" The tattooed thug who had the hold on her said while smirking arrogantly. He then looked towards his companion and added, "Go on then, we don't have all day."

"NO! PLEASE!" Tsunami screamed frantically while fighting the big man's hold on her but it was futile, she knew her body was still not used to the new changes the marking etched on her and even if she could get free, she knew she couldn't fight the two thugs simply because she didn't know how.

"I'll enjoy this…" The shorter one said and then slowly walked towards Inari who was there frozen in fear after seeing the thug getting close to him, the thug was enjoying Tsunami's cries and pleas as well. After some seconds that to Tsunami felt like days, the thug finally got to arms reach with Inari and said, "Don't worry kid, I'll take good care of your mom." He lifted his sword and got ready to swing the sharp weapon down.

Tsunami couldn't watch her son die so she just closed her eyes and prayed to the heavens that a miracle comes, but when she heard the sound of something hitting the wood of the pier she felt her heart breaking, thinking that the thud that she heard was her son's body, but she was surprised however when she heard the thug holding her cursing in fear. Opening her eyes, she saw that Inari was okay, frozen in fear but not a single scratch was on him, she turned down and saw the thug's body on the pier but then she gasped in horror when she saw why Inari was so shocked, the thug's head was separated from the body and a huge amount of blood was spilling from the decapitated thug.

"Ya know, I don't like when pieces of shit touch MY woman." An incredible commanding and cold voice was heard from behind Tsunami and the thug. The thug felt his bladder loosen due to the intensity of the voice and the incredible amount of killer intent that was flooding the area, Tsunami however, was feeling incredibly happy after she immediately recognized the voice and the possessiveness his voice carried when he mentioned her made her incredibly wet even in such tense circumstances.

"W…wh…" The thug wanted to ask who the hell this guy was but was frozen in fear when he finally turned to look at him, he could swear he was seeing the devil himself. In front of him, there was a tall silver-haired young man, normally this young man would appear calm and approachable but after seeing a pathetic excuse of a man touching his woman, he got to finally see why Ddraig told him that dragons were incredibly protective and possessive, his normal calm deep blue eyes were now dark crimson that resembled the deepest seas of blood and the golden slit that acted as his pupil turned into an eerie dark golden, his body was surrounded by dark crimson flames that usually would resemble a humanoid dragon but due to the incredible anger that was cursing through Naruto, the cloak took on the form commonly associated with the devil, two horns and clawed hands, he looked like Lucifer himself.

Tsunami was also surprised after seeing her beloved young silverette like this, but strangely, she didn't felt scared in the slightest, she actually felt safe and much to her embarrassment, incredibly turned on.

After finally releasing himself from his frozen state, the thug dropped his hold on Tsunami and unsheathed his sword, he wanted to attack but then in the matter of a second, it all went black, he didn't realize he had just been killed by Naruto. The silverette rushed with inhuman speed and in a millisecond appeared in front of the thug who was too late to realize that Naruto's hand was embedded in his chest, piercing his heart and allowing his corrosive essence to flow through the thug's body, melting him from the inside like the deadliest acid would.

Thankfully, Inari was still too shocked to realize what was happening and Tsunami could not see the gruesome state the insides of the thug's body was in, but knowing that she needed to calm down Naruto's anger, Tsunami quickly stood up and pulled Naruto away from the now dead man. She then grabbed his head and pulled him into loving kiss to let him know she was alright, "Naru, honey it's okay, we're fine, my hero." She said lovingly after releasing the kiss and caressed his cheek tenderly.

This served to pull Naruto out of his demonic-self, _'Damn… I really need to feed the damn curse soon…'_ He thought after finally lowering his power and killer intent. He realized that his pent up frustrations needed to be fed and soon, otherwise, whenever he went into Ddraig's advanced stages he was going to have huge problems containing the corruption curse. He then shook his head off from his pondering and turned to look at Tsunami who was smiling warmly and gently caressing his cheek, "Sorry for being late Nami…" He said with a small smile before leaning and planting a small but warm kiss on her lips, which she happily accepted.

"Don't worry honey, you're a hero, and heroes always arrive in late fashion." Tsunami said with a wide smile while enjoying the warm feeling the man she has decided to spend eternity with was giving her.

Smiling back, Naruto wanted to continue the mushy scene for some more minutes but then remembered something, "Oh shit yo! Inari!" He said with a panicked voice, he totally forgot that Inari was just behind them no doubt watching the entire scene.

Tsunami also got freaked out because she also completely forgot that her black-haired 8 year old son was there with them. Their shared panicked ended though when after turning to see the boy in question, they saw him lying on the ground sleeping, no wonder the shock of seeing a man decapitated was too much for his small mind so he fainted.

Tsunami chuckled a little and then turned to look at Naruto before saying, "You should go with your team, I'm sure they'll need you…" Naruto wanted to protest but Tsunami said firmly, "Honey don't worry, I'm sure Gatō won't send more thugs here, I'll take care of Inari so go…" Naruto reluctantly agreed but before he left, Tsunami held his wrist and said with a lot of worry, "Please Naruto… be careful…"

Naruto just smiled to her and leaned on to give her a deep reassuring kiss and with that, he turned around and quickly made his way towards the bridge, he had no doubt that his team was already engaged in combat with Zabuza so he hurried up a little so he could get there as soon as he could.

* * *

"Please, give up, I do not want to hurt you." A soft voice spoke, the voice belonged to Haku who was now standing opposing Sasuke and Sakura. It was true, she really didn't want to fight but she had to if she wanted to save Zabuza, her plan was simple, just fight until they eventually lost, that way Zabuza will have his pride intact and Haku could stay and prevent him from dying in this fight, she then planned to say her goodbyes after the conflict gets solved for she was now sure she wanted to stay with little Emi and help the man that gave her a new purpose on his ambition, _'Naruto allowed me to go all out on them… I'm not so sure about that but, if he believes his teammates will defeat me even then, then I'll trust him…'_ She thought after remembering her plan with the silver-haired Uzumaki.

"We don't wanna fight either, but we cannot allow Gatō to continue his slavery over this country, this people deserve their freedom." Sakura replied, she was a little scared since this was the first time she would act as a front liner rather than support due to the absence of her silver-haired teammate, but she was no weakling and she was a part of the legendary 'Team 7', so she wanted to earn her place and she damn will.

"A noble cause, it is unfortunate that we meet in this circumstances." Haku said softly, she did felt bad with fighting Naruto's teammates, they seemed to be nice people and their cause was really noble, but Naruto told her to make it look as if she either died in battle or left with Zabuza so that her identity would never be discovered either by Team 7 or by Wave's villagers since he wanted her to act as aide for Tsunami in her government, so she had to make it real, as real as possible.

"Are we going to keep talking or are we going to get on with it already?…" An irritated Sasuke said, he was itching for a good fight and seeing this hunter-nin in front him, he could see he or she was very skilled, probably even better than him, "Sakura, we'll fight as partners at all times, this hunter-nin seems tough." The blackette said to his teammate. The old Sasuke would've charged head on thinking this opponent to be a mere insect in his presence, but after being kicked to the ground so many times by Kakashi and his brother Naruto, his new way of thinking was simple, you do not underestimate anyone.

"R-Right." Sakura said while a cute blush adorned her cheeks, she was feeling really excited not just for the chance to prove herself, but also for the chance to fight alongside her crush.

"Then let's begin." Haku said calmly.

Both members of Team 7 stood their ground while they analysed their opponent who seemed to be calm, they upped their guards though when they started to feel the water below them freeze. Turning down, the saw that some droplets of the water that formed the mist seemed to be levitating and as soon as they reached a considerable height above their heads, the droplets of water turned into needles when Haku said, "Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!" As soon as she finished, the needless shot at the two surprised genin with incredible speed.

Thinking quickly, Sakura formed some hand-signs with great speed and then said once she finished, "Earth Style: Mud Dome!" A dome made of mud suddenly burst from the ground after the pinkette smashed her palms on the ground, the mud dome covered both her and Sasuke and managed to stop the deathly needles. Both Sasuke and Sakura were surprised though when they saw that some of the needles almost made it through the thick wall of mud.

"Damn, those are some powerful needles." The last loyal Uchiha commented after seeing the deadly thin and sharp needles.

 _'_ _The girl's fast…'_ Haku thought after seeing the girl's speed with her seals, she was surprised indeed.

The mud wall suddenly blew up and was followed by a giant fireball aimed directly at Haku who saw it from a mile away, she jumped over it and after doing some hand-signs, she screamed, "Ice Style: Death Spikes!"

Both Sasuke and Sakura had to quickly dodge a large amount of spikes made of ice that suddenly burst from below the ground, both were really surprised since this was the first time they saw someone capable of using ice, "Ice?" The blackette said after successfully avoiding all the spikes.

Haku landed gracefully on the ground and replied calmly, "Yes, is my bloodline, it allows me to naturally combine water and wind to create ice."

Sakura didn't waste time and after grabbing some shuriken, she threw them at Haku with deadly accuracy while saying, "Earth Style: Mud Binds!" Haku didn't had time to react accordingly when suddenly, two hands made of mud appeared from the ground and kept her from moving out of the sharp projectiles' trajectory. She was forced to bring two kunai up and with amazing accuracy managed to deflect all the shuriken thrown at her, this was just for stalling her however, since the 5 seconds it took her to get out of her bind, were enough for the black-haired genin to release his attack.

Sasuke seized the time his teammate had won them and he immediately activated his two tomoe sharingan and after some quick hand-signs, he exclaimed, "Lightning Style: Wolf's Thunder!" His body then started to be surrounded by powerful lightning and after some milliseconds, he brought his hands forward and with a war-cry, a big wolf's head made of lightning shot towards Haku with a loud howl. The projectile was traveling at incredible speeds and it only took seconds for it to connect, there was a medium sized explosion after.

"Did it worked?" Sakura said while panting a bit. She was proud to see that her techniques were working fine but she still lacked the chakra to fight for long periods of time and she knew soon she would be approaching her limit, so she wanted to end the fight as soon as possible.

"No." Sasuke replied dryly, he knew it wouldn't be enough, the hunter-nin was no pushover and Sasuke knew it, this fight was just reaching the beginning of its climax.

"Impressive, that would have really made considerable damage had it not being for my crystal mirror…" The soft and melodic voice of Haku was heard through the smoke. Soon later, the smoke cleared and both members of Team 7 saw Haku standing in front of them unharmed, but the weird thing was, she appeared to be inside a mirror, "It's time to take things up a notch." She said ominously.

As soon as those words left her mouth, both Sasuke and Sakura were surrounded by water and then the water started to divide into twenty one rectangles and then it froze, turning them into mirrors. Soon after, the mirror Haku was in materialized at the top and Haku's image appeared on the rest of the mirrors, "This is my most powerful technique, 'Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors', a forbidden technique passed down to the members of my clan since its creation, no one has ever survived this technique so for the last time I ask you, please, give." She explained while trying one more time to make them yield peacefully.

Of course, this would not occur as Sasuke said with an excited smirk, " _Huff,_ And waste the chance to fight such a formidable opponent like yourself? Not in a million years." Sakura smirked as well after being infected by her crush's fighting spirit.

"Then so be it." Haku replied with a disappointed tone. She then brought some senbons from inside her haori and in a second, the twenty one mirrors forming a dome shot at the same time an insane amount of the deadly needles.

"Damn." Sasuke muttered, even with his two tomoe sharingan activated he was having some problems dodging the senbon, he could feel some of the pointy little shits embedding into his flesh.

Sakura wasn't faring well though, while her speed had increased tremendously since she took her training seriously, she was still slow in comparison to her two teammates and the amazing speed of the projectiles were way above her own, so she had no other choice but to use more chakra to protect herself, "Water Style: Water Curtain!" Using her powerful water affinity, the water from the mist served to give her enough water to create a thin but powerful barrier made of water that completely covered her body. It was just in time since she managed to stop most of the attack, but the pain that she could feel in multiple parts of her body told her that some of the needles managed to harm her.

Breathing a big bunch of air in, Sasuke poured a lot of chakra into his belly and after some seconds, he blew it all out in the form of a giant fireball, the most powerful one he has ever produced. The powerful ball of inferno connected with one of the mirrors but Sasuke was a little freaked out when he saw that the mirror didn't melt or crack at all, "What the hell!?" He muttered unbelievingly,

"It is futile, my crystal mirrors cannot be destroyed by anything." Haku said dryly as she grabbed more senbon and produced another overwhelming shower of sharp needles.

Both genin were forced to dodge, in the case of Sasuke, and cover herself with a thin barrier of water in the case of Sakura, but even so, they were still taking damage from the needles, "Dammit… Sasuke what do we do!?… we can't keep going like this…" Sakura said after releasing the barrier and taking a deep breath, she was losing a lot of chakra and quickly at that.

He didn't answered immediately since they were again forced to protect themselves from yet another rain of needles, "Dammit! How is your chakra doing!?" The blackette asked after dodging the rain.

"Not well, with all this dodging and casting jutsus I will run out of it fast…" She replied grimly, she was starting to feel tired. She then covered her fist with rock and sent a punch straight at a mirror, but the result was the same that with Sasuke's fireball, nothing, not even a crack, "What the hell are this things made of!?" She screamed frustrated.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and then said, "Listen, I think I'm getting the hang of the hunter-nin's attacks now thanks to my sharingan, how many times can you use earth spikes?" He asked while avoiding another rain of needles.

"Shit…" She cursed after being pierced again by needles, "Two times at most, that is the most expensive technique I have." She replied. That much was true, those damn spikes cost a lot of chakra and since she didn't have that much yet, she could only do it four times max before chakra exhaustion knocked the door.

"That should be enough…" He replied before he urged her at his side and after the pinkette stood back to back with him, he laid out his plan, "Listen, I think the hunter-nin is using actual speed to jump between mirrors, that is how the nin is able to create those damn rains of senbon, I need you to aim your earth spikes at all the mirrors at once so I can see the nin's movements, the first attack should serve as a guide for me to see, the second should allow me to hit the nin head on."

Sakura nodded and quickly made her hand-signs, it took her only seconds before she screamed, "Earth Style: Rock Graveyard!" Twenty one spikes made of rock from the bridge shot from the earth. The deathly spikes then travelled quickly towards their designated target, who had to increase her speed to her limits so she wouldn't get pierced by the spikes.

Sasuke was intently watching the hunter-nin's movements and thanks to his two tomoe sharingan, he could finally make up the nin's movements with a lot of clarity now. He then started to charge his fist with lightning chakra, knowing it will be more efficient to use lightning instead of fire, that way he could shock the nin's body to stop his or hers incredible speed, "Again!" He ordered.

Sakura did just that and utilizing the last of her strength, she called again on the rock spikes and immediately after that, Sasuke managed to catch the trajectory the hunter-nin will be following and with incredible speed, he released his jutsu, "Lightning Style: Thunder Bolt Fist!" He shot his fist at her direction and soon, the accumulated lightning shot with incredible speed. Some seconds later, a small explosion could be heard and after the smoke cleared, a voice said.

"Impressive, you managed to match my speed and actually hit me, it is unfortunate it wasn't enough." Haku said while thinking, _'Damn, that lightning attack has completely shot down my left arm, I need to end this now…'_ She could not move her arm anymore due to the powerful lightning technique making contact with her, but knowing that her targets, especially the pink-haired girl, were tired, she brought her right hand up and yet again, released a deathly shower of senbon on them.

 _'_ _Damn… that last attack took a lot of me… I won't be able to dodge them all now…'_ Sasuke thought grimly, he knew he didn't had the strength to dodge so he prepared himself to receive immense pain, a pain which never came because suddenly, Sakura threw her body over Sasuke and managed to throw him on his back right at the ground while using her own as a human shield, taking the brunt of the whole attack to herself, "Sakura…" He whispered, still shocked by what just happened.

Said pinkette just smiled painfully at him and then slumped beside him, her strength rapidly abandoning her and leaving her unable to even sustain her body anymore. Seeing this, Sasuke quickly sat up and brought her close to him before he said with a sad voice, "Sakura… why the hell did you do that!?…" He was starting to go into despair after seeing the teenager's body getting rapidly pale.

"I… wanted… to prove to you… that I… _cough cough_ … that you could… relay on me…" Sakura said with a voice that carried all her pain. She then gently brought her hand towards Sasuke's face and caressed his cheek before saying, "Go Sasuke… end this… tell Naru and Kaka-sensei… I'm… I'm sorry…" With that, she closed her eyes and her body went completely limp.

Sasuke could only watch in horror as his female teammate lost her life right there in his arms, he couldn't say anything, he could only feel pain, remorse, anger, a lot of anger.

"Is this the first time you see someone you care about die? Are you gonna fight to avenge her or to honour her?" Haku said. She obviously didn't kill the pinkette, she only put her in a death-like state to fool the black-haired genin since she wanted to know what he will do.

Sasuke gently put Sakura's body down and while keeping his eyes looked into her limp body, he said, "I'm going to kill you!…" His hand then started to cover in lightning, but this lightning was incredibly powerful, it was fuelled by anger. He jumped at a mirror and screamed, "Chidori!" His hand made contact with the mirror and much to Haku's surprise, it shattered, but it didn't stopped there, the lightning was so powerful that it shattered the whole dome, sending Haku straight to the ground, landing painfully.

Haku then saw Sasuke slowly approaching her and finally she could see his eyes, there, was a fully three tomoe matured sharingan, but Sasuke was so filled with grief that he couldn't notice. After some seconds, he crouched down and hit Haku straight in the face, forcing her to hit the ground with her face as well. He then grabbed her by the neck of her haori and said coldly, "Now you die." Sasuke then thrust his hand which was still covered in lightning into Haku's chest, killing her instantly.

Or so he thought, the Haku he was holding turned into water and soon, covered him in ice, "What the…" He muttered.

"You decided to avenge her… a foolish decision… anger clouds you… had you been calm you would have realized that it was a simple water clone… but your grief fooled you and now… you lose." He heard the soft voice of Haku form behind saying. He couldn't turn around due to him been covered in ice but his senses then warned him from incoming projectiles, no doubt senbon aimed to kill him, but there was nothing he could do, so he just closed his eyes and think, _'It's all up to you now brother… I'm sorry…'_ After that, the senbon touched his skin and soon all turned black.

Haku walked towards the now unconscious Sasuke who was still encased in ice and then released the ice prison to gently set him down beside his teammate, _'I hope you learn to make better choices in the future Uchiha… for your hate may cause your own doom…'_ She thought sadly, genuinely hoping that the boy learned to control his emotions for she knew how much it would hurt Naruto if Sasuke were to ever lose his way.

* * *

 **A/N: Well lads there ya go! As I said at the beginning, I was expecting to finish the Wave arc and first full episode of this story here, but it dragged on, but anyways, see ya later, cheers!**


	11. Among Waves (Part 4)

**A/N: Hey guys, before we get to the story, I'll answer some stuff.**

 **I have received some complaints about Naruto's behaviour towards his parents, so I wanted to clear this up. It never sit well with me when Naruto so readily accepted his parents in cannon, but don't think for a second that this fic has some sort of bashing, bashing it's just stupid and completely destroys a story's credibility. No, my reasoning for his behaviour is simple, since everything I write it's based off of my own experiences (Naruto in this story has some of my personality traits) I am one to know that is not that simple. I am not saying that I have a big ass twelve winged dragon sealed inside me by my parents, I'm just saying that I had a similar fallout with them and I can tell you that kids, don't give a damn about reasons, as noble as they might be, they only care about who's there and who's not. You may say he's acting like a dick and that he shouldn't accept his gifts then, but don't forget that even if they loved him more than anything in this world, in the end, they still chose the Leaf over being there for their son and they still turned him into a weapon, those are facts that no matter how much you ask them, will never change. I understand that cannon Naruto accepted them so easily out of the necessity to feel the love of a parent, but remember that in this story he has a father in Kakashi and two brothers in Itachi and Sasuke, so that necessity has been nullified here. So allow me to make this clear since now, in this story, Naruto will NEVER see Minato and Kushina as his parents, he DOESN'T hates them though, far from it actually, he respects them both greatly, Minato especially, but to my Naruto they will always be heroes and nothing more, so if that bothers you then you should stop reading this story, for it will not change.**

 **Regarding the Rinnegan, I still haven't decided whether he'll get it or not, if he does though, it will be in a way you fellas won't expect.**

 **I was expecting to make this chapter shorter but it appears my imagination got the better of me once again so I ended up making a regular length chapter.**

 **There is also a lime in this one and as last time, there's a warning in case you wanna skip it.**

 **That's it for now so let's jump into it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-LEARN-**

 **Among Waves (Part 4)**

"Well Kakashi, is just you and me now." Zabuza said while carrying an excited smirk beneath his bandaged face, he was definitely eager to test his strength against an opponent of Kakashi's stature.

"It appears so yes." Kakashi replied lazily, his face was completely relaxed and his eye was giving his trademark eye-smile but his body however, was completely on guard and ready to attack at a moment's notice.

The two stayed on a frozen state for some seconds, intently watching and trying to measure each other's power, then all of a sudden, the two ninja suddenly sprang into action. Zabuza immediately tried to cleaver Kakashi in half with his Kubikiribōchō by swinging it with great force but Kakashi wasn't one of the Leaf's elite for naught, he proved this when he infused one of his kunai with earth chakra to augment its sturdiness and with it, the silver-haired jōnin parried the strike, much to the surprise of the swordsman of the Mist.

" _Hmpfh,_ What is it with you Leaf-nin being able to parry my swings." Zabuza claimed with a voice that carried both mirth and annoyance.

"Well, we aren't the strongest village for naught, you know?" Kakashi replied with a lazy tone.

After that brief exchange of words, the two jumped away from each other and Kakashi hastily made a series of hind-signs, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The last Hatake took a deep breath and a second later, he released a huge fireball straight at Zabuza who could not avoid it in time.

Zabuza seeing that the Copy-Nin's attack was too fast for him to dodge, made some hand-signs of his own and then said, "Water Style: Water Prison!" Instead of using the attack to imprison an enemy, the bandaged swordsman used it on himself so that the fireball wouldn't cause any damage, a plan that worked to the letter since a mere second later, the ball of fire clashed against the water prison, _'Damn… that fire attack was powerful…'_ Zabuza thought after feeling some small burns on his body due to the water surrounding him boiling up due to the intensity of the fire. He then released the water prison and wanting to rile up his opponent a little, he taunted, "Pretty reckless of you to do that Kakashi… have you forgotten about the unconscious workers?"

Giving the ex-Mist-nin another of his eye-smiles, the lazy jōnin replied casually, "Of course not Zabuza, but even in this thick mist of yours, I know exactly where they all are."

" _Tsk…_ " Zabuza clicked his tongue in annoyance, Kakashi was turning out to be everything he was expecting.

Zabuza then didn't waste any more time and quickly made a quick succession of hand-signs and two other Zabuza appeared beside him, the three then jumped and surrounded Kakashi and without wasting a second, one Zabuza jumped at Team 7's leader and tried to stab him with his massive sword. Kakashi barely avoided the strike but had no time to breathe since one of the other Zabuza did almost the same, just that this time, he swung his sword in a diagonal manner, but Kakashi quickly grabbed one of his kunai and again enforced it with earth chakra, with that, he managed to deviate the attack and with a quick movement, the silver-haired ninja managed to get away from being surrounded.

Making a one hand-sign, Kakashi said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two more Kakashi appeared beside him ready to fight, "You're not the only who can do that." He said while getting ready to attack.

The three Kakashi jumped at the three Zabuza and they soon got into a fierce battle of slashes, but since Zabuza was a swordsman and had a big ass sword he certainly had the advantage over Kakashi, but Kakashi again proved why he was an elite when with his kunai managed to parry and deviate most of Zabuza's attacks, so far, no one has been able to land a clear hit.

Soon, one of Kakashi's clones emerged victorious over one of Zabuza's when thanks to his sharingan, managed to trick the clone into a panicky mode making him believe that he could see the future. But the clone had no time to cheer since he was pierced from the back by the other Zabuza clone, Kakashi's clone then disappeared in a puff of smoke a second later.

Soon, the other clone of Kakashi attacked Zabuza's remaining clone and again, the two entered into a fierce battle of slashes and punches. Kakashi and Zabuza couldn't use powerful jutsus because the unconscious workers were still lying around the bridge, Kakashi had no intention on putting them at risk and Zabuza was not one to kill for nothing, so the two decided to stay with close-quarters combat.

The fierce battle between the clones lasted for some more minutes until finally Kakashi's clone managed to land a chidori in Zabuza's chest, "You lose." The clone of the silver-haired jōnin said.

Zabuza just smirked and then responded, "So do you." Before Kakashi's clone could inquire more, the swordsman's clone suddenly grabbed the other clone's wrist so that he couldn't move and quickly stabbed the massive sword into the clone's belly, seconds later, Kakashi's clone disappeared in a puff of smoke while Zabuza's clone turned into water.

The two originals were still stuck in a stalemate but Zabuza could see that thanks to Kakashi's sharingan, he was slowly gaining the upper hand, _'I gotta do something fast…'_ Zabuza thought after feeling his chakra approaching dangerous levels. He then used his control over the mist that surrounded the whole bridge and mentally increased the thickness, making it almost impossible to see, "I am a master of silent-killing Kakashi… so many ways to kill you in a matter of a second… which will it be?... so many frail places in your body…" His voice then sounded from all around the mist, making it almost impossible for Kakashi to pinpoint his location.

 _'_ _I need to end this soon… my sharingan is eating way too much of my chakra so I won't be able to hold much longer…'_ Kakashi thought. He needed a way out and soon, thankfully for him, it took his brain only a couple of seconds to come up with a plan, _'Even if I can't see him, he still needs to be close to me… is time to debut my new move…'_ Doing a series of hand-signs with incredible speed, Kakashi's body started to be surrounded by bolts of lightning and as soon as he finished the signs, he exclaimed, "Lightning Style: Lightning Pulse!" He then pushed his hands to the sides and all the lightning that accumulated in his body, suddenly shot all around him, the attack could kill most opponents easily but since Kakashi knew that the workers were still around, he had to tone it down so that only the body would be shut down.

 _'_ _What the…'_ Zabuza didn't know what was happening but before he could finish his thought, a powerful wave of electricity suddenly hit him and he realized too late that his body could not move at all, "Wh-what… again!?…" He mumbled angrily after he realized that just like with those annoying brats before, he was once again electrocuted and unable to move an inch.

Kakashi then walked towards the downed Zabuza and lazily replied, "You made the mistake of facing off against a lightning user when you are a water user, your own mist allowed me to create a more powerful lightning thanks to the water it uses…" He then grabbed his kunai and charged it with lightning before saying, "You are an incredible ninja Zabuza, I wish we could have been allies but since we're not, I'm afraid I cannot allow you to live."

Zabuza knew this was it, he couldn't move at all and this time, Haku was still too busy fighting against the genin and the same could be said for Aoi who was facing off against the ANBU, so he just closed his eyes and thought, _'I'm sorry Haku… for everything…'_ He wish he had the chance to apologize to Haku for taking away her freedom and turning her into a weapon, but seeing that Kakashi was about to kill him, he knew he would take those words to the grave. Or so he thought, because it appears that life had given him another chance when out of nowhere, an arrogant laugh could be heard from the other end of the bridge and along with it, the sound of footsteps and armour.

* * *

At the same time that the fights between Zabuza vs Kakashi and Haku vs the genin started, the battle between Aoi and Yūgao began as well with Aoi jumping eagerly at the female ANBU Captain.

"I'm going to enjoy cutting you down and sending your head to Hayate, bitch!" Aoi screamed while cocking his sword back to charge a strike, his face looked like a dog with rabies due to the insane amount of spite he was showing towards his former crush.

The purple-haired ANBU easily parried the strike and in a quick movement, managed to land a kick in the missing-nin's tummy, sending him skidding back a few steps, "As rabid as ever I see, you did never grew up." Yūgao said while keeping her stance up.

Growling, Aoi directed a hateful gaze towards the unflinching cat masked ANBU and said, "Shut up you bitch!" He screamed while once again leaping towards the masked ninja while preparing his legendary sword to strike.

Yūgao saw this coming and by applying a bit of earth chakra to her katana, she managed to once again parry the strike. Manoeuvring her katana to push Aoi's lightning sword to the side, she then made a one hand-sign and said, "Water Style: Water Slash!" As soon as the words left her mouth, the water surrounding them in the form of the mist suddenly gathered in Yūgao's hand and seemingly formed the shape of a sword which she swung towards Aoi who had to jump away to avoid the deathly slash of water.

This is what the cat masked swordswoman was aiming for though, since the distance created between them was enough for the ANBU Captain to shot one of her powerful sword combos, "Hazy Moon Night!" After making a one hand-sign and jumping towards Aoi, she released a powerful sword strike that thanks to the after image left due to the speed, Aoi could not avoid entirely, he managed to roll away at the last second but a deep cut was made to his left shoulder.

"Fuck…" Aoi mumbled while wincing in pain, he could feel a sting in his left shoulder and he didn't need to see the arm to know he was bleeding.

Gathering strength again, Aoi made some quick hand-signs of his own and after some seconds, he claimed, "Lightning Style: Lightning Bolt!" He then swung the legendary 'Sword of the Thunder God' and a powerful bolt of lightning was shot from the swing, the bolt had a boost on its power due to the lightning nature of the sword, making the bolt too fast to evade.

Yūgao conjured as much earth chakra as she could, knowing that she could only parry the attack, and after some seconds, the bolt of lightning finally came and she brought her katana forward in order to stop the dangerous bolt. It worked, but with a great cost, "No! Dammit!" She said after being sent back due to the strong explosion that erupted after the bolt hit her sword. The reason for the cursing is because after seeing her katana, she saw that the blade had been broken, her body also felt a little stiff, no doubt due to the powerful lightning current that managed to get through her earth defence.

"Hahaha! You might be better than me Yūgao, but…" Aoi then brought the lightning sword up and said with a cocky grin, "I have the better tool."

The mist around them suddenly thickened, no doubt the work of Zabuza who was fighting Kakashi not far from them, but this allowed Aoi to make use on one of his recently acquired teachings, courtesy of Zabuza, "Oh, thank you master…" He mumbled before disappearing in the thick mist, "You see Yūgao, I have been training under Zabuza himself for some time now and one of the things he taught me, is the silent-killing."

" _Tsk…_ " She clicked her tongue while looking around, trying to find Aoi, but the fact that his voice seemed to be coming from everywhere made it almost impossible, almost, "You seem to forget one of my specialties…" She smirked and then grabbed a kunai from her pouch. She then focused her mind and using her sensor abilities, she managed to find Aoi some steps to her left and with that, she threw the kunai with a paper-bomb attached to it with incredible speed.

" _Tsk…_ " It was Aoi's turn to click his tongue because he did in fact forgot about his opponent being a sensory type, Leaf's best in fact, but even still, he successfully deviate the kunai's trajectory and after some seconds, the sound of the paper-bomb blowing up above them could be heard, "You may be a sensor, but even still, you're helpless inside this mist." He said while carrying a nasty smirk on his face, not that she could see it.

 _'_ _Dammit this is bad… my sword's out and I have no real experience with this kind of mist…'_ She thought grimly after realizing that now her opponent had the advantage. She grabbed two more kunai and got her stance and senses ready for the coming onslaught of lightning slashes Aoi will no doubtedly deliver.

Her musing was spot on since seconds later, the sound of somebody moving through the air was registered by the purple-haired ANBU's ears and soon, a deathly slash was shot at her from behind. She managed to avoid the slash barely but surprisingly, Aoi shot a kunai at her, forcing her to deflect the attack.

This continued on for a couple of seconds, the only reason for why Yūgao has been able to avoid the attacks is because Aoi is clearly no master of the silent technique, so he could not avoid making his moves in complete silence, giving away his position. But still, the purple-haired kunoichi was on the losing side here since the strain of constantly avoiding and deflecting the slashes was starting to show up, plus, the fact that even if she parried an attack a small shock of lightning was sent to her no matter what, was making her moves get sloppier every time, _'Dammit, what a backup I turned out to be…'_ She thought, completely disappointed in herself. Her intention of coming here as fast as she could so she could see if Naruto was okay made her arrive tired due to running without rest from the Leaf to Wave and now, she was paying the consequences.

"You look tired Yūgao, here, sit." The female ninja wanted to curse the arrogant Aoi but soon out of nowhere, Aoi appeared from the side and delivered a critical hit on her right foot, severing the tendon and rendering it useless.

"Ah!" Yūgao screamed in pain and fell on her butt before looking at her foot, she saw it bleeding badly, worst, she could not even stand up due to the pain.

"You disappoint me Yūgao, where is that fierce apprentice of the Red Hot Habanero? How sad…" Aoi said while slowly walking towards the downed ANBU who could only watch as her death was approaching slowly. Aoi then lifted the lightning sword and said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure Hayate gets your head for old times' sake." He then with a maniacal grin, swung his sword down aiming straight at Yūgao's head.

 _'_ _Naruto… Hayate…'_ She could only close her eyes and think of those important to her, there was nothing she could do now. But suddenly, she had to open her eyes again when she heard Aoi screaming with what it seemed like a lot of pain, "What th…" She mumbled after seeing Aoi kneeling on the ground while clutching his right arm, the arm he used to hold the sword was severed from below the wrist, even Yūgao winced after seeing the immense amount of blood coming from the mutilated arm.

"What is it with scum wanting to hurt my loved ones nowadays?" A cold and powerful voice could be heard coming from behind the crying Aoi. The figure slowly made his way towards the missing-nin and soon, the figure was revealed to be Naruto shrouded in a cloak of crimson flames as he stood beside Aoi and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him up painfully to face him. Aoi could only shiver in fear after he saw those demonic red glowing eyes with that golden neon slit that seemed to be burning his soul, but the burning was not coming from his soul though, it was coming from his hair and scalp due to being in direct contact with the corrosive essence of a god.

"Na-Naru…" Yūgao mumbled weakly. To be honest, she was a little freaked out, she has never seen this side of her beloved ball of mischief, but the protectiveness he was showing towards her was making her heart beat a little faster.

Seeing that the curse will not get much satisfaction from this pathetic excuse of a swordsman, the silver-haired Uzumaki decided to end his misery when he brought his Gloria to the screaming ninja's neck and with a swift movement, the silver-haired youth cut his throat effortlessly.

After the lifeless body of the missing-nin dropped to the ground, Naruto quickly deactivated his cloak and made his way towards the purple-haired kunoichi, "Yū! You aight?" He asked with great concern after kneeling by her side.

Said female smiled at the teenager and decided to save her troubled emotions for later in order to answer him, "Yeah… thanks to you, Naru…" She said with warmth, trying to reassure the concerned silverette.

But Naruto could see the blood coming from her foot, "You're not alright Yū! Look at your foot…" He said while examining the injured limb, the cut was deep and she will undoubtedly need surgery to reattach the severed tendon, his blood could cure her foot without problem but that will entail her to become drawn to him in a sexual way and he did not wanted to steal anyone's girl, much less the girl of a man he respected and loved as his swordsmanship teacher, so he just took his jacket off and proceeded to tear a sleeve from his shirt and then carefully wrapped it around the wound, managing to stop the bleeding for now, "That should do for the moment." He uttered.

"Thanks." She said while removing her mask and proceeding to give him a thank you kiss on the cheek, making both of them blush from the affectionate act.

Naruto recovered faster and that's when he saw a strange object near him, it looked like a sword grip but it had no blade. Most people would disregard it as useless junk but Naruto was a sword maniac, and he recognized the object as one of the most powerful swords in existence, the 'Sword of the Thunder God' which previously belonged to the Second Hokage.

"Whatta… seriously!? Dis fool!? He had the 'Sword of the Mudafaking Thunder God' in his pathetic possession!?" He said while grabbing the grip which such care, love and admiration that it looked like two lovers seeing each other once more after a long time.

"Yup… he stole it some years back…" The purple-haired female responded while giggling at the boy's sudden change in mood, "It deserves a better swordsman and I don't think there's one better than you." She said while caressing his knee affectionately.

Naruto smiled after hearing the honesty in her voice, she actually believed that and seeing her looking at him like that, it made his whole body warm, _'Damn ya Hayate-sensei… ya lucky fool…'_ He mentally cursed his beloved sensei due to the silverette's jealousy. He then looked back at the grip and decided to test it by channelling some of his chakra in it and the sword quickly responded, but there was something different, the lightning blade changed drastically from his regular yellow colour to a dark-crimson, the blade also became significantly larger and thinner, resembling Gloria in shape, "Whoa…" He mumbled stunned, the sword looked so cool and much more deadly than before, it was mesmerizing.

Yūgao was in a similar mesmerized state, the new look of the sword was hypnotizing, "Amazing, I heard that the sword was capable to take on the shape that the wielder imagined… you have a haunting imagination, Naru…" She mumbled with a voice that was barely a whisper.

Naruto wanted to respond but they were interrupted when the sudden sound of someone laughing arrogantly was heard, accompanied by the sound of many people walking with armour.

"Gatō…" Naruto muttered with so much hate and killing intent that even Yūgao flinched.

* * *

"Haha! Pathetic, the lot of ya!" An arrogant voice could be heard coming from the end side of the bridge, gaining the attention of all the ninja that were fighting.

Some seconds after, the mist finally receded enough to allow an almost clear view of the whole bridge and the ninja could see that Tazuna seized the distracted state of the ninja engaged in battle to pull the majority of the unconscious workers away from the battle, they could now also see the results of each other's confrontations.

Kakashi who was still on top of Zabuza who could still not move, looked towards his genin. He felt his heart stop for a second when he saw them lying on the ground unmoving but his distress was quickly removed when he heard the soft voice of Haku saying.

"Don't worry Leaf ninja… they're… they're just unconscious…" Haku struggled a little to speak or stand, almost all of the right side of her body was numb due to Sasuke's powerful chidori and the fact that she spent so much of her chakra was already weighing on her aching body.

"You are too soft Haku, as always…" Zabuza mumbled weakly after listening to his protégé's words. He wasn't reprimanding her or anything, his voice carried more mirth than disappointment.

"I saw no necessity of killing them." She replied, she was lying of course but she couldn't say that this was all planned and less could she say that it was Naruto's plan.

Kakashi then turned towards Yūgao and again, was surprised and a little freaked out when he saw the scene. There, Yūgao was sitting while grabbing her foot that seemed to be wrapped around a piece of cloth, no doubt hurt, but just some steps in front of her, laid the body of Aoi surrounded by a lot of blood. That wasn't what freaked Kakashi out though, it was seeing his son covered in no doubt Aoi's blood while wielding the lightning sword which had turned into an eerie crimson colour, his whole frame was shrouded by the dragon's power and the mere presence of him was making the whole place feel eerie.

"Look at yourself Zabuza! You're nothing but a pathetic imposter! 'Demon of the Mist' my ass!…" The midget screamed while smirking arrogantly. He then walked in front of his thugs and added, "Your supposed worth is nothing but a cheat, good thing I never intended to pay you." The short tycoon then laughed alongside his men.

Zabuza wanted to strike a deal with Kakashi but was interrupted by the silverette teenager when he spoke with a tone that made even him shiver, "Dad…" Naruto said quietly.

Kakashi knew this was serious, he only called him 'Dad' when he wanted to ask something big, "What is it, son?" He replied, starting to feel somewhat uneasy when he saw and felt his surrogate son's aura.

"I really need to feed it or I'll lose it soon." He replied dryly, confusing all those present.

All but the silver-haired jōnin, he knew exactly what he was talking about. Naruto had told him a few days ago that the Twelve-Wings had explained to him that all dragons needed to feed their innate thirst for blood, otherwise, they were at risk to lose their sanity. This was the only way Naruto could explain it to his father because he could not reveal to anyone but his lovers the truth, well, the only thing he could not reveal to anyone, not even his women, was his status as Ddraig's successor, but Kakashi understood.

It didn't sit well with him, but the danger of the Uzumaki losing it was greater than anything else, so he replied, albeit a little reluctantly, "Alright… I trust the Twelve-Wings will snap you out of it?" All the ninjas stiffened when they heard that, they didn't know what was going on but if it involved the mighty Twelve Winged Dragon, it was definitely something to be afraid of.

"Yeah… don't worry…" He replied with a small nod, he then looked briefly at Haku as if asking _don't get scared_ , which the blackette kunoichi nodded slightly, and did the same towards the sitting Yūgao who nodded the same way. He then turned to face Gatō who along with his men were watching the scene confused, "You made a mistake Gatō… you decided to show up with your lap dogs when I needed to feed a dragon… bad choice…"

Said tycoon was confused for the weird words the silverette brat had spoken, he wanted to retort, he wanted to say something back but for some reason, he just couldn't move or speak. Just when he thought this was bad, something that made everyone cower happened, Naruto's cloak of flames started to turn into a different shape, one that eerily resembled the devil, the one nobody wanted to see after their death, but here he was, looking at them with those demonic red eyes and that piercing neon green slit, nobody could move due to their fear.

Naruto just grabbed with his left hand his other sword Gloria and now he was holding both Gloria and the sword he had just named Nex in his unusual backwards grip and without a single word, disappeared from view.

For a second, everyone was confused, until the sound of men screaming could be heard. The ninja attention then was directed towards the group of thugs behind Gatō and what they were witnessing was frightening. The silverette was dancing in the midst of the thugs, he was moving so fast that no thug could even see him, all they could see were the bodies of their comrades falling one by one, most of them decapitated. But then it all went down to a darker path though, when Naruto all of a sudden decided to throw away the swords and engaged the thugs with his bare claws, even more gruesome was when he used his teeth to shred their throats, it was horrifying, they thought they were watching Lucifer himself killing people just to satisfy his lust, and they weren't too far off with their remark.

 _'_ _Na-Naru…'_ Yūgao thought, she was genuinely scared, she thought the Naruto that killed Aoi was scary but this one was on a whole different level, this was a god feeding off from petty humans, an angry god with incredible lust for blood.

 _'_ _How… h-how can su-such a kind m-man… have such a d-dark side?…'_ Haku thought. She was in a similar state to that of Yūgao, she didn't recognized this person, this devil was not the kind and warm young man she met and fell for. But strangely enough, seeing him like this did not deterred her wish to serve by his side not even in the slightest, in fact, she felt safe knowing that someone who could do that will protect her no matter what.

Neither Kakashi nor Zabuza had the strength to utter a word. Zabuza was feeling incredibly relieved by knowing that he was no longer an enemy to that silver-haired devil who was having the time of his life by shredding 200 thugs to pieces. Kakashi, he was just dead worried for his son, he was hoping that the dragon will keep his word to snap him out of this crazed state because the silver-haired jōnin was damn sure that nobody here had the power to do it.

"T-th-the d-d-de-devil…" It was all Gatō could stutter, he had actually pissed his expensive pants after seeing the carnage unfolding right before his eyes. The young man, no, the devil himself had come to earth and was punishing all of those who had sinned, and Gatō knew he was next. But such was the fear he had that nothing he could do or order his body would work, he was frozen there, patiently waiting for Lord Lucifer to finish his feast and come to give his divine punishment over such a sinner like the tycoon.

It took 7 minutes, 7 minutes for Naruto to completely and brutally slaughter over 200 thugs, his whole body was covered in blood and he could not think straight anymore, the real Naruto could only see dark, the world to him was dark and those present appeared in his vision as blurry blood red silhouettes. But there was one who was redder then the rest, one that made his anger rise to uncharted heights, even in his craze state, he still knew who this pathetic insignificance was, **"Gatō."** He muttered with a demonic husky voice but for some strange reason, everybody could hear it clearly.

Said midget started to cry, it was the only thing he could do, he could not even gather enough strength to beg for mercy, all he could do was kneel before this god and cry.

Naruto walked slowly towards the kneeling and crying tycoon, the moment he got in front of him, he kneeled and then roughly grabbed the midget's hair to force him to look at him straight at the eyes. He then removed the tycoon's glasses and said with a divine voice, **"Gatō… face your punishment…"** Naruto's eyes then glowed brightly and his essence started to flow inside the tycoon's body.

To the people who were watching the scene with great fear, the only thing they could see was Gatō inhumanly screaming, but they didn't know what was Naruto doing since all he seemed to do was look at Gatō's eyes and grab his head tightly. But the truth was that the essence that was making its way inside the mob boss' body was melting his insides, his organs, his bones, everything was being turn into liquid by the divine essence and inside Gatō's mind, he was facing the judgment of the Red Dragon Emperor himself.

In one minute, it was all over, the tycoon's body suddenly fell lifelessly to the ground and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of multiple gasps. Those gasps belonged to the townspeople who just arrived there with the will to fight for their country, but they arrived late and they were all frozen and scared after seeing the immense carnage at the end of the bridge, and there in the middle of all that river of blood, a lone figure stood.

"Honey…" Tsunami whispered. She could feel it through her mark, the beautiful sun that represented her beloved turned malevolent, so malevolent that it was lashing out furiously inside her mind, but she wasn't scared of him, she was scared because she didn't know how to calm him down.

Fortunately though, the dragon god was there to act, **_'The curse has been satisfied, now rest boy, you've earned it…'_** With that thought, the oppressive aura dissipated and Naruto's cloak as well as he then fell straight to the ground, completely unconscious due to energy exhaustion. Nobody moved for some seconds before Kakashi finally snapped out of it and quickly made his way towards his son and soon after, the cheers of the people could be heard and the country began their celebration, the day that Wave Country was free had finally arrived.

* * *

A soft moan could be heard inside a big room lit by a lot of candles. In this room, the only thing inside was the form of a sleeping woman, she was completely naked and was lying on the flooded floor, "Wh-where am I?…" She groggily said while getting up from her prone position.

After finally getting on her feet, her persona was finally revealed. She was stunning, probably the most stunning woman in the world, her hair was long and it had a hypnotic crimson colour that reached down to her thighs, her body was that of a goddess, she had a perfect and buxom figure with maddening curves that will make even the most heterosexual of women to think twice about their preferences, her face was like a masterpiece carved by the greatest sculptor in history and she had beautiful clear blue eyes.

"Hm…" She mused after looking down and seeing her naked form. She then closed her eyes and focused her mind on some clothes and soon after, a black pair of boots appeared on her previously naked feet followed by black leather pants that served to show her luscious legs and perfectly shaped butt, on her torso, a crimson top that covered everything but her collarbone appear and soon after, a black jacket materialized over the top, "Much better." She said after checking out her new attire.

She then walked in circles to see where she was at, but she couldn't find anything until after some seconds, she could finally see a door on the far side of the room, she walked towards it and tried to open it but it was to no avail. Getting frustrated, she started to call on her immense power but for some strange reason, she could not use any of her strongest powers, only the minor ones like those she used to create clothes, "What the hell is this!?" She muttered before she stuck her ear to the door to try and see if she could listen to anything outside, but nothing could be heard.

She then walked back to the center of the chamber and tried to call on her friend, "Kushina!?…" Nothing came, "Kushina are you there!?" She spoke with more irritation now clear in her posh voice, but just like before, no response could heard.

She closed her eyes and just muttered frustrated, "Where the hell am I!?" She decided to just sit there since obviously there was nothing else she could do, so she decided to wait and see what happens.

* * *

"I can walk now, Haku." Zabuza said to his protégé after they had just successfully escaped the Leaf-nin after seizing the distraction caused by the gruesome display from the silverette jinchūriki and now, they were inside the woods and heading towards the border.

"Okay." Haku replied with her soft voice as she released Zabuza and stood there looking at him blankly.

Zabuza felt a little confused for the strange way the hunter-nin was watching him, but knowing the female for so long, he knew she wanted to say something, "What is it Haku?" He asked while leaning on a tree.

Haku steeled her resolve and then bowed, knowing that her master was confused, she explained her action, "Thank you master, for all you have done for me since you found me, you gave me a purpose and you taught me how to survive in this dangerous world…" She then brought her head up and removed her mask, she held it in both hands and added, "But I… I cannot follow you anymore… I have found a purpose… to protect Wave…" She then walked towards Zabuza and handed the mask to him before she walked back some steps and stood there waiting for Zabuza's response.

Zabuza was indeed surprised but inside of him, he was happy, _'You have finally found your path Haku…'_ He thought what he wanted to say, but he wasn't going to say those words, that wasn't his style, so he just kept the mask and replied, "I understand Haku…" He then started to walk away but before he could disappear from sight, he looked back at her over his shoulder and said, "I'm proud of you, Haku." And with that, he continued his trek towards the border.

Haku's sadness immediately disappeared after hearing the words she had been waiting for so long now, she knew she was making the right decision for her, she wanted to stay in Wave and protect them, she wanted to stay with Tsunami and protect her, she wanted to stay with cute little Emi and protect her, but more importantly, she wanted to stay by Naruto's side and aid him on his quest. She might have said that she wanted some months to live without committing herself fully to Naruto, but deep inside, she knew it was useless for she has already fallen for the silverette and was already fully committed to that man.

* * *

The sound of waves hitting the shore could be heard throughout the whole coast, the sky was cloudy but it was not gloomy, it was calm and refreshing, the water was gentle yet a little fierce. Two beings could be seen from afar on the shore, one was a giant red dragon who was relaxing comfortably on the sand, it almost appeared as if the cool breeze of the sea was lulling him to sleep, beside the mighty dragon, laid the unmoving form of one silver-haired Namikaze.

"Uuuuuh man…" Naruto muttered groggily while getting up, he had just woken up from his craze state but he found it surprising to see that instead of waking up at the bridge or Tsunami's house, he was inside his mindscape. He scratched his butt and then turned to his left side where he saw his giant partner relaxing as usual, "Sup." He greeted nonchalantly, almost as if he hadn't just slaughtered over 200 people some minutes ago.

Ddraig opened his giant eye and replied to his successor, **"For a guy who just allowed the darkness to take over for some minutes, you seem pretty rested."**

Naruto chuckled a little bitterly, he then directed his gaze towards the sea and replied, "Don't get confused D, while I definitely lost it… I… I still remember everything…" He closed his eyes and allowed his body to relax with the help of the cool breeze from the sea, as if washing away his sins. He took a deep breath and then added, "I know how many people I killed… I know how I did it… but I… I don't know what that makes me…" He brought his hands forward and stared at them as if trying to figure out whether he'd changed or not.

 **"** **Do you remember the exact number?"** The Red Dragon Emperor suddenly asked, confusing the silverette a little.

He answered none the less, when he nodded slightly and replied, "two hundred and thirty four, counting the two I killed in Tsunami's house and Gatō."

 **"** **Do you feel remorse?"** The dragon asked, confusing the boy even more.

Namikaze stayed silent for some seconds, trying to grasp what he was exactly feeling, and what he found made him both at ease and afraid, "No… I feel remorse for doing it THAT way, but… while I do believe all life is precious… I know sometimes people will just go back to their old ways… if I had allowed those thugs to live, they would no doubtedly either stay in Wave or go somewhere else to reform."

The mighty god just stayed silent for some seconds. He then opened his eye and stared at the sitting form of Naruto when he said, **"Then, you don't have to worry about anything, the truth is Naruto, you can't save everybody, I am a god and I couldn't save my brother Cruach from his own darkness, they decided to choose that path and you chose one that oppose theirs, this path you have chosen, will pit you against a lot of enemies, they might not necessarily be evil or have ill intentions, but if you don't have the absolute resolution to achieve your goal and remove all of those who oppose it, then back up if you feel you can't do that, but I know you can, you just did."**

Naruto didn't said anything, he just stared at the water, pondering on the dragon's words, he was right, Naruto did not want to kill, he wanted to bring a new world to everyone, including enemies, but he also knew that there was no such thing as a perfect world. People will oppose, powerful people will lose a lot if the world was to be freed and they would no doubt use any means necessary to stop the change, Naruto knew he had to have the same resolution, he was no saint, he was no hero, he wasn't the light of this world, he was the bridge, the bridge to connect this world to the new one, so realizing that, he stopped feeling troubled. He then looked at the dragon and asked, "Yo D, what about the curse?"

Ddraig was relieved to see that Naruto wasn't sinking in his own thoughts, he was once again reminded how fast the silverette was turning into a true god. He then broke his head out of his pondering and replied the boy's inquiry, **"Fed for now… you won't have problems with it for some time now, unless you force too much of my power out of course."**

"Noted…" The silver-haired teenager said while feeling immense relief, he wanted to avoid going into that crazed state as much as he could, more so when he remembered the fear he saw in his loved ones' eyes. He couldn't blame them though, he was scared of himself as well, but seeing what his corruption curse could do to him, actually inspired him to get stronger so he could completely control it by himself. And knowing that he had the help of not just a god, but of his family, friends and lovers, he knew he could do it.

The Absolute God of End started to think that this might be the best time to reveal one the biggest secrets he had kept hidden from the hatchling, seeing that she has just awoken some minutes ago and knowing that Naruto really wanted to know where his demonic powers come from, he decided to reveal it now, **"Naruto…"** The dragon said with his divine voice in a tone that revealed a serious topic to come.

Naruto knew this tone well, it was this exact same tone of voice that Ddraig used when he revealed the truth to him some months ago. So intuiting that something serious was to be discussed, he gave the god his full attention when he replied, "Yes?"

Seeing that he had the knucklehead's full attention, Ddraig began, **"You remember that I told you that I was looking for the origin of your demonic energy right?…"** Naruto nodded and then, the dragon continued, **"The truth is, I have always known where it comes from…"** He stopped to see if his successor had anything to say but seeing the calm look on his face, he knew that he already expected the dragon to know, so Ddraig continued, **"The reason for me not telling you, was because you were emotionally unstable the other day, and before that, you weren't ready, but now you are… your demonic power comes from your second tenant."**

Now, that did surprised Naruto, a lot, "Wh-wha…" He muttered almost unbelievingly.

 **"** **I am not the only being sealed inside you, boy."** Ddraig cleared after seeing the shocked state of his rap-lover host.

"S-Second tenant?… wh-who else i-is here!?…" He asked after breaking out of his early stupor.

 **"** **The Nine-Tails."** Ddraig replied nonchalantly, as if he wasn't revealing a shocking thing.

Getting on his feet, Naruto pointed towards the dragon and said frantically, "N-Nine-Tails!? You… you mean the Ni-Nine Tailed Fox!?… h-how!?"

The dragon chuckled a little after seeing his successor's outburst before he replied his question, **"The why, I don't know, only your father and mother could tell you why they did it. The how, they did to her the same thing they did to me, they sealed her in you after I knocked her out, she was sealed after the blond man sealed me in you."**

Naruto just allowed his body to fall on his butt with a thud. Again, a huge burden was placed in him. He wasn't mad towards his biological parents at all though, he knew they were smart and that everything they did had a reason, but still, hearing that the Tailed Beast that had supposedly disappeared after the confrontation with the Red Dragon Emperor has been inside of him all this time, definitely shook his ground a little.

Getting his wits back, he looked back at the dragon who was silently watching him and asked, "Then this demonic energy, it's hers?"

 **"** **Yes, it's her special ability, the power of destruction."** The god replied.

The silverette just nodded and looked back at the sea. After some seconds of silence, he realized something, "Hoo shit!… K-Kurama!… the girl Kushina asked me to take care of!… it must be her!…" The dragon nodded, he already knew the real name of the Nine Tails but he wanted his successor to find out by himself. Naruto then looked back at the sea and asked something else, "Where is she then?"

The dragon got back to his relaxing position before he answered, **"She has been inside a chamber that after you changed your mindscape had been moved to one of the mountains behind us, she awoke just minutes ago but I haven't allowed her to leave the chamber, I wanted you to be here…"** Ddraig then opened his eye and looked at the silverette before asking, **"Are you ready then?"**

Naruto understood what the dragon was saying, so regaining all his strength after a deep breath, he replied, "Yeah… let her out…"

With that, Ddraig opened the door of the chamber where Kurama was currently sitting on trying to figure out what was going on. Both Naruto and Ddraig stayed there and waited for the Nine Tails to find her way to them, with Naruto mentally preparing to have a surely tedious meeting with his second tenant and old friend of Kushina.

* * *

Kurama felt a little startled after the door of the chamber she was in suddenly burst open, she was expecting someone to walk in but after nobody came through the door, she decided to walk towards it, so she stood up and made her way to the door cautiously since she had no idea where she was.

After exiting the door, she felt even more confused when she saw that the chamber she was in was inside into what it seemed to be like a big wet cave, the cave was wide but well illuminated since a big opening was just at her right side. She walked out of it and saw that she was in the middle of some woods but her ears could pick up the sound of waves hitting a shore, the weird part though was that she could feel two presences at the distance, one was very familiar, although she had no idea what a god like Ddraig would be doing here, but the other one resembled the presence of her only friend and her husband.

She made her way towards the presences, it took her some good 10 minutes to finally see the vast ocean and the view was amazing, the sky was cloudy but it created a refreshing ambience alongside the waving ocean. She then walked through a road that seemed to lead to the shore and sure after, she arrived at the sandy beach where she could finally see that her musing was indeed right, not too far away from her, a giant red dragon could be seen resting on the beach. She was confused at where she was and what the third most powerful being in the universe was doing here, so she approached her late father's old friend cautiously.

"Umm… L-Lord Ddraig?…" She said with some stutter in her voice. Sure she was prideful due to her status as the strongest of her brethren and also because she was treated as royalty back when she still lived with her father and siblings, but she was also smart, the smartest of her siblings, so she knew that if there were beings that demanded her to kneel and bow in respect, were the Absolute Gods and the two beings above them, so she courtly made her presence known while bowing respectfully.

Opening his giant eye, Ddraig replied to the confused Tailed Beast, **"I see you've finally awaken."**

She couldn't stop feeling a little nervous by being in the presence of a god but she quickly managed to control her shivering and replied, "Y-yes… umm… wh-where am I?…"

Before Ddraig could reply though, the other presence decided to make himself known when he replied to the goddess in front of him, _'Great Red have mercy on this poor soul of mine…'_ He mentally pleaded to the creator who for some reason was sending goddesses his way on a daily basis, "You're in my mindscape and your being it's sealed inside me." He answered with a calm voice while leaning coolly against the dragon.

Kurama felt a little startled by the sudden voice but when she saw the one that spoke, she felt her blood freeze and for a second her anger spiked to uncharted heights, but she managed to control the sudden volcano of emotions before she thought, _'G-god… he… he l-looks so much like… that damn bastard…'_ The reason for her sudden lashing emotions was because the young silverette in front of her was the spitting image of the man she hated the most, the one that almost stole her and her siblings' power to kill his own brothers and become the dominant force in this world. But this teenager wasn't the only one she'd seen that resembled the spiteful man, the other one she'd seen the resemblance on was the husband of her one and only friend Kushina, Minato was his name, and seeing the silverette's uncanny resemblance with Minato in all but the face that was almost a copy of Kushina's, she managed to piece the story together, "You're Naruto… Kushina's son."

The Red Dragon Emperor managed to catch on the rage that Kurama experienced just now, just like Naruto who also caught on it, but unlike the silverette who felt confused by it, the mighty being knew exactly why the sudden outburst. Naruto resemble so much a man that just like Kurama, he hated, he didn't liked to admit it but that cursed man had the potential to even reach the power of an Absolute God, the youngest of Hagoromo's three sons, and since he knew Naruto's DNA well, he knew Naruto's connection with the Sage of Six Paths was closer than just being his transmigrant.

For his part, the silverette Uzumaki decided to save the sudden spike of anger from the beautiful red-head for later as he answered calmly while smiling slightly, "Yes I am, Naruto Namikaze, it is nice to finally meet you, Kurama." He didn't bowed nor brought his hand forward in a greeting manner simply because he could see that the Nine Tailed Fox would not take that kindly, probably thinking herself above him.

And he was sort of right, although, she didn't thought too low of her friend's son, she still saw him as a mere human and to her, the only one worthy of her power was Kushina, and seeing the lax attitude of her son made her think he was arrogant. Even though so was she, she hated that trait in humans who in her eyes, had nothing to be arrogant about, "You might be Kushina's son and I can guess that you know my name thanks to her, but don't hang yourself from her achievements, you're nothing but a pest who's not worthy of calling me by my real name." She said while flicking her hair in a rude manner.

Naruto snickered, earning an irritated gaze from the female but before she could insult him once more, Ddraig decided to clear some facts to the arrogant fox, just because messing with the prideful Tailed Beast was one of his favourite hobbies, **"Careful with how you speak to my successor, Kurama, you do not want to get on a dragon and a god's bad side, do you?"** He actually chuckled after seeing the red-head female's eyes almost bulging out of their sockets after the reveal.

She could not believe what she just heard, but after getting her shit together again she focused her senses on Naruto and could see that it was no lie, the boy was not a human, his aura was that of a dragon and hence a god, but focusing her aura on him seemed to have been a mistake because after some seconds, the silverette's incredible presence was starting to mess with her body, _'Dammit… I forgot that dragons are irresistible…'_ She thought while getting her sudden arousal in control. She then looked towards the god and asked without realizing she had a cute blush on her porcelain face, "I never expected Kushina's son to turn into a dragon, what happened?"

Both knew that this would take some time so Naruto urged Kurama to sit, she did as told and soon after, Naruto began a recap of his life, everything about it, excluding his current ambition of course, Kurama was a female and a prideful one at that, so he knew that for the moment it might not be a good idea to reveal too much, he would have to ask Ddraig to lock her from his thoughts or something. It took a little more than 30 minutes to cover all the important parts but finally, Naruto finished his tale.

Sighing deeply, Kurama looked at the sand for a bit before bringing her gaze back towards the silverette before she said, "Well, I can't say I'm surprised of how you were treated, Kushina was lucky her status as a jinchūriki was kept hidden from the public until she herself revealed it…" She then stood up and closed her distance with Naruto. Taking seat in front of him, she grabbed his right hand and said, "Can you call on my power as you said you could?"

Nodding, Naruto focused and soon, his hand was coated with a pitch black energy with a crimson hue. This really surprised Kurama though and when Naruto saw her genuine surprise, he asked, "Is everything aight?"

"Well… yes but… this is not just my demonic power…" She said, confusing the silverette, so she elaborated, "This is my power of destruction, only two more people are capable of using it, my father who's dead and Lord Ddraig, but this is MY signature, not Lord Ddraig's." She said with a small glimpse of awe which she quickly suppressed since she did not wanted to show her new jinchūriki a friendly side just yet.

Tilting his head to the side a little, Naruto made his confusion known when he asked, "Wait, you mean to tell me that Kushina couldn't use it?"

Shaking her head in no, she replied, "Exactly, she was able to use all my powers but this, I think that the fact of you being an actual god and a dragon nothing less, allowed you to handle this power which comes directly from darkness itself." She then released his hand and stood up while dusting herself up, she proceeded to go towards the coast and allowed the cool breeze to hit her beautiful face.

Naruto was transfixed by the woman's beauty, he even dared to say that she was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He also felt strange knowing that the fact the she was also a giant fox did not deterred his attraction in the slightest, it seems that Ddraig was right when he said that dragons did not care for species at all.

Kurama could feel the stare of Naruto's gorgeous blue eyes that resembled this magnificent ocean, and the piercing stare coupled with his presence was sending shivers through her body. She has never felt like this, she knew too well what those shivers meant, but she was a prideful woman/fox and she could not admit it just yet.

Ddraig was watching the scene with amusement though, while he wasn't really protective over his friend's children, he did enjoyed teasing them, Kurama especially and this scene was giving him good ammo to tease her with her obvious attraction towards his successor.

Naruto decided to break the silence though, when he realized that he has already been here inside his mindscape for too long, his friends and lovers will no doubt be worried sick, "Well, for now Kur… I mean Kyūbi… you're gonna have to bear with being here until I find a way to free ya without killing myself in the process, ya know!?" He said while getting up and dusting the sand from his clothes.

Kurama felt really shocked by his words, Kushina wanted to do it as well but she didn't had the chance or the knowledge to do so, but she didn't expect Naruto to actually say that, "F-Free me?…" She whispered, almost unbelievingly.

Smiling wide, Naruto replied with conviction, "Of course yo! I told ya about my dream right? That dream applies to you and your siblings as well, ya know!? I'll find a way to free ya, I promise!"

Kurama actually allowed a little emotion to surface when she offered the teenager an ever so small smile, "Then you better hurry up with it then!" She said while turning her back on him so he could not see her blush.

Naruto saw it though and just turned towards Ddraig who smirked knowingly at him, a smirk that he returned, "Well, I'll make your chamber comfortable before I leave, I kinda went all Lucifer on my friends and I am dead sure they must be worried sick, anything you need to know just ask this oversized lizard here…" He then had to jump away when one of Ddraig's wings came at him from above. He laughed for some seconds and said, "Well, I see you two around, ciao." With that, he went to Kurama's chamber to change it so he could leave his mindscape and return to the real world.

Kurama just stared at the spot where the silverette was standing just a second ago, she then turned towards the god and said, "Lord Ddraig, what is his connection with the Old Man? I can feel the Old Man's aura in him." She could feel as much, the Sage's distinctive aura was exuding from the teenager.

 **"** **He is his transmigrant yes, but…"** Ddraig responded before stopping for some seconds. He then narrowed his giant eyes at the distance and added uneasily, **"I'm afraid his connection with Hagoromo is more familiar than I'd like to."**

Kurama didn't had to ask what he meant with that, she could see it easily, the resemblance was too much and she didn't like it one bit, she just genuinely hoped that Naruto turned out to be different than that cursed man.

* * *

"Oh man, everything hurts, son…" An aching Naruto mumbled after waking up from his slumber, he could feel all the muscles in his body aching bad. He wanted to look around but he was suddenly crushed by a hug that startled him for a second but it didn't took him long to realize who was hugging him since he recognized the scent all too well, "Hey Yū." He said while returning the hug to the clearly dead worried ANBU Captain.

"Oh god Naru… you're alright… thank god!... I was… so scared back there…" She said, showing a rarity among ANBU, the display of emotions. She didn't cared to show how much she was afraid that something might have happened to her beloved silverette for they were the only occupants in the room and even if they weren't, she was never one to think rationally when it came to Naruto.

The silverette for his part just tightened his hug in order to calm the distressed woman a bit while saying soothingly, "I know, I'm sorry you had to see that side of me."

Releasing the hug partially so she could see straight to Naruto's eyes, she replied while caressing his cheek, "Is not that Naru… while it was… intimidating…" She shivered a little when the memory of the diabolized Naruto came back, but she quickly pushed those memories aside and added, "I was afraid that something might have happened to you… I just… don't want to lose you, Naruto…" She brought her gaze down a little. She hated showing her needy side but she grew up alone, the only one she had growing up was her sensei Kushina and she lost her already and now the only thing she has are her three best friends Hana, Anko and Kurenai, her fiancée Hayate and probably the most important one, Naruto, the mere thought of losing one of them, especially Naruto, drove her mad.

He felt a little relieved when he heard that the purple-haired ANBU was not afraid of him, he just hoped neither Haku nor Tsunami were afraid of him, but getting his attention back to Yūgao, he brought her head towards his and kissed her forehead lovingly, "Don't worry Yū, I promised that I'll always be close to you and you know that I never go back on my word." He said soothingly.

Yūgao just smiled widely at him, she did felt relieved hearing him say that, it was what she wanted, for him to always be close to her. She knew Hayate felt somewhat wary of her overprotectiveness over the silver-haired teenager but she didn't cared, she had her reasons, she just hoped he respected them once they get married.

The tender moment was interrupted however, when the lazy voice of a certain silver-haired jōnin was heard from the door, "I see you're awake now…"

Both turned to see Kakashi who was leaning against the door frame wearing an eye-smile. Naruto then released Yūgao gently and replied, "Yup, I'm all good yo!"

Laughing a little at his son's usual enthusiasm, Hatake walked towards the boy and ruffled his hair while asking, "How are you feeling, son?"

Smiling at his father a little, Naruto replied honestly, "Well to be honest, my whole body hurts a little but from there on, I'm aight." Kakashi just smiled at him and nodded in understanding.

He wanted to ask the silverette something but Yūgao beat him to it when she said a little timidly, "Na-Naru… umm… how often… how often do you have to… you know… do that?…" She was clearly referring to his 'Lucifer' form as he calls it.

Naruto felt a little surprised when he heard her say that, so he turned towards his father as if asking _how does she knows_ to which the jōnin understood and answered, "I explained everything to her since she wouldn't stop nagging me about it."

The Uzumaki just nodded, he was actually relieved that for the moment Yūgao wouldn't ask too many questions that he was not ready to answer, "Well, according to Ryū it depends on how often I fight, the longer I go without fighting, the stronger the need to… 'release'… some stress becomes…" That was true, Ddraig had explained to him that he needed to keep his dragon needs well fed, that includes his battle wants and much to his embarrassment, his lust. Apparently the longer he stacked his needs and emotions, the stronger the corruption curse will get whenever he calls on Ddraig's power, "So as long as I don't take any long vacations from the fight, then it'll be aight." He added.

Both Yūgao and Kakashi nodded, they feel somewhat content with his answer but they still wish he didn't had to do that but well, beggars can't be choosers.

"How are Teme and Sakura?" Naruto changed the subject after sensing that the other two in the room were still troubled a little.

Eye-smiling at his son, Kakashi replied, "They're okay, Sakura just woke up some minutes ago, Sasuke woke up an hour ago but he's… angry for losing his fight…"

Naruto snorted, he figured as much, he was surprised when he saw both Sasuke and Sakura unconscious on the ground since he actually believed they would defeat Haku but seeing the state Haku was in, it made him think that something made Sasuke commit a mistake, "Yeah… losing always makes a number on the fool… I'll chill him up later fam, no worries…" He said while getting out of bed. He then looked towards the female and asked, "How long was I out?"

"Seven hours." The purple-haired beauty replied.

"Come on son, everyone's been worried." Kakashi then said while urging him to go downstairs.

Naruto knew this to be true, Tsunami was dead worried since he could feel her distress from the mark, she probably hadn't come to check on him as to not raise any suspicion, Naruto was going to make sure to make it up to her and Ayame who he could also feel her worry, no doubt she felt the malevolent side of his presence and got worried. He then walked downstairs with his father and the cat masked ANBU, he also wanted to go and wake Emi up from his genjutsu and finally, go to Gatō's mansion to recover all he could from the midget tycoon's vaults.

* * *

Naruto was walking towards Emi's cottage in the woods, he had just met with his team and Tsunami's family. He was glad to see that nobody thought differently of him after his diabolical display, he could also see Tsunami's struggle to not jump at him and kiss him, the gratitude, admiration and love were clear in her eyes, not just hers, he knew all of Wave adored him and his team after they had finally freed Wave.

He now wanted to see if Haku was already in Emi's cottage since according to his father, both her and Zabuza slipped out of their sight when they were all distracted. He said nothing about it but he was relieved since it appeared that his plan worked, he didn't wanted anyone knowing Haku's identity so he was hoping to either fake her death or allow her to escape, it turned out to be the latter so he was happy with the result.

After some more minutes of walking, he arrived at the beautiful cottage and smiled a little when he felt Haku's presence inside the house, he walked towards the door and opened it and there inside, he saw Haku cooking on the stove. He really wanted to say something but he wasn't so sure of what Haku felt after his display at the bridge so he just said warily, "Haku, I'm happy to see you here." He smiled at her while taking a seat on one of the chairs.

Haku had already felt his presence so she wasn't startled, but she then turned around and headed straight towards him, she could see the confusion and slight glimpse of fear in his beautiful blue eyes, no doubt he was afraid that she might think of him as a monster, but instead of saying something, she leaned on him an planted a sweat loving kiss on his lips and after ending the kiss, she sat on his lap and said to the confused silverette with a huge blush on her porcelain face for such daring action, "Naruto… I'm not afraid of you at all… seeing you like that was, frightening yes… but… it made me feel safe…" She then stood up again and added while bowing, "Thank you so much for allowing me to save Zabuza."

Naruto stood up as well and gently lifted her head before replying, "There's nothing to thank me for Haku, I should be the one thanking you for choosing to be by my side, it makes me really happy, ya know!?"

Haku smiled at his sincerity and warmth, every second she spend with the Uzumaki just convinced her more and more of her decision, she did not wanted to miss out on being by his side, "Always." She said sweetly while resting her head on his chest. She didn't know a thing about relationships since this is the first time she had both a friend and a lover, well, future lover, but she thought that maybe if she showed the affection she felt, it would do for now.

The two embraced for some seconds before Haku gently broke the embrace to continue cooking, she walked towards the stove and said without looking back at the silverette, "So, what now?"

Sitting back, Naruto replied, "Well, I'll spend some time with ya and mah sunshine, then amma head to the fat midget's mansion to take everything I can find there and give it to Nami, then, we'll make sure she becomes Wave's governor…" He then looked at the window for some seconds before he added, "As for ya… it is up to you Haku, you don't have to worry about money since I'll be sending more than enough for Nami, Emi and you, just find something that you want… all I ask of you is to take care of Emi while I'm away, to train Tsunami and for you to be happy."

Haku smiled, she felt really excited to begin a new life, one doing things she had never done before, the thought of using her abilities to help instead of harm made her feel really happy and proud of herself, "I actually want to help Tsunami closely, not just with her training but with everything she needs…" She then tuned to face the teenager and said, "As for Emi, don't worry, I promise you Naruto, I'll protect her with my life."

The Namikaze nodded with a smile, he was really pumped by all the success he was currently having, "I'm sure Nami will appreciate that a lot, and speaking of the little bugger, she still asleep?"

"Yeah, I got a little freaked out when I saw her still but then I realized that you placed her in a genjutsu, so I figured you might wanted to wake her up yourself." She replied

The jinchūriki nodded and stood up, he then walked towards the stairs and entered the little girl's room, he saw her there in the bed sleeping peacefully, " _Snort,_ Spoiled brat…" He muttered lovingly before he approached the girl and then placed his fingers on her forehead, with a powerful burst of his chakra, the girl finally awoke from the genjutsu.

Emi slowly opened her blue eyes, she then rubbed them and saw the form of her beloved Papa looking at her with a smile. She immediately forgot of her sleepiness and jumped at him with a bear hug, "Pap… I mean Naru!" She blushed in embarrassment again after the slip.

Chuckling a little, Naruto returned the embrace and said while petting her small head, "Hey sunshine, had a good sleep?…" The girl nodded while looking at him with such adoring eyes that made Naruto blush a little, "Well, guess what? I have good news for ya!"

The little blonde tilted her head cutely and asked, "Good news?"

"Mhm…" Naruto hummed as he got eye to eye with the girl and said, "Honey, there are no more bad guys here in Wave, I've made sure of it, your country is free now."

The girl went wide-eyed, while she was too young to really understand the state her home country was really in, she understood that there were many bad people oppressing them all, the same bad people that killed her father. She was prohibited by Tsunami to leave the area around the cottage since according to her mama, there were many bad people in the town so she had to be here until her papa drives them away and now her papa was telling her that there were no more bad people. That, she could understand well and she was really happy, "Yay! Papa is so strong!" She said, not even noticing her calling him 'Papa'.

Naruto smiled, he really didn't mind her calling him 'Papa', he wasn't going to encourage her though since he still felt a little weird but he wouldn't stop her if she wanted to call him that, so he just picked her up in his arms and said, "That's not all sunshine, Haku has officially moved in here! And she's making us food right now!"

Emi just smiled widely, she was really happy that her 'big sister' was finally here to stay with her, so she said excitedly, "Really!? Then let's go Papa! I want to see her!"

Naruto smiled and did as he was ordered. With that, the trio inside the cottage spent the rest of the evening eating and chatting together, enjoying the newfound peace here in Wave Country.

* * *

It has been 9 days since the liberation of Wave and the people all around were avidly helping out with the restoration of their once enslaved country, thanks to all the money recovered from Gatō and a mysterious donation that came out of nowhere, there were sufficient funds to restore Wave and began its trek towards prosperity.

The bridge was also due to be finished in one more day thanks to the help of Naruto's clones and his team who had taken on an active role on the bridge's construction. All in all, the ambience all around Wave Country was for the first time in a long time, positive.

The people of Wave also felt security over their future for they have chosen a new leader, one that has lived in Wave through all of her life and has done all she could to help those in need, she even went as far as to rally them all to free their own land, they were late of course, but she did it none the less. This new leader was of course Tsunami, who true to Naruto's prediction, was fully accepted as Wave's new leader.

Now knowing that he only had two days left in Wave, Naruto decided to give Tsunami a little treat, he knew she was feeling stressed due to the sudden responsibility she now carried, adding the weight of knowing that both Inari and Emi had decided to take on a more active role in helping with whatever their small frames allowed them too, she was definitely tired of worrying, "Don't worry Nami, yours truly is here to help…" He muttered with a lecherous smirk.

 **LIME START**

Tsunami was currently bathing, she was alone since her father was spending almost all the day on the bridge to oversee its completion. Inari and Team 7 were with him and her little girl was with Haku whom she must admit, has become a great friend and aide to her since the black-haired beauty has helped her with all her tasks as Governor while acting as her body guard, "If only Naru was here with me…" She muttered while relaxing in the warm shower, allowing her stress to be washed away while wishing to have her partner here with her, a wish which will be granted.

"It appears Lord Great Red has granted your wish, my Governor…" The manly voice of Naruto could be heard from behind her. She wasn't startled because thanks to the mark she felt his presence long before he made it known, she was startled however, when she felt his naked body pressed against her equally naked back, allowing her to feel his muscled torso with her back and his impressive limp sex with her butt.

"Na-Naru…" She moaned while Naruto slowly snaked his arms around her belly to caress her and she said weakly, "I… I th-thought… yo-you wa-wanted me to… wait…"

Naruto smirked after seeing her state, he then began to massage her soft breasts and said with a husky voice that sent shivers down her spine, "I do… while I cannot claim you fully, my tidal wave…" He gently bit her lobe and added, "That doesn't mean I can't give you a treat for your hard work."

Tsunami just melted against his embrace and groping, it has been so long since she had felt a man's touch and it felt amazing, "Y-yes… I've wo-worked so hard… please… relieve my stress… honey…" She said with a voice that could barely be heard.

Naruto smirked and turned her around to face him, there, he kissed her so deeply that she felt like she was flying. With one of his hands, he continued to caress her bountiful mount of flesh on her chest while his right hand went to her left ass cheek where he massaged it tenderly, he was channelling his essence to his hands to make her feel even more, a trick he discovered with Ayame, and the results were obvious, Tsunami was almost melting at his touch.

He then broke the kiss and began to trail down butterfly-kisses down her chin, neck and collarbone until he finally reached the neglected right breast, where he gently kissed the tip of her nipple and soon after, opened his mouth and sucked it like a hungry baby.

"Ah… Na… gooood… this feels… so good… Na-Naru…" Tsunami moaned a little louder after the explosion of sensations her body was so brutally subjected to, not even when she was fully penetrated by her late husband she had felt such rush of arousal, it was incredible.

But Tsunami was not a selfish lover, she also wanted her new beloved to feel good so she reached down with her hand and grabbed his penis. She wanted to stroke it but before she could do anything, Naruto stopped her while also stopping his ministrations on her body, much to her confusion and disappointment, "H-Honey?…" She asked timidly, thinking that she might have done something wrong.

Naruto just smiled lovingly at her and said while caressing her cheek, "I'm sorry Nami, but if even my pre-cum comes into contact with your skin, the complete changes on your body will take place and I want to give you more time to enjoy your old life before you enter your new one." He then kissed her chastely, hoping she would understand.

She did though, as she nodded and smiled but said still, "I understand but… I… I wanted to m-make you f-feel good as well…"

Naruto just brought the hand he used to caress her cheek down to her sex and gently began to rub her slit with his fingers, making the no longer single mother moan and arch her body a little, "Seeing you like this Nami… making this sexy faces… this naughty sounds… makes me feel incredibly good…" He whispered to her ear while inserting two of his fingers into her hot canal.

"Ah…" Tsunami almost screamed after being penetrated by her beloved silverette's fingers, she could not believe how good her body was feeling with mere foreplay, she could not even speak after Naruto inserted a third finger and augmented the speed, making her pant in rhythm with his hand movements. So lost in her own satisfaction was she, that she never noticed Naruto's head lowering towards her vagina until it was already too late, "Oh God!" She screamed in ecstasy after feeling his tongue flicking her clitoris, sending her into orgasmic overdrive.

Naruto smirked devilishly after seeing her reaction before he removed his fingers, but before she could complain, he grabbed both legs and lifted her body effortlessly, pushing her towards the cold wall and placing her legs on his shoulder, forcing her to sit on his face. He then inserted his tongue into her excited sex and began to explore it eagerly, he wanted every corner he could reach fully explored, he brought his hand and began to rub on her clit furiously, he could feel her inner walls tightening around his tongue, undoubtedly she was near her end, so he just increased to ferocity of his attack.

"Ah!… Baby!… I'm… argh!…" Tsunami couldn't say anything else because her orgasm hit her like a wall, she came right into Naruto's awaiting mouth where he gulped her juices like a man deprived from water for too long. Her orgasm was so intense that she couldn't even think, she had never felt like this, she could only imagine how full intercourse with this sex god would feel but before she could even say something, her body gave and she fell into a content unconsciousness.

 **END LIME**

Naruto caught her easily and just smiled at her, "Hehe… guess she was really tired…" He muttered while laying her down on the floor. He then continued her cleaning and after finishing bathing her, he walked out of the shower while carrying the happily sleeping Tsunami bridal style towards her bed, he dried her wet body with a towel and dressed her with a white gown he found in her closet before he covered her with the sheets and kissed her forehead while whispering, "Rest Nami, you've earned it." With that, he left the room and headed towards the house's door, he still had work to do on the bridge and he wanted to be there in time.

* * *

An amber-eyed beauty was making her way throughout a dimly lit corridor, she had just arrived to Rain an hour ago and went straight to report her observations on the silver-haired jinchūriki to her organization's leader Nagato, or Pain, heck, she didn't even knew who she was talking to anymore. She just spent the last 30 minutes discussing everything she saw and she was now making her way towards her room to take a refreshing shower and wash all her troubles away.

" _Sigh_ …" Konan sighed tiredly after finally arriving to her room. she made her way towards her bed and took off her Akatsuki cloak, leaving her with only a navy blue mesh shirt and black ANBU pants, she then stared at her cloak for some minutes before beginning to strip her body from the rest of her clothes. After she was completely naked, she headed towards her bathroom and went into the shower, allowing a relieved sigh to escape from her enticing lips the moment the semi-warm water hit her naked flesh.

She then began to reminisce her discussion with Nagato, her old friend was of course somewhat troubled by the information he received from the bluenette, she couldn't blame him though as she was very surprised as well. She just witnessed how Naruto singlehandedly decimated over 200 hundred people, sure they were mere thugs but Naruto did it all in under 10 minutes and with his bare hands, there were no jutsus and he only used his swords for maybe a minute before going on a rampage, she knew that even she with those same conditions will have trouble taking them all down so quickly.

He was definitely getting really strong, she was afraid that Nagato was going to order his capture right away but even so he appeared to want that, he surprisingly said nothing. Konan inquired this but he only replied that the Uzumaki's time to be captured will come eventually, she was relieved of course but she managed to hide her true feelings, just like she hid her conversation with the silverette from her best friend.

"Naruto…" She muttered while smiling slightly, she could not stop thinking about their talk.

 _Flashback_

 _"_ _Akatsuki huh?" Naruto said calmly while leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, he didn't raised his guard because he could feel that the blue-haired ninja had no ill intentions so he intuited she just wanted to talk._

 _Raising her blue eyebrow slightly, Konan felt surprised to see the calm demeanour from the jinchūriki and more so when he appeared to know about her organization, so she made her surprise known when she replied, "I see you are informed about us."_

 _Naruto straighten himself up and closed the door behind him before he walked towards the cloaked woman and stood some steps from her as he replied, "Yup, Pervy Sage warned me about ya guys, something about some fools hunting jinchūrikis down for their evil purposes while wearing ridiculously big black cloaks adorned with some really out of character red clouds."_

 _Konan felt really surprised now, he was not only calm at the presence of someone who's from an organization dedicated to chase him and his kind, he was also actually mocking them openly, "If that is so, then how come you are so calm?" She asked._

 _"_ _How come you are so calm? You're supposed to be chasing my ass yet here you are with no intention to attack or make a move since you clearly called for me peacefully, so why attack ya when you're not attacking me?" He replied while shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly._

 _'_ _Intriguing…'_ _She thought after hearing the teenager._

 _The two stayed silent for some minutes, with no one making a move. He was the one who broke the silence when he asked, "Why are you after the Tailed Beasts?"_

 _She felt a little surprised for the sudden question but she answered truthfully none the less, "To use them to show the world pain, once they know true pain nobody will want to fight anymore and after humanity brings itself to its knees, they will finally see what pain does, once the rest see the truth of their actions of war they will stop the fighting."_

 _Naruto nodded, he then crossed his arms and asked, "What will happen to the Tailed Beasts after you achieve your 'peace'? What will you do with them?"_

 _She narrowed her eyes in confusion since she didn't understand the question, but she answered it anyway when she said, "They will remain with us, we will be watching over the world, with the Tailed Beasts in our hands nobody will want to fight since they'll know we will get rid of all of those who oppose peace."_

 _Naruto just nodded again and after some seconds, he looked at her straight at the eye and said firmly with no doubt or hesitation in his word, "You'll fail."_

 _She was expecting this, she wasn't expecting however the immense belief in his words, the same belief Itachi carried in his, she could see clearly that this young man was no doubt Itachi's legacy, "What makes you so sure?" She asked calmly, she found it strange that she had no irritation over his words but she just didn't wanted to admit it, that deep down she knew she also believed that Nagato's plan will fail._

 _"_ _Two things really…" He said as he looked at the sky for some seconds before looking back at her saying, "One, there's no such thing as true peace…" Konan felt really confused by this, she thought he was striving for peace as that was what Itachi told her, but here he was saying he didn't believed in peace, "And two, the way you're doing things, makes me see you don't understand humanity at all."_

 _She tilted her head slightly due to her confusion but then said, "You say peace does not exist yet it appears that you always preach about it."_

 _He smirked at her words, it appeared to him that almost everyone got his words wrong, "You heard wrong, I do not preach about peace, I preach about an UNDERSTANDING between us all, a way for us to see that in the end, we're all flesh and blood, to understand that only together, we can achieve the beyond."_

 _"_ _But what about peace?" She asked, now really confused._

 _"_ _That's what I meant when I said you don't understand humanity, there are two things you can never change about humanity, their will to fight and their desire for freedom, take away those two and humanity will always find a way to bring you down, that's why I say you'll fail, because you're not looking for peace, you're looking for pacification…" He then looked at the sky and continued, "An enforced peace will never be as strong as a true desire to work together, say you defeat all of those who opposes you, say your plans come to fruition, because you are forcing humanity to stop fighting, essentially taking away their freedom to choose, someday, someone will rise against you, you might defeat him or her, but it will continue to happen until you lose, simply because that is the way humanity is, you might successfully bring the world together to defeat you, but being forced to fight together does not creates a lasting peace, desiring unity however, will."_

 _Konan was stunned, his words seemed beyond what she could even understand, it sounded almost godlike, like if he knew humanity in a level nobody else does. She could not deny them either, his strong voice along with those fantastic blue eyes that are as mesmerizing and great as she remembers them from the tsukuyomi just made her doubt about her already shaking beliefs._

 _Naruto allowed her to ponder on his words, he could see it in her face, the great confusion, he hoped he had convinced her to change her ways for he could see and feel that she was kind, and a kind person was a rare thing in this world, losing even one, was a great loss to humanity._

 _Konan just stared at the ground, she really did not know what to say, but after some minutes, she looked back at him and said, "You… you have given me much to think…" She stayed looking at him and then added, "I'm kinda surprised you haven't asked about Itachi." She felt confused since she knew his relation with the Uchiha traitor, seeing that he would not ask about him, was weird._

 _Naruto just shrugged while replying, "There's no point, I'm nowhere near my brother's level, knowing where he is or what he's doing makes no difference, I know me and Sasuke will see him again someday, then, I'll ask all I need to know from him."_

 _That was really mature from him, but seeing at how composed and wise he seems to be, she was not surprised anymore. She just nodded and said, "Then I will take my leave now."_

 _"_ _Will I see you again…" Naruto said while trailing off at the end as if asking for her name._

 _She saw no trouble in telling him her name so she answered, "Konan."_

 _He smiled and replied, "Konan, I'm Naruto, nice to meet you…" He then look at her eyes and said again, "Will we see each other again, Konan?"_

 _She stayed silent for some seconds but replied truthfully, "I believe so…" She wanted to leave with those words but before she could go, Naruto said something to her that shook her core even more._

 _"_ _I hope you can one day aid me in my quest Konan, I will gladly share my power with you whenever you need it…" She just stood there before she nodded slightly and with that, she called on her paper wings and disappeared from view._

 _End Flashback_

"Perhaps… my path is with you…" She muttered after finishing her remembrance. She honestly did not know what to do anymore, the way the silverette saw the world and what he wanted to achieve was so like what she initially wanted, a world united not by fear, but by understanding each other. His last words shook her harder though, since she had never heard someone actually wanting to share their power, Akatsuki wanted to amass power to bully everyone with it, Naruto however, wanted power to share it with the world, that really shook her core.

"Perhaps…" She just repeated before stepping out of her shower and heading towards her bed to rest, she had definitely much to think now.

* * *

"NO! P-papa!… d-don't leave me!..." A very teary Emi was saying while hugging the life out of Naruto.

The day of Team 7's departure has finally come, much to the sadness of everyone, especially the little blonde named Emi who thought she was losing her Papa, but Naruto hugged her back and said, trying to calm her down, "I am not leaving you sunshine, I just have some things to do for now, but I promise you, I'll come by soon to spend time with you, I am your Papa my baby, don't ever forget that."

Emi stopped crying a little but she was still sniffing hard, she managed to say though, "Y-You pro-promise, P-Papa?"

Smiling at her, he said with a loving voice, "I promise you my princess, every time you miss me just look at your hairpin and remember my promise to you…" He then kissed her forehead and cleaned the little girl's tears with his thumbs before saying, "Everything I'll be doing is for you, so you can live in a beautiful world, don't forget that, okay?"

The little girl managed to calm down a little after 10 minutes of intense sobbing. She believed her Papa, he has never lied to her and even if she was little, she could see the honesty in his eyes, so she nodded and just buried her little head on his chest before saying, "Y-Yes… I lo-love you… Papa…"

Naruto felt really sad for leaving the little girl, Tsunami and Haku, but there were still many things he needed to do and he was thankful that both Haku and Tsunami understood that, adding the fact that he was near completing the 'Thunder God' jutsu which will allow him to teleport wherever he wanted in a matter of seconds and the fact that after everything was done they had an eternity to enjoy together, both females felt at ease. But leaving Emi was turning out to be incredibly hard, he contemplated taking her with him but she definitely needed her mother more than her father, so he decided against it, "And I love you sunshine, don't you ever forget that…" He said before gently releasing the still sobbing child from his arms. He then turned to Haku who was silently watching the scene from their side and said, "Well Haku, I leave her to you, I promise ya, I'll come back soon, okay?"

Haku just nodded but she seemed really timid about something, the silverette knew she was sad but they have already talked in private so he knew it was not that. It was after some seconds and a rude pointer from the Nine Tailed Fox living inside him, that now had the privileges of communicating with him mentally, that he realized what she wanted to say, so turning towards the little girl, he said, "Emi, close your eyes and don't look." Said girl tilted her head cutely in confusion but did as she was told

Haku was a little confused for the silverette's words as well but she then went wide-eyed when he pulled her close to him and before she could say anything, he claimed her lips deeply. She was shocked for some seconds but the blackette quickly gathered her wits and returned the kiss with equal fierceness, the two kissed for almost a minute but had to break it when the necessity for air knocked the door, "Thank you…" She said a little dizzy, she was really glad he understood she wanted him to kiss her but did not know how to ask.

"Anything for my Ice Queen…" He said while caressing her cheeks, making her blush for both the contact and affectionate nickname. He then released the hug and said, "Ok sunshine you can open your eyes now, it's time for me to go…" He then kissed both females on the forehead and said before leaving, "I'll come back soon, I promise!" The two girls sadly waved him goodbye but also felt happy to know he will keep his promise.

With that, Naruto made his way to the bridge where both his team and Yūgao were surely waiting for him. It didn't took him long to get there and when he did, everyone in town was there to see them off, they immediately turned to the silverette and went full fan on him, making him a little embarrassed. He eventually managed to make his way through the crowd while waving them and soon he got to the front, where Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari were chatting with his companions, "Aight, I'm all set, fools!" He said after settling beside his brother.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done for us, we will never be able to pay you such debt." Tsunami spoke as Governor of Wave Country. She already had a very long and steamy goodbye with her beloved and while she was sad to see him go, she was also fired up to contribute to his ambition.

"There's no need, it is our job as ninja to fight for those who can't." Kakashi said dismissively.

"Still, you guys made our dream come true, just know that Wave will never forget you." This time it was Tazuna who spoke, with great gratitude and teary eyes. He was incredibly grateful to this people, especially Naruto who not only did he liberated Wave, he also brought Inari out of his depression and made Tsunami happy again. He didn't know what was going on between the silverette and his daughter, but as her father, he could tell that the two shared feelings, he didn't really said anything because he was happy that his daughter met the silverette, he just hoped Naruto comes by soon to visit Tsunami who no doubt will be missing him dearly.

"Well, let's go then." Yūgao said then and with that, the Leaf-nin began their trek back to their home village, all of them feeling contempt with their work, even if some of them were a little mad for losing their fights, they still felt happy to know they helped a country in need. Naruto meanwhile was excited to see where his path would take him next.

"So, have you thought on a name for the bridge, Tsunami?" Tazuna asked his daughter while seeing the retreating forms of the ninjas.

Tsunami tilted her head a little when she replied, "Me? This is your bridge dad, you should be the one naming it."

Tazuna chuckled and then rested his hand on her shoulder before saying, "You are the one that will lead us to a new Wave, Tsunami, it should be you the one to do it."

Tsunami felt a little overwhelmed after seeing that all the people around them shared Tazuna's sentiment, so she just sighed and closed her eyes in thought. She then opened them again and said while focusing her gaze on Naruto at the distance, who appears to be rapping due to his extravagant hand movements, "How about… 'The Great Naruto Bridge'…" She said after some seconds.

Everyone smiled at that, it seemed right to name the bridge after Wave's main hero. With that, everyone stood there until Team 7 and Yūgao finally disappeared from view, feeling forever grateful and indebted to those 5 brave ninja.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there you lads go! This is the end of TBE's first arc! I will be taking a break of two to three weeks since I want to revise all that I'll be touching on the next arc. I cannot tell you enough how good it feels to see so many people enjoying the story, it might not be unique, I might not be the best writer there is, but know that I'm pouring all of my effort into making a good story for you lads to enjoy, thanks again and see ya lads later, cheers!**


	12. Sunflower

**A/N: Yo waddup lads! We're back, thanks for sticking with me. After that brief hiatus we're back and we'll jump straight into the second arc of the story, but before we get to it though, lemme say some stuff.**

 **I'd like to appease all of those who fear that Naruto will be too OP in this story, rest assured, for he won't. His growth here will be somewhat parallel to that of cannon, maybe a little faster, but he will not be OP at all. Yes, I know I have established him as a God, but let me clarify something, in my story being a God does not means that you're invincible, in my story being a God means that you have immortality and a job to oversee some of the things that make up life, like the elements, animals and such, they can be defeated by mortals but cannot be killed, only another God can do so. Also, do not delve into the 'Divine' side of this story too much, they're only part of the lore, maybe one or two will show up later but in my story, I made a rule for all divinities, this rule was set by the almighty being in my story (For those who haven't figured it out, I'm talking about Great Red), he forbade divinities to intervene in mortal affairs and as it was also stated some chapters back, mortals cannot know about the existence of divinities, so no, Naruto and the ninja world will not fight against Gods, they will lose, badly. In fact, Naruto will not achieve the same level of strength as Ddraig in this story at all, it's gonna take thousands of years for him to do so, this isn't the story of him becoming the third most powerful being in the universe, this is the story of Naruto achieving his goal. So to put it simply, cannon Naruto might be able to defeat my Naruto, but don't fool yourself thinking that's bad, cannon Naruto is a fricking God, but in the end, my Naruto will reach Ddraig.**

 **To all those still feeling somewhat annoyed by Naruto's speech, I can only tell you to bear with it, he is not going to talk like that throughout the whole story. Remember, right now, even if he is a God and a Dragon, he still has the mentality of a teenager, so like all of us in one point of our lives, we's going to have an annoying trait until he grows out of it, just like we all did. So don't worry, once he's older and matures through the situation he lives through, most of the gangsta speech will fade, most.**

 **Now, regarding this chapter, this one is focused on building his relationships, so there'll be some fluff here with a little bit of downtime for Naruto to recover from the Wave mission.**

 **Now, without further ado, let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **Sunflower**

"I honestly do not know what to say, I'm just glad to see that you're all okay." The tired voice of the Village Hidden in the Leaves' leader could be heard saying inside his office. Hiruzen Sarutobi has just finished hearing Kakashi's retelling of Team 7's mission in Wave and to say that it was a complete mess would be an understatement, the fact that they came across such a dangerous ninja like Zabuza Momochi was not a foreseeable thing, it made the otherwise regular A-rank mission turn into a borderline S-rank.

"But, you have just freed a country, which is an incredible achievement for you…" The old man said with a grandfatherly smile that contained all his pride over Team 7. The Third knew that only this team could be capable of such feats, he was worried for how quickly they were growing though and this achievement will surely put Team 7 on the Bingo Book, "You will be paid for an S-rank once Wave gets back to its feet, for the meantime you have a week off, you've certainly earned it." He finished while smiling at them.

Seeing that this was a good time to talk to his leader, Kakashi said, "Lord Third, could I have a moment with you and Naruto in private?"

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Yūgao were surprised by the silver-haired jōnin's words, the Third was not since he already sensed that Kakashi wanted to discuss something of sensitive nature, so he just nodded in yes, "Of course Kakashi… Yūgao, Sakura and Sasuke, you are dismissed, enjoy your week off." He then said to the other three who nodded and left the room soon after, albeit a little reluctantly.

After the three left the room, Kakashi began to explain how Naruto killed the thugs and his transformation, he also explained what Naruto had told him about 'feeding' the Twelve-Wings from time to time. The old man of course was left stunned, he did not expected this at all since Kakashi had just told him some minutes ago that it had been him and Yūgao alongside Naruto who disposed the thugs, but here he was telling him that it was Naruto all by himself in fact, and worst, he did it brutally, that worried him incredibly, "Dear… Naruto… my boy, how are you feeling?" He asked with a lot of worry knowing that this was the first time his surrogate grandson had killed someone.

For his part, Naruto remained calm when he answered with a little hint of guilt in his voice, "Well, to tell ya the truth Old Man… I… at first, after everything ended and I woke up, I… I didn't know what to think of myself, ya know?…" He then looked down a little and continued, "But, I don't regret it, at all… I cannot assure that those thugs would've changed their ways, I can't assure they would continue to threat the people in Wave or anywhere else either, but I made my decision then and I have to live with it, there's nothing more I can do about it, I guess."

The Hokage just nodded sadly, he wasn't really happy with his answer, he was expecting to see more sorrow in his eyes, he wanted to see more sorrow, simply because the old man still wanted to believe that the gentle and kind little boy he used to be before the Uchiha massacre was still there, somewhere. Sure, Naruto remains kind, he also remains goofy and his desire to protect those he loves is even stronger than before, but the boy that had a beautiful glow in his eyes had completely disappeared, Itachi killed that boy and now in his place, stood a warrior, one that will not regret his decisions, one that will not look back on his mistakes, one that will not back down for any challenge presented to him and there was nothing anybody could do to bring the old Naruto back.

"I see…" The old man replied sadly while looking down a little.

Kakashi knew exactly what his leader was thinking, he was thinking the same thing and like him, he was saddened by this colder version of Naruto, but he was relieved as well because this way, Naruto will be no pushover and with the lingering threat of Akatsuki and any other who wants the power of the mighty Twelve-Wings it made him a little relieved to know that this cold version of him will have no fears in facing them.

"There is also another thing Old Man…" Naruto then said after some seconds of silence. After seeing the Hokage nodding, he then began to explain the strange dream he had after he woke up from the exhaustion left in him by his first confrontation with Zabuza, he knew that Ddraig knew what it was but the dragon refused to tell him. Naruto considered just let it go for now until the dragon decided to tell him, but his curiosity was too much and since the girl he saw was almost a carbon copy of Mikoto, he needed to know what it was.

After listening to yet another stunning anecdote from the silverette, the old man was left speechless for some moments before he managed to say, "Mm… I have never heard of such a thing, Naruto…" He blew some of the smoke from his pipe and said after, "It is common to dream with people we don't really know since it is a way for our mind to fill in the blanks but to actually feel the emotions from just a dream, more so emotions you had never truly felt like the hatred towards Minato and Kushina and the love for this Suki lass, it's unheard of, at least to me."

Both Kakashi and Naruto just nodded, neither of them had heard of something like this and like the old timer, they were utterly confused at what to do. That is until the old timer seemed to have an idea, "Why don't you go with Inoichi Yamanaka? With his proficiency with sorting through memories maybe he can find something your own mind has locked or any reason behind the dream that could tell you what happened."

Tilting his head to the side a little, the silver-haired Uzumaki replied, "Inoichi Yamanaka? Ain't that Ino's pops?…" The other two males in the room nodded at him in yes, making him shrug while saying, "Aight, don't see why not, I'll look for him after I have my fill of delicious ramen, it's been soooooo long since I've tasted such culinary brilliance and mah stomach is demanding it!…" He then made his way towards the window and said before leaping off, "See ya later then fam!"

Chuckling a little at their son/grandson's antics, the two older ninja stood in the room for some seconds in silence before the old man said, "Don't worry Kakashi, I'll ask Inoichi to see if Naruto is really okay with all those deaths." The Sarutobi knew that Kakashi was going to ask that since he was also thinking the same thing.

Kakashi just nodded gratefully to his leader and soon after, he left the room and headed towards his apartment to rest and read his precious book for a while. The Hokage was left there alone, pondering on all the developments, his troubled face said clearly how much it pained him to see his grandson in such situations but no matter how much he preferred to shield him from the world, Naruto was a free soul and had many dreams, and his status as a jinchūriki forces him to be strong, so the only thing he could was guide him and give him the necessary tools for him to become the amazing shinobi he is meant to be.

* * *

"Well hello there gorgeous." Naruto whispered huskily to a cooking Ayame while snaking his arms around her slender waist from behind.

"Yessss…" Ayame hissed in delight after finally feeling the arms of her beloved again. She could feel his presence back in the Leaf and was eager to see him again, jump at him and kiss him like there was no tomorrow, but sadly, her father was at the back of the stand so they had to be careful, "Oh baby, I've missed you so much." She then said after turning around to face him.

"Me too." The silverette replied before the two entered into a deep kiss and some good groping.

Ayame then broke the kissing session when she said after releasing her hold on him, "Dad's in the back Naru, we'll have to save this for later."

Naruto just sighed and nodded before he went around the counter and took a seat on his usual stool. Ayame then started to make his food while asking, "Naru, a-are you okay?" She didn't turned to face him because she was a little timid and afraid he might not want to talk to her about what made him lash out so violently.

The silverette knew very well what was she talking about so he answered, "I am now Aya, don't worry, after you finish the bowl, I'll tell ya everything, aight?"

The girl just nodded and continued to make his food. After some minutes, she finished and placed the bowl in front of her silver-haired almost-lover before she said, "Alright, what happened, sweetie?"

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Naruto just smiled fondly at her before telling her all that happened in Wave Country, including his discovery of the Nine Tailed Fox living in his gut, "Can you believe it!? All this damn time she has been inside me! Heck, people were even blaming me for their 'weapon's' disappearance! I tell ya, I don't know what to feel anymore, really…" He said tiredly after finishing his tale.

Ayame was left stunned, she never expected Naruto's first outside mission to be so chaotic, for what he told her, so many things happened. He got his first encounter with his 'Corruption Curse' which was the reason for his presence lashing out so darkly, the Nine Tailed Fox turned out to be sealed inside of him as well as it being actually a she, _'At least there were some good things…'_ She thought after remembering that she know had two Harem sisters and a little girl who Naruto seemed to have taken on as his daughter, "Yeah, I can see why you're upset baby…" She said before going around the counter and taking the stool beside the silverette, "But remember, you're not alone in this, you have your dad and brother, the Hokage, your friends and us, your beloveds…" She gave him a chaste kiss before saying with a little tease in her voice, "Oh, and your daughter." She then laughed a little after saying that. She was really confused for that but she could understand why Naruto grew such attachment for the little girl, for what he said, Emi had a similar upbringing to that of him, so it was obvious that he was going to take her out of such horrendous life.

"Yeah, it surprised me as well, ya know? When she started calling me 'Papa' and all…" He said between slurps before smiling warmly at the memory of his little sunshine, "But she won me in a day, the little bugger."

Ayame just smiled at seeing the love her Naruto had for the little girl, it was as clear as day, he genuinely loved her, "I think is a good thing, it will sure make you more responsible now that you not only have 'wives' to take care of, but a daughter as well." She said while pinching his cheek playfully.

"Oi! What'cha talkin 'bout!? Amma god damn institution at being responsible!…" He declared to the winds, earning a blank stare from the brunette waitress, " _Huff,_ Okay… maybe I'm not THAT responsible but… I will be, ya'll see!" He then said after being dragged to a corner by his 17 year old lover's stare.

Laughing lightly at the Uzumaki's antics, she stood up and then asked, "So, what's the Nine-Tails like?" She was really intrigued to know what was the Nine-Tails like, in terms of personality. She found it surprising to know that the globally feared Twelve-Winged dragon was supposedly 'legit', as her lover says, so she wanted to know if maybe the mighty fox was similar in her personality.

"A total bitch." The silver-haired immortal replied dryly, earning a chuckle from Ayame.

 ** _"_** ** _The asshole says."_** The posh voice of said giant fox was heard from inside his mind, returning the insult with a clear annoyed voice.

 _"_ _I'm an asshole because you're a bitch."_ He replied mentally to the now fuming goddess.

 ** _"_** ** _Well, I'm a bitch because you're an asshole!"_** She replied angrily at him.

 _"_ _Well then I guess that's what makes us such a great pair now, doesn't it?"_ He said while smirking devilishly, knowing very well that the mighty fox was flushed.

 ** _"…"_** Which was a straight on point remark from his part, since Kurama, the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox, was blushing madly while looking away with an annoyed frown on her beautiful face.

"Naruto?" Ayame asked while waving her hand in front of the silverette's face, she was starting to get worried since it has been some seconds since the boy had gone to wonderland and now was starting to chuckle like a villain of a bad movie.

Shaking his head out of his amusement, the Namikaze said, "Ah! Sorry!… hahaha…" He scratched his scruff sheepishly before adding, "I was talking to her just now, like I said, an A-class bitch."

Ayame just hit his head slightly before saying, "Well it's not like I can blame her for being like that, I know very well how much of an asshole you can be!"

Naruto just let out an undignified gasp before saying while grabbing his chest, "Ouch Aya… that… that was cold blooded… it hurt baby… right here…"

Ayame just chuckled while shaking her head in amusement, life with her beloved was far from boring, "So, are you really going with Mr Yamanaka?" She then said a little more quietly. She was startled after hearing the dream Naruto had, she knew of his immense love for the late Uchiha matriarch, so hearing about such dream was something to be a little alarmed of.

"Yeah, I… I really need to know what that damn dream was…" He replied with a gloomy tone, that dream has been haunting him ever since he had it, he needed to know what it meant.

"Is… umm… is L-Lord D-Ddraig not sa-saying anything to y-you?" The brunette beauty asked.

"Nah, the dick says that I'm not ready to know just yet, even now I just asked him about it and said that he'll tell me when I'm ready, the bastard knows I'll learn nothing from Inoichi." He replied with annoyance. He was really annoyed by Ddraig's refusal on the subject, he knew that he will reveal it in time but whenever something had to do with Mikoto, he couldn't hold back his impatience.

Seeing the anger and gloom starting to form in her beloved's eyes, Ayame decided to change the subject so said, "Then you should seize this chance to mark Ino."

After putting his ponderings to the side, Naruto tilted his head a little before saying, "Why you say so?"

Smiling a little, the brunette explained, "Well, you'll be sent to more missions from now on so it's gonna get harder for you to do it, plus, she'll also be sent outside for missions, if you mate her and Hinata before that, they can scout more targets for you."

Seeing the truth in her words, Naruto nodded slightly before smirking and saying, "Well, well, well, look at ya Aya, all 'Deadly Mastermind Hottie' and shit."

Said girl just blushed a little in embarrassment after realizing that indeed she had been turning into a plotter, "I… I just w-want to… be he-helpful…" She whispered cutely while fidgeting her fingers.

Naruto just smiled before he went around the counter to hug her and after a chaste kiss, he said "And I couldn't be happier to have you plotting by my side, my love." He caressed her cheek lovingly while smiling warmly.

Ayame just stared dreamingly at him, he was such a kind and loving man to those he cared about that it was almost impossible not to love him back, "Anything for you, my love." She replied with the same love and warm smile at him.

The two stayed like that for some seconds before they broke away from each other, "Well, I gotta go and look for Ino's dad…" He said before he grabbed his jacket back and then turned to her saying, "I'll see ya later, aight?"

"Yes sweetie, come by tonight!…" She said before whispering the last part with a suggestive smirk, which the silverette returned, "And don't forget to begin the marking of Ino." She then reminded him of his current 'mission'.

He just chuckled and nodded before he left the stall, heading straight towards the Yamanaka flower shop, _'Oh, Ino baby, here I come…'_ He thought mischievously with a stupid grin on his face.

* * *

"H-Hello Mari." Naruto greeted a little timidly to the brunette middle-aged woman, he did not knew why but whenever he saw a beautiful woman with a regal attitude his lust went through the roof.

 ** _"_** ** _Maybe you like to get spanked."_** The mocking voice of Kurama said inside his mind followed by a haughty laugh.

 _"_ _Oi! I just find it extremely sexy!…"_ He replied before getting a smirk on his face when he added, _"I think that's why I can't get yo sexy ass out of my mind."_ He had to suppress a laugh because he could hear the chuckling of the Red Dragon Emperor, meaning that once again the mighty Nine Tailed Fox was flustered.

"…to?" He then heard a melodic voice said, the voice belonged to Mari Yamanaka who was starting to get worried after seeing Naruto suddenly lost in his own thoughts.

Shaking his head to the sides, he scratched the back of his head and said sheepishly, "Ah! Mari! Haha… sorry 'bout that… I was… umm… perplexed by your beauty." After seeing the blush on the woman's face, he couldn't avoid thinking smugly, _'Oh shit, smooth as fuck son…'_

"Oh dear, such a charming young man you are…" Mari replied while caressing his cheek and carrying a cute blush on her cheeks. She then asked, "Is there anything I can do for you, honey?"

"Yeah actually, umm, I was looking for your husband, is he here?" He replied.

Tilting her head a little, she said, "Yes he is in the back, is everything alright?"

Smiling at her, the last Uzumaki said, "Well, I had my first kill some days ago and… well… ya know my dad… he sent me here with Mr Inoichi… hehe…"

"Oh sweetheart, come here." The woman said while breaking from her regal attitude and hugged him tightly while whispering soothing words.

 _'_ _She smells so goooood…'_ He thought with a stupid grin on his face, enjoying the warmth and the soft skin of Ino's mother.

"Ah Naruto, you're here…" A manly voice was suddenly heard from behind the hugging pair, making them both turn around and see Inoichi Yamanaka there with a smile while placing some pots on the counter. Mari then broke away the hug and allowed Inoichi to ruffle Naruto's silver locks, "How are you feeling, huh?" He asked with a sad smile, knowing how hard it is for someone to move on from their first kill.

 _'_ _Well, I better play along with this…'_ Naruto thought, he knew they were worried that he might be having trouble with his kills, but he really hadn't any, he has already moved on but he couldn't just say he was okay, it would raise suspicion, so for now, he just went along with it, "Well, it's umm… confusing I guess… but… I'm aight…" He said timidly while scratching the back of his head. He then turned to look at Ino's father and added, "I take it Pa or the Old Man already told ya then?"

Nodding a bit, Inoichi replied, "Yes, an ANBU came by a few minutes ago and told me about it…" He then placed his hand on the silverette's shoulder and said, "Come, let's go to the house so we can talk…" He then looked towards his wife and added, "This might take some time Mari, so cover for me okay?"

The brunette smiled warmly at him when she replied, "Of course dear, you do anything you can to help Naru." She then pinched the teenager's cheeks playfully.

Inoichi just laughed and then urged the boy to follow him and soon later, they arrived to the Yamanaka clan head's house, which was behind the flower shop. The two then made their way towards the blond jōnin's studio and after they arrived, Inoichi urged Naruto to sit before he said, "Alright Naruto, for what I was explained, you wanted me to help you find meaning to a dream you had, correct?"

Nodding, the silver-haired prankster replied, "Yes Mr Inoichi, I was hoping you could help me find out what that dream meant, since the dragon's been a total dick about it and wants to say nuffin, maybe you can help me."

Inoichi didn't freaked out after hearing that Naruto knew about the Twelve-Wings, he, like most of the ninja community in the Leaf Village were already aware that the boy knew about it. It was still surprising though when he heard from Kakashi that Naruto actually had a good relationship with the mighty beast, "I see, and about what happened in Wave Country, are you sure you are okay?" He then asked about his impressive feat in Wave Country, he felt a little alarmed when he heard that the Uzumaki had killed over 200 thugs but he knew he needed to become strong, for there are many people that will want his power.

Sighing heavily, the Namikaze casted his gaze down for some seconds before he responded, "Well, I ain't happy with it, but I don't regret it, the only thing I do regret thou, was how I did it, but I had little say in that…"

Inoichi just nodded, he was also informed of the peculiarity of his case. He, like all of those that cared for the boy, did not felt comfortable with knowing that he needed to 'vent' once in a while, but an out of control Naruto would be worse than anything else, "Very well then, just know that if you ever want to talk about it, you can always come to me or Mari, okay?"

The silverette just nodded with an honest smile on his face, he was greatly grateful towards all the clan heads who had never treated him as a pest, all the contrary, most of them have been kind and helpful to him. He had the suspicion that they knew who his parents were since they are from the same generation that Minato and Kushina were from, so he believed that maybe that was the reason for their kindness towards him.

"Alright then, let's check this dream of yours." Inoichi then said while preparing his jutsu.

"Just be wary though, Ryū is not gon to attack ya but he will be there watching ya, so just be wary." Naruto warned the Yamanaka clan's head, knowing that Ddraig was not happy with this.

Inoichi just nodded and soon later, he aimed his mind transfer jutsu at the silverette and in a matter of seconds, his consciousness was pulled into the Namikaze's mind.

* * *

"Alright, let's see…" Inoichi muttered after seeing that he was inside Naruto's mindscape. The way his mind presented the memories were in the form of doors with different colours, blue meant happy memories, green meant important memories, white represented confusing memories, red represented angry or scary ones and black meant sad ones, "Let's try and see which one is it." He then added while walking towards the first white door. But just as he was about to reach it, his surroundings suddenly changed and instead of thousands of doors surrounding him, only one white one remained, "What the hell!?" He said confused.

 **"** **That is the memory you're looking for, Yamanaka."** The Yamanaka clan head was startled after he heard such powerful voice said from seemingly everywhere, but he knew who the divine voice belonged to.

"I-I see… thank you for the h-help…" He said while bowing politely, not wanting to anger the powerful dragon who he knew had total control over him in this place.

 **"** **I am not helping you, I'm just ensuring that you do not pry on the hatchling's memories…"** The dragon responded at the same time that two giant neon green eyes with a blood-red iris and a golden slit appeared from above him, **"The boy seems too eager to know what his… 'dream'… means, but you'll get nothing from it, it is something beyond your comprehension."** The dragon added.

Inoichi gulped after hearing the clearly annoyed voice of the mighty being and seeing those incredible powerful eyes that stroke fear beyond any sharingan could even hope to was not making it easier for him. But still, he owed the boy too much and being a friend of the silverette's father he was not going to back down, "I… I understand… but, he helped my daughter to become the kunoichi she is now, there is no way I will not at least try to help him." He declared with conviction.

The giant eyes just narrowed a little, making the blond middle-aged man flinch, but the voice of the Twelve-Wings then said, **"Very well, you may stay in that memory as long as you wish, but that is the only memory that will be available to you, and remember, I'll be watching you."** His voice carried a strong command that demanded obedience and soon after those last words, the giant eyes disappeared from view.

The Yamanaka just sighed in relief after the dragon's eyes disappeared, he was a little shaken up but he managed to maintain his composure. After some seconds of relaxing from his tense encounter with the mighty dragon, he turned around to the door and opened it, soon later, he was inside a house that he recognized well enough, "Mm… this is… this is Fugaku's house…"

He recognized the house as the home of the Uchiha clan's head, Fugaku Uchiha and his family, since he had been a guest in this house numerous times, he didn't found it weird to see that Naruto knew this place so well since after the massacre, Sasuke had invited him to live with him so Naruto had his own room and it was common for him to stay with the Uchiha, the weirdness though started after he saw a scene beginning to unfold before his eyes.

In front of him, a little shorter version of Naruto was walking down the stairs with a clearly sombre look on his face, but before Inoichi could ponder on the boy, a beautiful black-haired teenage girl was following him with puffy eyes and screaming frantically. This wasn't the weirdest thing though, it was the fact that he recognized this girl so well, "Mikoto…" The teenage girl resembled the late Uchiha matriarch so much that it was almost a perfect clone, but there was a slight difference between the two, this teenager had a more buxom figure and her overall aura was more hostile, Mikoto was very kind and approachable, but even if this girl was in such pitiful state he could still see that she was usually cold and indifferent.

As the scene played on, another thing that made his eyes narrowed occurred after Naruto called the kneeling teenager 'Suki', "Suki?… that name… where have I heard it?…" He muttered while scratching his chin in thought. It took him some minutes to remember where he heard it but somehow, it clicked, "Wait… Mari said to me once that there was a chance that Sasuke might turn out to be a girl, both Mikoto and Fugaku were almost sure of it… so they already had the name… Suki…" He was very confused. Suki was by no means a unique name, but the circumstances and the overall feel from this 'dream' were way too strange, since it was just like the ANBU had explained, the emotions were too real.

"But how could Naruto know about that name? This girl…" He said before he walked closer towards the discussing teenagers and settled his sights on her. He then studied her closely and was shocked after he found a strong resemblance to someone else, "Amazing, she's not just almost a copy of Mikoto, but she has traits of Fugaku as well… her aura… her eyes… it's like… like a female version of Sasuke…" It was exactly as he said, the girl who was now being kissed by Naruto was like a female version of the lone Uchiha, making the Yamanaka patriarch all the more confused.

He then continued to watch the scene play and was once again surprised to hear that Minato and Kushina were apparently alive. He flinched though, after feeling the immense hatred this Naruto carried for his parents, but he was more surprised after hearing that Whirlpool still existed, and that there was even risk of a war between Whirlpool and the Leaf, "This is too strange, too many strange things happening in a dream should not be possible, not with this, clarity…" He muttered after finishing watching the scene.

He was left speechless, he was expecting a dream that might have sprout from Naruto killing over 200 thugs, but this was beyond anything he expected, the dream was so confusing yet so solid, so real, he was sure this was no mere dream.

 **"** **I take it you found nothing then."** The voice of the Twelve Winged Dragon was then heard.

Feeling a little startled at first, Inoichi shook his head to the sides and soon realized that he was again floating on the void that represented Naruto's mind. He turned behind and saw the dragon's eyes looking at him curiously, "Well… there are some things that… he couldn't have known about… too many coincidences…" He then sighed before adding, "But… no… I have no explanation for it."

 **"** **I see, the kid should just be patient, everything will be revealed to him, in time…"** The beast said, surprising the patriarch after hearing the beast's voice softening when he talked about the boy, **"Now leave, your presence is annoying."** The beast then commanded before disappearing from sight.

Inoichi just nodded and did as he was told, he had no intention of antagonizing such powerful creature, so he made his family's jutsu's famous hand-signs and soon after, his consciousness disappeared from the teenager's mindscape, returning to his body.

* * *

"So, how did it go?" Naruto asked after seeing that Inoichi's conscious was back in his body.

Shaking his head a bit, the Yamanaka patriarch replied, "Well, I can certainly see why you're so confused, that was definitely no normal dream, I could even say it was no dream…" Inoichi then stretched his body a bit before he asked, "Naruto, what do you know about the name 'Suki'?"

The Uzumaki tilted his head as if confused before he responded, "Nothing really, I've never heard it before actually, only in that dream…" He then looked at Ino's dad and added, "Why? Do you know a Suki, Mr Yamanaka?"

"Please, call me Inoichi…" The man said with a smile before he sat on a chair and replied to his question, "I don't know a Suki, but I heard the name before."

Raising an eyebrow, the silverette asked, "Really? Where?"

Sighing heavily because he knew that this will bring the discussion to a sensitive subject for the silverette, he prepared himself before he answered, "From Mikoto Uchiha."

Instantly sitting up, the silverette widened his eyes a little when he said, "M-Miko!? W-What does it h-has to do wi-with her!?"

"Well, when she was pregnant with Sasuke, both she and Fugaku were actually sure that Sasuke was going to be a girl, not a boy…" He said. Seeing the confusion in the silver-haired ramen lover's eyes, he continued, "Since they were so sure about it, they even already had a name for her."

Naruto just pieced it together and uttered, "Suki…"

"Yes, they were going to name her Suki." Inoichi then confirmed.

Looking back at the blond haired jōnin, Naruto said, "But, what does that has to do with this?" It was a weird coincidence, but he still had no idea how that related to the dream.

"Well, the girl in your 'dream', who does she looks like?" Inoichi asked.

Tilting his head to the side, he brought the memory forward and replied, "Well, she looks like Mikoto, I've never seen a picture of her in her younger days but I guess she looked like that."

Nodding, the patriarch added, "Indeed, this 'Suki' is almost an exact same copy of Mikoto when she was your age, but this girl also has another resemblance, to Fugaku."

Squinting his eyes in confusion, the Namikaze said, "Sasuke's dad? I… I don't get it…"

Sighing tiredly, the Yamanaka smiled and then responded, "Think of Sasuke…" He saw that the boy was even more confused so he explained, "Bring his image to your mind…" The boy then nodded and Inoichi continued, "Okay, now, using your mental image of Sasuke, turn her into a female, make a female version of Sasuke, using Mikoto as template."

Naruto was a little confused but did as he was asked none the less. It took him some minutes to do it but finally, he managed to turn Sasuke into a girl, and that's when he widened his eyes in shock and jumped while saying, "Oh shit! This Suki! She's like… she's like a female version of the Teme!…" He then went all red in embarrassment before he pointed accusingly towards the patriarch while sputtering, "O-Oi! W-What'cha tr-trying to say, ya fool!? T-That I have a w-weird fa-fantasy with a fe-female version of mah bro!?"

Inoichi just laughed after seeing the sputtering mess that the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki had turned into, he regained his composure though before he replied, "Well, no, but now that you mention it…" He teased but stopped when he saw that the jinchūriki was starting to go mad, "I'm joking… seriously now though, what I'm trying to say is that, somehow you dreamt or imagined a world where Sasuke was born a girl, the house you two were in was Sasuke's house…" Naruto nodded at that since he also realized it, "That is what makes this, 'dream' so confusing, seeing that you genuinely had no previous idea about that just makes it even weirder."

"Tell me 'bout it fool…" The hopeful ramen connoisseur muttered while casting his gaze down. He then brought it back up and said, "Is that all you found strange?"

"No, there was one more thing that I found strange…" Inoichi said before he took a sip of his sake, "In the dream, you mentioned 'Whirlpool', do you know anything about that?" He didn't know if the boy had heard about his mother's homeland, neither did he know if the silverette knew about who his parents were, so he asked albeit a little wary.

Nodding his head in yes, the Uzumaki replied, "Yeah, the Land of Whirlpools, used to be home of my clan and were close allies with the Leaf, hence the swirl on our flak jackets, right?"

Inoichi was left stunned, the moment he mentioned 'his clan' was something he did not expect, "Na-Naruto… do you… do you know about… your clan?" He asked warily, not knowing if he knew about his parentage.

Smirking at the clearly stunned Inoichi, the silverette replied, "Yup, I know I 'belong' to the Uzumaki clan, and don't worry, I know who my parents were, The Fourth and the Red Hot Habanero." His voice was calm but the resentment towards both was still a little clear in his voice whenever he mentioned them.

Inoichi was speechless, the boy said that so calmly that it made him realize that he has known for a long time now, it wasn't that hard to decipher since he carried such an uncanny resemblance to both. But then when he heard his tone and the fact that he didn't even used their names made him a little sad, he could see that the boy holds some resentment towards them and Inoichi could not really blame him, as a ninja he knew that both Minato and Kushina made the right choice, but as a parent he also knew that they made the wrong one.

"Don't worry Mr… urr… I mean, Inoichi… I'm not that sore about it anymore, they had their reasons and I respect them both greatly for their loyalty towards their home, but they are my parents only by birth, my dad's name is Kakashi Hatake and he is the only parent I've ever needed." Naruto declared calmly and with conviction.

Inoichi just smiled sadly, he felt relieved after seeing that the boy at least had Kakashi to guide him, but he still felt bad for his late friends, _'He is even wiser than you Minato…'_ He thought, "I understand boy…" He said before bringing the chat back to place, "But anyway, the fact that you said that there might be a war between the Leaf and Whirlpool makes it a lot stranger…" He then scratched his chin before he added apologetically, "But I'm sorry Naruto, I cannot find an explanation to this 'dream', the only thing I can do is to validate your belief that it is no dream, the only thing the dragon said is that it will tell you eventually."

Chuckling bitterly, the ramen lover said, "I see, you did talked to the scaly ball…" He then laid back on the sofa and added, "I know it will, I just wish it would tell me already, ya know!?"

Inoichi just nodded, not really knowing what else to say, "I'm sorry I couldn't really help you my boy." He then said sadly, he really wanted to help the boy that had made his daughter a serious kunoichi.

"Ah, no worries fam, I guess I just have to wait for the oversized lizard to tell me what the hell is going on…" Naruto said before standing up from his seat, "Well, thanks anyway Inoichi…" The man just nodded and stood up as well, but before they left the room, Naruto asked, "Yo, is Ino around?"

Smiling at the boy, Inoichi said, "No, she's at the Hokage Tower, apparently she will be sent on a solo mission."

Naruto just raised his eyebrows and said, "What!? A solo mission!? Isn't that a little, ya know, dangerous!?"

Hiding his troubled face, Inoichi replied, "I agree, but this mission is a D-rank, a special request from a noble apparently, there is supposed to be no real danger but still, I wish she had at least somebody else with her."

Smirking devilishly, the Uzumaki said, "Oh, you don't need to fret, I'll go with her, I've been wanting to spend some time with her and plus, I got a week off."

Inoichi just bowed gratefully, no longer hiding his true uneasiness with sending his beloved daughter alone, "Oh thank you Naruto, I… I really did not know how to ask you but, thank you for volunteering."

The boy just smiled and replied, "No worries I tell ya! I got it fam…" With that he walked towards the window nearest to him and said, "I see ya later Inoichi, tell Mari I leave mah regards." The Yamanaka patriarch just smiled and waved at the boy before he leapt off to the nearest roof, heading straight towards the Hokage Tower, _'Geez, this luck of mine… gigigi… is almost like if somebody was writing this shit and did not wanted to suffer with a complex plot…'_ He thought while carrying a stupid and mischievous grin on his face.

* * *

"Aight, so let me get this straight, the daughter of a rich Feudal Lord needs a body double for reasons she did not disclosed?" Naruto asked his companion while the pair walked down the road towards their destination. After he arrived at the Hokage Tower the day prior, he found Ino and told her he would be accompanying her on this mission, and Ino not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to spend some alone time with her crush, readily accepted, so they settled for going on their mission the next day.

Ino smiled a little before she replied, "Yes, I know, you don't have to tell me how suspicious that sounds, but is a mission none the less…" She then got a little timid when she added, "At least… y-you're go-going with me…"

Smirking devilishly, the silverette closed their distance and in a bold move, embraced the already blushing blonde while saying, "Well of course, I ain't gon let anyone hurt my precious sunflower, you can count that."

Said 'sunflower' just blushed even redder, her heart was beating like crazy after hearing such words from the young man she was in love with, _'This… this a-arrogant… bastard… prick… beautiful man…'_ She knew well what he was doing, she was a seductive woman who always liked to play with the boys around her, but there was only one man capable of turning her into a shy mess and that man was Naruto, and she knew the damn bastard loved playing with her like this, but she loved it, "S-Stop te-teasing me." She whispered weakly without breaking the embrace, actually leaning on his body a little.

Naruto just smirked even fiercer, he loved seeing the usually flirty Ino so embarrassed, "I'm not teasing ya, sexy, I have something to tell ya later actually." He gently broke the embrace and said suggestively while winking at her.

Ino's heart throbbed even faster after hearing that, _'O-Oh god… is… is he… going to… declare his… lo-love!?…'_ She thought hopefully while looking at him with dreamy eyes. She then broke herself out of her stupor and after regaining her composure, she said, "W-What do y-you want to s-say?"

Looking at her, Naruto just shook his head to the sides and said, "Ah, ah, ah, I said later, didn't I?"

Ino just pouted and turned her gaze to the other side, acting as a spoiled child, "Asshole…" She muttered.

Naruto just laughed and then, the pair continued their trek while talking about random things. It took them almost an hour to arrive to their destination, but once they saw the mansion, they let out a sigh in relief.

" _Pft,_ Finally! Let's go and see the Princess." Ino said before grabbing the jinchūriki's hand and dragged him towards the mansion.

The two soon arrived at the door and after the guards saw them, they escorted them towards the Princess' chambers. Once they arrived, one of the guards knocked on the door and soon later, a soft voice was heard, urging them to come in, "You may enter." The guard said before stepping aside to allow them entrance.

Both nodded gratefully and soon walked inside the room where they then walked towards where the voice was heard. But both were left speechless after seeing the client, "Umm…" Ino just muttered unbelievingly after seeing her 'lookalike'.

Naruto just petted his chin when he whispered to Ino who was wide-eyed staring at the Princess, "I did once wondered how a child between you and Chōji would look like…" He snickered a bit before he received a hard nudge on his sides from an irked Ino, "Hehe… sorry… sorry…" He then said sheepishly.

Their little squabble was interrupted however, when the noble laugh of the Princess was heard, making the pair turn to her and apologize for their disrespect, "Oh no, please, I enjoying seeing couples engaging in such intimate exchanges…" She then bowed and introduced herself, "I thank you for coming, my name is Fuku, and you must be Ino…" She said while pointing towards the blonde girl who nodded with a smile. She then surprised them both when she added while pointing at Naruto, "And this handsome young man must be Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto just raised his eyebrow, he had no idea how she could have known who he was since Ino was supposed to come here alone, heck, he didn't told the Hokage that he was coming, only Ayame, Kakashi and Sasuke knew about it, so making his confusion known, he asked, "Umm, yes, I am… but if I may ask… how would you know who I am, milady?"

The Princess just smiled and replied, "Please, call me Fuku…" Naruto and Ino nodded before she continued, "You may not know this, but the liberation of Wave Country was heard throughout the continent and the tale of Wave's heroes is already being sung by bards throughout the Elemental Nations…" Both were left speechless, much more Naruto, he indeed needed to make himself known throughout the world but he didn't expect it to happen so soon, "And since I went to Wave with my father a few days ago to negotiate a treaty with the country's new leader, Lady Tsunami, we asked about the heroes and she told us all about it, especially about the 'Dark Swordsman', dark silver hair, black clothing, two swords, deep blue eyes with a golden slit and inhumanly handsome, traits that you fit perfectly…" She then laughed after seeing the surprised expression on both ninja, "Lady Tsunami spoke like a damsel in love… and I can't blame her…"

Naruto just laughed while thinking, _'Oh Nami, I'll make sure to pay back your words…'_ He smirked mentally after thinking on all the dirty things he was going to do to Tsunami for romanticizing his image, "Well, the nickname's cool thou." He said while laughing sheepishly.

Ino then decided to get back to business when she said, "Well, mila… I mean, Fuku… you asked for a body double… but umm… I…" She wanted to say that she wasn't exactly her body double since the Princess was not slim, at all, she was fat, like an Akimichi. Sure, she was identical when it came to the face but on everything else there was no resemblance at all.

The Princess just laughed before she said, "Oh I know, you don't have to say it, I see it all written over your faces, my body does not match my body double's at all, it's alright, you can admit it." She had an amused smile on her face.

"Umm… no milady… not at all… we umm…" Ino was trying to be polite but Naruto being an asshole as usual, interrupted her.

"Yup, you're waaaay too fat Fuku, you should eat more ramen, it is because of such divine dish that I have this fantastic physique." The silverette declared shamelessly without caring to be polite in the slightest.

"NARUTO!" Ino screamed while lightly punching the silverette's head.

The Princess just laughed sweetly before she said, "It's okay, I don't blame you, I guess this'll clear things up." She then threw them a picture.

"Oh shit! Yo, you were hot!…" Naruto once again declared shamelessly after seeing the picture, were Fuku was just like an older version of Ino. He then looked back at her and said, "Sorry for the rudeness but umm… how did you went from this…" He pointed at the picture before pointing at her current form, "To that?"

Fuku then pouted when she said, "I turned out like this after Father hired a matchmaker who brokered an arranged marriage for me…" The two Leaf-nin raised their eyebrows before she continued, "My perspective husband is Chikara, the soon to be Feudal Lord of the Land of Noodles, ever since I first laid eyes on his manly photo my heart just longed for him more every day, since our first meeting is almost here, I've been a nervous wreck, I can't even sleep at night!…" She said desperately before composing herself again to continue, "So, with all the stress, I've been eating anything I can get my hands on, not even special supplements work!" She then threw a can of supplements before she casted her gaze down depressively.

"So, I guess you want me to pose as you for the meeting with your fiancé, right?" Ino then deduced the plan after sweatdropping at the Princess' story.

"Yes! All you have to do is to do whatever it takes to make sure that darling man marries me!" Fuku declared.

Naruto just sighed while leaning against the wall before he said tiredly, "So all this was just for a 'meeting' with your crush?"

Ino the turned to him dignified and said, "What are you talking about!? The Princess' entire life is on the line here, this is major!"

"Oh thank goodness! So you can appreciate a heart in love!" Fuku exclaimed while clapping happily.

"Are you kidding me!? What woman doesn't!? A girl always wants to look good for the man she yearns for…" At those words, she casted a dreamy look at Naruto who just chuckled but sent a wink to Ino none the less, making her blush.

Fuku then suddenly jumped at Ino and after grasping her hands, she said, "You know just what I'm going through, I'm counting on you!"

Ino just smiled and nodded while saying, "It'll all be fine, leave it to me."

Naruto just sighed before he then said, "Even if Ino does manages to convince the Prince to marry ya, he's still gotta see you later, ya know?"

Fuku turned to look at the silver-haired Uzumaki and responded with a sure smile, "Don't worry! By the time the wedding rolls around I'll have lost all this extra weight! Thanks to this amazing new diet I'll be replacing all three meals with!" She then showed them a paper with a diet written on it.

The Namikaze just nodded disbelievingly while saying, "I guess exercising is out of the question…"

"Rest easy Princess, once I work my magic on this guy, he'll only have eyes for you." Ino declared proudly while mentally planning something mischievous, _'And maybe I can get Naru jealous…'_ She thought while giggling conspiratorially.

Naruto just shook his head tiredly while thinking, _'Girls…'_

* * *

"Aight, so I'll just stay here and pretend to be your body guard?" The Uzumaki asked Ino who was currently kneeling waiting for Princess Fuku's fiancé.

"Yes, just be quiet and let me do the work here." Ino replied with a confident smile, she was now wearing a pink kimono with red dots that resembled the one used by the Princess. She wanted to show the silverette how seductive she can be and hopefully, arouse a little bit of jealousy in him.

"Do you really think he is THAT handsome? I mean, Fuku seems really stressed about this, I swear if he ends up being a fat romantic stuck up amma lose mah shit." The Namikaze said while shuddering a bit, having a weird feeling telling him that this mission will get tedious.

"It's obvious he will be incredibly handsome, Fuku is a Princess, and Princesses have excellent tastes…" Ino replied while combing her hair before she turned towards the bored form of Naruto and said with a teasing voice, "He might even be hotter than you, sexy."

Naruto just huffed and replied with a smirk, "I'd like to see that."

The two then shut their conversation when they heard the sound of people coming towards the door and knowing that it was their target, both Ino and Naruto prepared to meet Prince Charming, "Alright, here he comes." Ino muttered while getting her sexy vibe on.

However, it all turned weird when suddenly, the room got dark and music accompanied by reflectors appeared out of nowhere, startling both Leaf-nin, "The fuck is going on!?" Naruto said while looking at his surroundings, greatly confused.

"I… I d-don't know…" Ino replied while doing the same before she added, "But… this music… it's getting louder!"

After those words, the door suddenly burst open and two girls that seemed to be the Prince's attendants walked in before the first one said dreamily, "The world abounds with handsome men, yet, there is one that towers over all!" She then threw a handful of rose petals in the air.

The second attendant then declared with equal passion, "His glistening sidelong glances follows the Land of Noodles like the sun!" She then threw another handful of petals in the air.

The first attendant then stepped forward and added, "Worship at the foot of glorious Prince Chikara!"

The other one then declared, "Bow before his majesty!"

"Sorrrry… it appears I kept you waiting, Prrrrincess…" A somewhat weird manly voice was heard, drawing the attention of both Ino and Naruto and there, standing at the door, something that made both of them cringe hard in horror appeared. A fat guy that looked like a bad impersonator of a famous singer was looking at Ino while holding a rose in his right hand, he was sending a charming smile that made both of them think the same.

 _'_ _He's just... he's just like Naruto described earlier...'_ Indeed, it appears that much to their horror, Naruto was spot on with his guess and now, he really wish he wasn't, "Where are all this goddamn petals are coming from!?" The silverette muttered annoyed.

"This… this is the man I'm… supposed to win over!?" Ino muttered unbelievingly after seeing the large man still posing as if he was a rock star on high demand, _'How is Fuku so in love with this guy!?'_ She mentally asked while gathering her wits after such flashy entrance.

 _'_ _Whoever made this entrance for him… yo… I gotta get his contact… I would look so awesome with one of these… although… ya know… manlier…'_ Naruto on the other hand was actually quite impressed with the entrance, it certainly left an imprint.

The rest of Chikara's attendants started to 'hurray' him while a seemingly infinite amount of rose petals continued to fall from out of nowhere. Chikara then got down to the table and said while handing the rose to Ino, "I'm so sorrrrry pretty lady, but I suffer from a little blood pressure." He was smiling dreamingly while using a purring tone in his voice.

"I'm sure blood pressure is the least of your problems, fool…" Naruto muttered before he started to wince in pain due to Ino pinching his shin really hard after the rude comment.

Ino just laughed awkwardly before she said, "Do you always scatter flower petals wherever you go?" She continued her pinching on Naruto while talking through her teeth.

Chikara just smiled and replied, "Flowers are a blessing, so relaxing for the mind and body, wouldn't you agree, Prrrincess?"

Ino just laughed awkwardly again while saying, "Y-Yeah… I-I… umm… I g-guess…"

Chikara then clicked his fingers and said, "Alrighty, let's say we begin." The attendants then left the room, leaving Chikara, Ino and Naruto alone before the latter walked towards the corner of the room and leaned on the wall.

Naruto just sighed and muttered a little loudly, "Don't know what all the fuss is about, this guy's is way too la…" He couldn't finished because Ino suddenly jumped at him with a snack and stuffed it in his mouth forcefully.

"Come again?" Chikara said while narrowing his eyes.

Ino just laughed awkwardly and said, "Hehe… never mind him… he's talking about the large snacks we have…" She then dragged Naruto out of the room and said before leaving, "Umm, excuse me for a moment."

After Ino dragged Naruto to some room away from Chikara, he spitted the food out of his mouth and said indignantly, "What the heck was that for!?"

"A woman's intuition, he seems to be a bit sore about his weight, sort of like Chōji…" Ino said before she dropped depressingly to the ground and whined, "Dammit! She told us he will be handsome! That's not exactly how I describe 'Casanova' back there!"

Naruto just tilted his head and replied, "Well, you can't deny they're perfect for each other, ya know?"

"There's gotta be some kind of mistake here! No woman in her right man would fall for that cheap imitator!" Ino exclaimed while shivering at the thought of Chikara.

"Come on now, don't be so superficial Ino, who knows, maybe Fuku's into that kind of man, ya know?" Naruto said while massaging the shoulders of the distressed Ino, he was also channelling some of his chakra to calm her down a bit and to prepare her for later.

Ino did calmed down a little but she still exclaimed, "No way that can be possible! He's a stuck up overweight buffoon!"

Naruto just grabbed her shoulder and said, "Aight, aight, I got ya babe, just calm down aight…" Ino did calmed down and then blushed a little after being called 'babe' by her crush, "Just go back to the room and I'll ask Fuku if this is the right guy, okay?" He then added and Ino nodded as a yes and with that, Ino walked back to Chikara while Naruto headed towards Fuku's hideout.

* * *

"What are you talking about, of course that is Chikara! Who else could it be!?…" Fuku replied to Naruto who was standing behind her hiding spot before she added, "That darling man means everything to me!"

Naruto just sighed tiredly while saying, "I thought so…"

Fuku just sighed dreamily before she claimed with passion, "He is the paragon of elegance! I wish that I could see him in person with these two eyes of mine!"

"Well, what are you gonna do? We all have shit to deal with… right?…" Naruto muttered tiredly after leaning his body against the door, he could already feel the headache that Ino's nagging will undoubtedly bring to him when she hears that the buffoon is the actual Prince Chikara.

Fuku just turned around and said angrily with a demanding voice, "Look, just do what you have to do to seal the deal, okay!?…" She then turned towards the pipe she was using to snoop the meeting and added, "Now, quit your complaining and tell her to get to work!"

Naruto just sighed once again and said without a care in the world, "Yeah, yeah, don't worry…" With that, he left and went back towards the room where Ino and Chikara were in.

* * *

"You gotta be kidding me!" Ino whispered angrily to Naruto who had just arrived with the bad news, she just couldn't grasp how a Princess could fall for a man like Chikara, but worse was that she had to make him fall for her as well, otherwise it will be a failed mission and since she wanted to impress Naruto, failure was not an option.

"Nope, afraid not, Fuku says this is the guy, can't grasp on it either, but there's nothing we can do, you'll have to go with it." The Uzumaki whispered back while leaning against the wall.

"Still feeling a little tad nervous, arrre ya? Well, then how about some music to lighten the mood…" Chikara then said before he clapped his hands and soon after, the doors behind him opened and there stood his attendants with instruments ready to play.

Ino just smiled awkwardly and then said while waving her hands, "N-No! That's okay…" She then turned to Naruto who just smirked teasingly at her, clearly amused by her situation, _'You… damn… arrogant… prick…'_ She cursed the silverette mentally while walking again to her seat.

Chikara then leaned on her a little and said, "So tell me, you care for rrroses at all?"

Ino just smiled awkwardly again and replied, "Y-Yes, sure…"

Chikara just smirked and replied, "Wonderful, I'm rather taken with them myself, they speak the language of love." He then out of nowhere appeared in front of Ino, making her back up a little due to the awkwardness of the situation.

Ino then just smiled warily before she replied, "Umm… but doesn't the meaning vary depending on the colour of the blossom?…" She then looked to the side trying to avoid the gaze of the large man before she added, "Yellow for example indicates your wish to break up."

Chikara just laughed before he said, "Now, that's a load of nonsense!…" He then clicked his fingers before he stood up and declared passionately, "A flower's just a flower, they don't know nothing." He then winked and after that, something that neither Ino nor Naruto will ever forget in their lives occurred.

The light in the room suddenly disappeared and a lone reflector then appeared out of nowhere, the reflector was aiming at Chikara who now had a yellow flower on his mouth and then, he started dancing horribly. The sight was so horrifying that not even the Red Dragon Emperor himself could even stutter a single word after seeing such horrific dance.

They could see that Chikara indeed believed that he was dancing charmingly but his own fatness was making his dance something horrendous to see, his large belly was bouncing all over the place and the drops of sweat that his body was liberating were flying everywhere.

After some seconds of Chikara's 'dance', he kissed the yellow flower and said while handing it to Ino, "This is for you."

Both Ino and Naruto were frozen, none of them had any idea what the hell did just happened, they only knew that they wanted to forget about it as soon as possible. Ino then shivered harshly after she finally broke out of her stupor and with a squeal, she stood up and ran out of the room screaming.

Chikara was confused and only turned to Naruto who had just broke himself out of his stupor as well before he said, "Hehe… she's just umm… a little shy, ya know?… I'll go get her…" With that, he walked out of the room and went to chase Ino.

It took him some seconds but he finally found Ino who was currently furiously punching the wall, leaving a big hole on the way, "Sexy, calm down." He said soothingly while grabbing her hands to stop her from denting the wall.

Ino just looked at him and replied angrily, "I can't calm down! I just can't do it!"

The silver-haired jinchūriki just chuckled a little and said after, "Just take a breather and do your best, you'll be fine."

The blonde Yamanaka heiress shook her head to the sides while saying, "Forget it, he repulses me."

Namikaze just sighed tiredly before he negotiated, "Then, just pretend he's a weird version of Chōji."

"Chōji's got meat on him for the sake of his ninjutsu!…" The blonde said before she crossed her arms and added, "What this… buffoon… is packing in on for is beyond me!…" She then began to walk away while muttering angrily, "I need to talk to the Princess."

" _Sigh,_ Women…" Naruto just muttered tiredly while massaging his temples.

 ** _"_** ** _I think there's no need for a body double in this situation."_** Suddenly, the voice of the Nine Tailed Fox was heard inside Naruto's mindscape, startling him a little.

Tilting his head to the side, the last Uzumaki asked mentally, _"What'cha talking 'bout?"_

With a sigh, the red-headed woman explained, **_"The human Princess is apparently worried that the… buffoon… may find her current shape unattractive, but for what I can see from that repulsive man, who's to say he doesn't like obese females?"_**

The Namikaze just raised his eyebrow in surprise before he replied, _"So, you think he might like 'em big, huh?…"_ He could picture the woman/fox nodding at his deduction, making him smirk after getting an idea, _"Well, well, well, such a brilliant idea, I knew we'd make a fantastic couple, Kyū."_

Inside his mindscape, said Tailed Beast just flicked her hair back and replied indignantly, although wearing a cute blush on her cheeks, **_"Whatever…"_**

Naruto just laughed before he turned back towards the room with Chikara while thinking, _'Hope this works because if it doesn't, amma get killed either by Ino or Fuku…'_

* * *

"Ah, Prrrrincess, I was starting to get… what!?…" Chikara was saying before he abruptly stopped after seeing Fuku. The Princess that just seconds ago was slim and shorter, was now as fat as him and taller as well, confusing him greatly, "What… what is going on?" He asked.

 _'_ _Oh shit… don't tell me Kyū was wrong, fool!…'_ Naruto thought alarmingly after seeing the perplexed expression on Chikara's face, he was starting to believe that he didn't like 'em big.

 ** _"_** ** _Stop panicking and just say something to excuse your deceive."_** Kurama mentally said to her freaked out host.

Naruto now henged as the true Princess Fuku shook her head a little and then said while doing his best impression of a damsel in love, "Umm… C-Chikara… I… I'm s-sorry…"

Chikara just tilted his head and then said back, "F-For what?"

The henged Naruto looked down and said with an ashamed tone, "I… I hired a n-ninja that looks exactly like me but… slimmer…" He then brought his gaze to him and continued, "I w-was so af-afraid that y-you might find me… you know… repulsive…" Naruto did his best to sound weak, he felt like a fool but well, he needed to nail this impersonation.

Chikara just stayed there frozen for some seconds before he said, "Princess… why would I find you repulsive?"

"Because of… my current figure…" 'Fuku said before she added, "I was so nervous for meeting you that I… I started to eat anything I could… I planned to wait until the wedding so I could slim down but… I cannot stay away from you anymore, my Prince!" Naruto just made his best impression of a love confession, trying to make the fat Prince to fall for the Princess.

Chikara just smirked and all of a sudden, he closed in his distance with 'Fuku' and embraced her seductively while saying, "Prrrincess… this… this is what haunts my dreams at night…" Chikara than released her and claimed while pumping his fists in the air, "That body is the pinnacle of perfection!" Then, a lot of rose petals appeared from out of nowhere and Chikara started to dance once again.

Naruto just stayed there stupefied, he didn't see this coming, _"The fuck…"_ He mentally said while doing all he could to stay here and not run away immediately as his instincts were telling him to do.

 ** _"_** ** _Told you."_** The haughty voice of the Nine-Tails said to him mentally, sounding quite cocky do to her accurate prediction, but she did not enjoyed at all the sight of the fat Prince dancing.

 ** _"_** ** _Sigh… humans…"_** Was all Ddraig could say at the moment, this was something that he was never capable to understand, human extravagance.

"Well how about it Prrrincess…" Suddenly, the voice of Chikara broke the Uzumaki out of his mental conversation with his tenants to see Chikara kneeling with a rose in his hand before he added, "How about you and I hook our bindings togetherrr?"

Naruto just laughed awkwardly before he replied, "Umm… s-sure…"

Chikara then stood up and started to lean on for a passionate kiss, Naruto seeing such horrific sight, thought, _'Oh shit! No, no, no, no, no!… I gotta find a way to stall this shit, yo!…'_ He frantically thought an excuse until he finally found one, "Oh Ch-Chikara, my love… I umm… I'm so nervous!… I need to cool down first from such happiness that envelops my maiden heart!" He then ran out of the room, leaving a confused but cocky Chikara behind.

"So strong my charm and handsomeness is… you lucky Prrrrincess…" Chikara muttered proudly after seeing the 'Princess' flee.

It took Naruto some seconds of running, but he then finally arrived to where Fuku and Ino were. As he approached the room, he could hear the sound of arguing, no doubt Ino was complaining about Chikara. Without knocking, he opened the door abruptly and said, "Mission accomplished."

Both Ino and Fuku were startled at first but then went shocked after they saw a clone of Fuku standing on the door wearing a proud smile on her face, "Na-Naruto!?…" Ino asked unbelievingly, she recognized the chakra signature of her crush, but felt wary of seeing him like that, "What did you do?" She muttered threatenly to the silverette who now was starting to sweat a little.

Naruto just laughed warily and then released the henge, turning back into his normal self before he replied, "Yo… babe… calm down… lemme explain…" He was placing his hands forward in a placating manner, trying to defuse a dangerous situation with an angry Ino.

"Wh-What's going on?" Fuku asked, feeling utterly confused after seeing the silver-haired boy transformed as her current self.

"Well, explain!" Ino then demanded angrily.

The last Uzumaki just sighed before he explained, "Well, I was thinking that maybe Chikara, being an extravagant person himself, I thought that maybe, just maybe, he had an equal extravagant… ya know… taste…" Both women felt confused so they tilted their heads a little while sending an inquisitive look towards the jinchūriki who continued, "What I mean is that, I thought that maybe Chikara likes… ya know… 'large' women…"

Both women just widened their eyes before the blonde Yamanaka heiress asked threatenly, "Did you… did you just went henged as Fuku in her current form and revealed yourself as the true Princess Fuku!?"

The silverette just gulped a little but replied a little nonchalantly, "Yup, that's what I did."

Both Fuku and Ino just gasped in horror, but after regaining her composure, the blonde kunoichi jumped at her crush and bumped harshly on his head before she claimed, "You dummy!"

Fuku stood up and said, "Oh no! Now… Chikara… my beloved… he must feel disgusted with me…" She then started to cry while covering her face with her hands.

Ino wanted to kick Naruto's ass for ruining their plan but then, the silverette said something none of them expected, "Umm… actually… he likes 'em big…"

Ino just looked at him in disbelief while Fuku stopped crying and directed her watered eyes towards the Namikaze, and with a hopeful tone in her voice, she whispered, "Wh-What do you mean?"

Naruto just sighed and leaned on the wall before he responded, "He loved your current figure, he said, 'That body is the pinnacle of perfection', he was about to kiss me, but I ran like hell out of there." He then shivered after remembering how close Chikara was to plant a kiss on him, he was damn sure that if the repulsive Prince had managed to kiss him back there, he would commit suicide.

Ino just stayed there completely baffled, she had no way to explain how something like this was happening, she knows she's shallow most of the time, but still, this was completely weird.

Fuku for her part just stood up happily, with a beaming smile on her face before she said, "Then… is h-he…"

Naruto just smirked at her before he replied, "Yes Fuku, he's waiting for ya, go and claim yo man."

With those words, Fuku immediately ran out of the room and headed towards her beloved Prince Chikara, who was waiting for his Princess to come back. Naruto then just chuckled after the Princess left, he was finding the baffled look on Ino's beautiful face quite amusing, he walked towards the frozen blonde and said while pinching her cheek, "Hey sexy, get your shit together, babe."

The Yamanaka heiress after hearing the voice of her crush finally broke out of her frozen state, she stared at Naruto directly at his eyes and asked with great disbelief etched in her voice, "H-How… wh-what the hell just happened?…"

Naruto just chuckled before he said, "I don't know, I guess, there is a taste for everything…" He then sat on the mat and urged the blonde to sit beside him, she did as told and the silver-haired then added, "Let's just take a breather before we go and meet the two new love birds."

Ino nodded and laid her back on the wall, she was about to close her eyes when she remembered something, "You said you wanted to talk to me about something?" She blushed because her mind started to work wildly with dozens of romantic fantasies.

The silverette just chuckled and then replied with his eyes closed, "We'll talk 'bout it before we go back to the Leaf, don't worry, just chill for now…"

Ino just nodded and closed her eyes as well, she felt very tired after all the ordeal with Prince Chikara and Princess Fuku, but different from her relaxed vibe, her heart was pounding like crazy, really eager to hear what the man she's in love with has to say.

* * *

"Well, at least it went well…" Ino muttered while walking beside the silver-haired ninja. The two had just set off to the Leaf after being thanked by both Chikara and Fuku who also extended an invitation for the two of them to stay for the rest of the day and night on Fuku's estate, Ino was all for it but to her surprise, Naruto politely declined saying that they needed to get back to the Leaf as soon as possible, "Naru… why didn't we stayed at Princess Fuku's estate? It's getting dark already and it might get too dangerous ahead." She then said after some seconds, she was starting to see the sun fading away and knowing that there are many bandit groups lurking in the night, she was starting to get a little worried.

The silverette just turned to her and said with a devious smirk, "Ah don't worry Ino! We're not going to travel at night."

The blonde kunoichi just turned to him and asked while tilting her head to the side, "What? Then why did you declined the Princess' offer? Are you implying we camp in the goddamn woods when we could've stayed on a comfortable bed!?" She then closed her distance with her crush and grabbed him by the collar of his red shirt while looking at him with threatening eyes.

The silverette jinchūriki just waved his hands in a placate manner while saying sheepishly, "Hehe… relax sexy… chill… we're not staying in the woods."

Ino released him but asked back, "Then where? I don't see an inn nearby!"

The silverette just smirked before he replied, "Babe, chill, just follow mah lead, aight? I promise you, ya gonna love where we're going."

The Yamanaka heiress just tilted her head with great confusion but in the end, she decided to indulge on her crush's little game and relented, falling into step with him. The pair continued their walk for some minutes until Naruto suddenly urged her to follow him down a path that seemed to be almost covered in undergrowth, she again decided to stow her questions aside and just continued to follow the silver-haired ramen lover, it took them some minutes but finally, they arrived to a medium sized estate.

"Na-Naruto?" Ino whispered after she saw the strange place, she didn't know where they were but for what she could see, it looked like the house that belonged to second rate clan's head.

Naruto kept his silence when he opened the door and led Ino into the house, she was then surprised when she saw that contrary to the outside, the interior was actually clean and did not seemed abandoned at all, it did seemed a little forgotten, but she could see that somebody keeps this place habitable.

The silverette just turned towards Ino and said after dropping his bag on the floor, "Welcome to mah granpops' house!"

Ino just looked at him a little baffled but after some seconds of silence, she regained her wits and questioned, "Your grandfather's?…" She felt a little confused until she remembered who he was talking about, "Oh! You mean… the 'White Fang'!?"

The silverette just nodded proudly before he said, "Yup, the very same, Sakumo Hatake!"

Ino felt a little confused however, so she asked, "But, we're not in the Leaf… why would your grandfather have a house this far away from the village?"

"Oh, because this was a gift for mah grandma!…" The Uzumaki said before he sat on the couch and then added, "Ya see, Pa told me that granny didn't really liked living in the Leaf, so, granpops decided to build her a house away from the village, they were supposed to move here after Pa had taken over the Hatake clan but well, you know the story…" He just smiled sadly after remembering the stories of how both of his adoptive grandparents died.

Ino sensing the gloominess that was starting to take over the atmosphere, decided to comment, "Well, it is a nice place, I'm sure we'll be comfortable here."

Namikaze just smirked before he said, "Yeah, but there's one place you'll love…" He then stood up and began to walk outside of the house by using a back door, but before he left, he spoke, "Go and have a quick refresh or something, come and meet me back here in thirty minutes, just follow the path and you'll get to me, aight?"

Ino fell a little confused but remembering that he was supposed to tell her something, she blushed and replied with some stutter in her voice, "A-Alright…"

With that, Naruto disappeared from view and Ino headed towards one of the rooms where she went straight to the shower to calm her raging hormones and her beating heart, waiting anxiously for the 30 minutes to pass.

* * *

Ino's heart was beating like crazy, she has never felt so nervous in her entire life as she was now, 30 minutes have passed since Naruto left her alone in the Hatake 's estate and now the time for their meeting has come, "W-What wo-would he want to di-discuss?…" She muttered while clutching her chest and walking through the path that Naruto told her to follow.

It took her some minutes of walking but when she arrived to her destination, she was utterly stupefied. There, in front of her, was a beautiful sunflower field that along with the gorgeous sight of the sun setting at the distance were giving a wonderful postcard fit for any romantic scene.

"Glad you made it." The voice of her silver-haired crush then broke her out of her stupor, making her turn to face him.

Ino was again a little stupefied after seeing the handsome young man standing there with both his hands on his coat's pockets while looking at the sun, he looked like a King looking at his kingdom, so powerful, so magnificent, so kind and just, _'Naru…'_ Ino thought while trying to control her heart which was beating like crazy. She's asked herself sometimes whether her feelings for the silverette are just a simple crush or if they may be deeper, but feeling her heart now and seeing the young man standing beside her so charmingly, she knew right away that she was crazy in love with him, "Arrogant prick…" She muttered after turning her head away while wearing a mad blush on her face.

The silverette just chuckled before he turned to look at her and said, "Well, I believe I am allowed to feel a little smug after making such a woman like you blush like a school girl." He then cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him, making her fluster even more.

Ino just lost herself a little after locking her gaze to Naruto's fantastic blue eyes, she never gets tired of them, they have a haunting dark blue iris that resembled the fiercest of seas and that magnificent golden slit that seemed to look at your very soul, they were magnificent indeed. She shook her head a little to rid her mind of her flustered state and said after turning to look at the field with an embarrassed blush still etched on her cheeks, "Idiot… w-what is this pl-place?"

Naruto just smirked before he replied, "Well, a sunflower field…" Ino just turned to look at him with an annoyed look, prompting him to add, "Hehe… chill… dunno who planted this field, but it's been here ever since the first time mah Pa brought me here and well, since I know that this are your favourite flowers, I thought this place was fitting for our little chat."

Ino's heart just throbbed faster, this kind of scene was everything she had dreamt of how Naruto's love declaration to her would be, so being a maiden in love, she found it difficult to respond without stutter, "O-Oh… umm… y-you… you w-wanted to t-talk about… so-something?…"

Naruto just turned his gaze towards the field and nodded as yes before he said, "Yeah…" He then sighed and continued, "Ino, do you love me?"

Ino just widened her eyes after hearing those words, she was hoping that their conversation would go this way but she was still very nervous about this so she couldn't stop her nervousness to spill in her voice when she replied, "I… umm… I do…" She just casted her gaze down, avoiding to look at the young man as she muttered a question that she feared the answer to, "D-Do… do y-you… lo-love… me?"

The silverette just chuckled and answered honestly, "No…" Hearing the gasp from the blonde, Naruto knew he had to say something quick so he added, "But I know I will soon."

Ino at first felt her heart crumbling into million pieces but after hearing the last part of his response, all trace of sadness in her heart went away, "D-Do… do y-you mean it?" She asked with a hopeful voice while looking at him.

The Uzumaki then turned his eyes at hers and replied with honesty etched in his voice, "Yes, I do mean it…" Ino after hearing this, jumped right at him and hugged him tightly, she wanted to plant a huge kiss on him but he stopped her by releasing the hug gently and saying, "But, before we do anything else, I need to ask ya some things, Ino."

Ino felt confused but not wanting to waste the opportunity to be with the man she loves, she nodded and said, "O-Okay… umm… ask away."

Naruto just sighed heavily before he began, "Alright… Ino, do you truly want to be with me?"

The Yamanaka felt even more confused but replied earnestly, "Of course, I really do… I… I have thought about it for some time now and… my feelings for you, babe… they're as real as they get." She then smiled lovingly at him.

The silverette smiled back and added another question, "And, are you willing to be with me as long as our lives permit it?"

Ino then widened her eyes after hearing that and whispered, "Na-Naru… are you… a-are you asking me… to ma-ma-marry you!?…"

Seeing that he was misunderstood, Naruto frantically waved his hands in dismissal while saying, "No! No babe! That's not what I was trying to say!…" He breathed in and out and added, "What I mean is, do you see me as someone with whom you would like to be with for the rest of your life?"

Ino released a relieved breath after finally getting what he meant, she loved him, dearly, but she was not ready to marry him just yet. She then looked at him and after some seconds of thinking, she replied honestly, "Yes, I… there is really no other man I could see myself with for such a long time."

Naruto just smiled at her and then urged her to sit on the grass, she did as told and soon later he followed. Naruto then took a deep breath and thought, _'Well, here we go…'_ As usual, he was starting to freak out a little but managing to control his nervousness, he said, "Okay then, before anything else is said, there is something important about me you need to know…" Ino nodded in yes and with that, Naruto began his long explanation about everything, who he really was, what was that he wanted to achieve, his growing family and how she could be part of it all.

It took him 30 minutes to tell the whole story, he expected Ino to be frantic and lashing out at him, or to at least to call him a pervert, but instead, Ino was calm, listening to every single word he said and strangely, she had a glint in her eyes that said that she might have even expected something like this.

Ino then proved his guess correct when she said after some minutes of silence, "I… I really don't know why but… I kinda already expected something like this…"

The silverette then asked, "How?"

Ino actually smiled sweetly at him before she answered, "Well, I've seen Ayame and lately she has been, really, reaaaally happy… we all know that she is madly in love with you so I had the suspicion that you two might be a thing…" She then looked at the rising moon and continued, "But, for some strange reason, I didn't felt crushed or sad because… there was… something… a feeling in my heart… call it female intuition if you want… that it was telling me that I still had a chance…" She looked back at him and added, "I felt confused at first but then I realized, you never had love when you were a child, you were all alone… it made sense you know?… that you would want to get as much love as you could."

"Ino…" Naruto whispered after listening to her words, he had no idea how the women he's been choosing seem to read him so well, even Tsunami and Haku deduced things about him with just looking at him, "But… you thought that I… wanted multiple girls?"

Ino shrugged and then said, "Kinda I guess, seeing that you are the Leaf's greatest Adonis, I didn't took the possibility away…" She chuckled a little before she continued, "But everything else you said, you being a dragon, having the Twelve-Wings sealed inside you, your ambition and how you want to achieve… I gotta admit, I did not see that coming at all."

Naruto just chuckled back and said while looking at the night sky, "Yeah, I know that it is a shocker, it shocked me as well after Ryū told me his plan…" He then brought his gaze back at her and finished, "You can't deny that the strategy is sound, perverted yes, but sound none the less."

Ino just laughed with a gorgeous smile before she admitted, "That, I cannot deny."

The two then laughed for a little bit before Naruto asked a little nervously, "So… what do you say?"

Ino look at him lovingly but said, "I… I love you Naru… I really do… and I have no problem with polygamy… it actually… t-turns me on…" She blushed after her admission but then continued, "But, can you let me think about it for some time? I think I already know my answer but, I want to be a hundred percent sure if I am to commit myself to you for all eternity."

"Oh… okay… I understand." Naruto replied while smiling at her, he felt a little down but could not really blame her, what he was asking was the biggest change in one's life than anybody could ask, he understood perfectly that Ino and Haku wanted some time to think it through.

Seeing that her beloved felt a little rejected, she approached him and in a move that surprised him, she kissed him deeply. They stayed in the kiss for some seconds but then, Ino gently broke the kiss to say, "Don't feel down babe, my love won't fade away and even if I choose to not be a part of your family, I will still lend you my help and I will always follow you to wherever you lead us."

Naruto smiled honestly and said, "Thanks Ino, you are really important to me, losing you will hurt me a lot…"

"You'll never lose me, as long as I don't lose you…" Ino said while caressing his cheek lovingly. He nodded in response and she then said with a more timid voice, "That… was my first kiss… you know?…"

Naruto chuckled and then said while caressing her sides, "Really now… and how was it?"

Ino just looked at him in the eyes and replied with a smile and a blush, "As I've always dreamed it would be… with the man that I dreamed too…"

Naruto then kissed her forehead and said while getting up, "Well babe, let's get back to the estate, we gotta be back in the Leaf at morning."

Ino nodded and grabbed the hand that Naruto offered, she then dusted herself up a little and hugged his left arm before she leaned her head on his shoulder and with that, the two began their trek back to the Hatake estate. Ino didn't know what the future holds for her, but she knew that she wanted it to be by this young man's side, she just needed to be completely sure of it, _'Who am I kidding…'_ She thought with a cute smile while closing her eyes and enjoyed the scent and presence of Naruto, already knowing what she will answer when the time comes.

* * *

 **A/N: There you go! Hope you liked it! See ya lads next chap, cheers!**


	13. Lavender

**A/N: Yo waddup lads! We're back with another chapie and as usual, let me say some stuff.**

 **I've noticed that some of you are getting way to hung up with power levels and the original lore of both Naruto and DXD, please, I ask that when you read this story you forget about the original works entirely, this is a different universe, it's not a retelling of the original work just meshed together, it's a world built with elements from both franchises, but that is all, if you focus too much on the cannon version you will never enjoy the story, unless something is specified in the story itself. Everything about the character and places are different from cannon, their backgrounds, their levels, their motives, their personalities, it's all different, so please, focus only on what it's explained here, that way you will enjoy the story.**

 **I think that's it so let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **Lavender**

"Uff… we're finally back!" Ino said with relief after finally arriving at the Village Hidden in the Leaves. They had set off from the Hatake estate 2 hours ago and both were really eager to get back to their home as soon as possible.

"Yeah, finally, I swear I need to get that jutsu right already…" The last Uzumaki said before he muttered the last part almost silently.

Ino heard him though, so she looked at him and while tilting her head to the side, she asked, "Jutsu? What jutsu?"

Naruto just cursed himself for saying something he shouldn't have since he did not wanted to reveal to those outside of his confidents that he was trying to get the 'Thunder God Jutsu' down, so after scratching his scruff sheepishly, he replied, "Ah… hehe… it's umm… a jutsu that… increases mah speed, ya know!?"

The blonde Yamanaka heiress narrowed her eyes at him while thinking, _'What are you hiding Naruto?…'_ She knew that he was hiding something but knowing that he will tell her once he deems it alright, she stowed her questions and replied, "Well, if you say so…" She then gave her card to the guards at the village's doors and added, "Well, I gotta go and report to Lord Hokage, are you coming with me?"

The silverette shook his head in no while saying, "Nope, sorry babe, but I didn't let the Old Man know that I left the village… hehehe…" He scratched his chin while chuckling nervously before he added, "I know he's gon punish me soooo… I want to enjoy what's left of my freedom before he sends someone for me."

The Yamanaka just laughed at his antics before she said, "Alright, then I guess I'll see you later…" Naruto nodded but before the two parted ways, she said while grabbing his wrist and looking at the ground with a blush on her face, "I… I p-promise you babe… I-I'll give you an a-answer soon…"

The rap-lover just chuckled and leaned on her to give her a kiss on the forehead before he replied, "Don't worry about it Ino, take all the time ya need, aight? I'll be going nowhere…" The blonde just smiled and nodded before she took off to the Hokage Tower, leaving the silverette alone, "Well, better go and see Aya and tell her the somewhat good news, I guess… oh man… the Old Man's gon kill me fool…" He added while a nervous shiver ran down his spine knowing that his adoptive grandfather was going to be pissed that he didn't told him he was leaving with Ino.

After that, he jumped to the nearest roof and headed towards Ichiraku's, hoping that Ayame was there to tell her how it go with Ino while also preparing a strategy for his next target, one Hinata Hyūga.

* * *

"Come on in." The voice of the Leaf's most powerful man was heard inside his office after a knock on his door came.

The door then opened and soon, the figure of one blonde Yamanaka walked inside the room, "Mission accomplished, Lord Third." Ino then said while bowing respectfully to her leader.

The old timer smiled warmly at her before he said, "Ah, Ino dear, that is good, how'd it go?"

Ino smiled back but then shivered a little when she replied, "Well… it was umm… interesting…"

The Hokage chuckled before he said, "I take it you met Prince Chikara then?"

The Yamanaka just widened her eyes a little before she claimed heatedly, "You… you knew!?… about the mission and all!?"

"Hehe…" The Hokage laughed a little before he replied, "Yes, I had the details about the whole mission."

Ino's eyebrow twitched badly before she said, "Why you… you have any idea how… horrific it was to be near that man!?… why didn't you tell me!?"

"Well, because you would've declined the mission." Hiruzen replied dryly while having an amused smile on his wrinkled face.

The heiress just sighed tiredly before she said, "Well, I guess you're right, sir."

After some seconds, the Sarutobi blew his pipe and said, "So, did Naruto gave you any trouble?"

Ino then looked a little nervous while she replied, "Umm… I don't know what a-are you ta-talking about, sir… Na-Naru wasn't w-with me…"

The Third just waved her worry away with his hands when he replied, "Please Ino, don't worry, there's no need to cover for him, I knew he left with you the moment you two stepped outside the village."

Ino felt a little surprised by this but then questioned, "What!?… if you knew then… why did you let him go?"

"First, because I wanted to send someone with you in case anything wrong would've happened…" Hiruzen said before he blew some smoke from his pipe, "And second, because that gave me a perfect excuse to punish Naruto with sending him on a mission that involves something he hates." He added with a mischievous smile plastering his tanned face.

Ino tilted her head to the sides when she asked, "What kind of mission?"

The Hokage just laughed before he replied, "Bug hunting."

Ino just paled a little after that, she knew that Naruto hated bugs with passion, he didn't feared them or anything the like, but he was someone with very little patience and bugs annoyed the hell out of him, _'Good luck babe…'_ She thought with a little bit of mirth.

* * *

"So, she asked for some time then, huh?" Ayame summarized after hearing the tale from her beloved. Naruto arrived some minutes ago and immediately after eating his bowl of ramen, he told her all that happened on his mission with Ino. She does feels a little disappointed that Ino had asked for some time but she could understand her as well since Ino was still very young, a commitment like the one the silverette was asking for was obviously something intimidating to someone so young. But still, she knew that the blonde Yamanaka loved the silverette, so just like with Haku, the brunette ramen waitress was sure that both Ino and Haku were already committed to Naruto, they just wanted time to assimilate it fully.

The silverette nodded before he replied, "Yup, can't blame her though, I know is a big commitment, but I'm sure she'll say yes…" He declared confidently while slurping his second bowl of ramen, "Now, to think about Hinata, I gotta admit, I'm not so sure about her." He then added.

Ayame tilted her head to the side and then asked, "Why you say so?"

"Well, I think Hinata is like… umm… not possessive… but… territorial, ya know?…" The Namikaze replied before he added further, "I don't think she'll react well to be part of a… _sigh_ … Harem…" He said that word with a tired sigh. He didn't really liked the word because it made him sound like a breeding machine and someone who really didn't cared about his women, but there was really no other word to describe it.

Ayame chuckled a little before she said amused, "You have so much trouble saying 'Harem' when it's exactly what you're building… heheh…" She then stopped the teasing before she added, "But yeah, I see your point sweetie, Hinata does seem to be the kind of girl who believes that you can only love one person, so you might have trouble there."

Naruto just sighed heavily before he asked, "Yeah… what do ya think?…" Seeing that the brunette was confused, he elaborated, "Should I go with it or nah?"

Ayame nodded in understanding before she replied, "Mmm… well, you said that Lord Ddraig had some way to erase memories, right?"

"Not really, I mean, he can do it, but it'll come with a lot of damage to Hinata's mind…" The silver-haired teenager replied before he added, "He can however make a memory like… umm… foggy."

"Foggy?…" Ayame said while tilting her head in confusion. She then theorized, "You mean like difficult to remember?"

"Mhm…" Naruto hummed as yes while continuing slurping his food. He then said after chewing the noodles, "Yup, it will be extremely difficult to remember, she might need the help of a powerful Yamanaka to 'unfog' the memory."

"Mhm… then go with it, worst case scenario happens, you just have to 'fog' her memory and that's it." Ayame said.

Naruto nodded in yes but before the pair could continue their chatter, a figure appeared behind the silverette and pinched his cheek hard, "You reckless idiot!" The cat masked ANBU Captain said with annoyance and worry etched in her voice. She was really rattled when she heard from her leader that Naruto left the village without authorization, and worse, he was alone with Ino.

"Ou… ou… Yū!... wait!... ah… that hurts!" Naruto pleaded while Ayame was chuckling at the scene.

Yūgao the released his cheek and after a light bump on his head, she said, "I wouldn't have done that if you wouldn't have left the village all by yourself! And without authorization!"

The silverette just chuckled nervously and while scratching his scruff sheepishly, he replied, "Hey, come on now, I wasn't alone! Ino was with me!"

The purple-haired kunoichi pouted behind her cat mask and countered, "Yes, but you know that you have people after you, Naruto! It's too dangerous for you to travel without someone strong to back you up!" She was really distressed as it seems.

Naruto seeing the clear worry on the kunoichi, just sighed and said, "Yeah, I know, I know… I'm sorry Yū… I promise I won't do anything like that again." He was going to, but for the sake of calming the purple-haired beauty in front of him down, he had to lie.

The Uzuki woman just took a deep breath and replied while ruffling the silverette's hair, "Alright then, I'll hold you to it…" She then went back to her cold-self and added, "Now, Lord Third has requested your presence immediately."

The ex-blond sighed tiredly before he said, "Yeah, I expected as much…" He then turned towards Ayame and added before he left, "Well, gotta go and see what the Old Man has in store for me, see ya later, aight!?"

Ayame smiled lovingly at him and replied, "Okay Naru, if he sends you on another mission make sure to come here before you go, okay?"

The silverette just nodded with a smile and soon after, leapt off towards the nearest roof and headed to the Hokage Tower, with Yūgao in tow thinking, _'Are he and the Ichiraku girl a couple?…'_ She liked the girl, she is kind and has always been good to the silverette, but she had no idea why she was feeling an irritated pang in her heart.

* * *

"Yo Old Man! Waddup!?" The voice of one silver-haired Naruto Namikaze was heard coming through the window behind the Hokage's desk.

Turning around to greet his surrogate grandson, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled warmly at the ball of mischief before he replied, "Ah, Naruto my boy, how are you?"

Nodding at Yūgao who came into the office with him, he went to stand in front of the Hokage's desk and then responded, "I'm aight, just chilling, ya know?"

The Hokage nodded while smoking some of his tobacco before he said, "Yes, I see, I take it you had fun with Ino?" He then sent a knowing look towards the boy, telling him to not even try to deny he went with the Yamanaka on her mission.

The silver-haired teenager just scratched below his nose before he said back, "Hehe… yeah about that… umm… I couldn't just let her go on her own, ya know!?… plus! It was her father who requested it!"

The Hokage just smirked devilishly before he claimed, "That may be true my boy, but you failed to notify me, your Hokage, you left the village on your own and without proper escort."

The Namikaze just frowned and then whined, "I'm not some defenceless Prince, ya know!? You worry too much Old Man, I can take care of mahself!"

The Hokage just sighed tiredly, knowing that there was really no way for him to put a leash on the boy. He knew that Naruto disliked to be treated as a precious person to the village, even knowing that he is, but even if he hated it, the Third could not just allow the Namikaze to roam without someone powerful watching his back, he was a high profile target and ever since his stunt in Wave Country, he has been inducted alongside Sasuke and Sakura in the Bingo Book, so the Sarutobi needed to be more careful.

"I know you're not, Naruto, but there are many people who are after you and you know it…" The old Hokage said with a stern voice that made Naruto silence himself from a retort, "But, onto other matters, you will have to be punished for your little adventure."

The teenager jinchūriki just groaned annoyed before he said, "Come on Old Maaaan! Can't you just, ya know, let it slide for once?"

Hiruzen just chuckled while saying, "No my boy, I'm sorry, you're going to have to be punished."

Sighing in defeat, Naruto just casted his gaze down and said annoyed, "Aight, I get, I get it fam…" He then looked back the old timer and added, "What's it gon be then? Painting fences? Picking up cow's shit? Pruning some lazy ass' grass?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi just looked straight at the ex-blond's eyes and with a devilish smirk plastered on his wrinkled face, he said, "Oh no, naught of that, you'll be sent on a mission with Team Eight."

Tilting his head to the side in confusion since he could not see how that would be a punishment, he inquired, "Umm… I know that Kiba is annoying but, I fail to see how's that a punishment, not that I mind thou."

"Ah, the punishment is not you being with Team Eight, the punishment is the mission itself…" Hiruzen said to his adoptive grandson who raised an eyebrow in even more confusion. The Sarutobi blew more smoke from his mouth before he explained, "You see, the Aburame clan have requested a special mission, you are to search the legendary bikōchū beetle."

Naruto then widened his eyes and said while pointing at his village's leader accusingly, "Wo, wo, wo! You ain't sending me on a bug hunt are ya!?…" The Hokage just nodded in yes, prompting the Namikaze to groan even louder in annoyance, "Oh come on! That ain't fair, fool! I fucking hate bugs! Come on, pleeeease, I rather pick up cow's shit!" He added with a pleading face and puppy eyes.

The Hokage just smirked wider when he replied, "No, sorry Naruto, but this is punishment, and this is an order, so you're going to have to deal with it."

"Oh maaan, this sucks…" The last Uzumaki muttered while looking at the ground in defeat. He then looked up and said resigned, "When do I leave then?"

"Good to see you're cooperating…" The Sarutobi said with a smug smile after seeing the defeated look on his surrogate grandson, "You are to leave tomorrow at seven A.M., Team Eight and Kurenai Yuhi will be there waiting for you." He then added.

After hearing that the beautiful ruby-eyed genjutsu mistress was going on this mission, the Namikaze thought, _'Well, well, well, this ain't gon suck so much after all yo… Kure-sensei…'_ He started to drool after imaging the fantastic figure of the 'Leaf's Genjutsu Mistress'. He then shook his head to the sides to rid his mind of lecherous thoughts and replied while walking towards the window, "Aight, aight, I got it, well, I'm off, bitches, see ya fam."

The Sarutobi just shook his head to the sides, already used to the teenager's uncouth mouth, "Well, hopefully nothing wrong goes with this mission." He then said while going back to his paperwork, hoping that Naruto's ability to attract dangerous situations does not come into play in this mission.

* * *

"I fucking hate this…" The silver-haired swordsman muttered angrily while making his way to the village's gates. He had just woken up some minutes ago and was already late to meet with Team 8 and Kurenai Yuhi, "Well, I'm Kakashi's son so they should already know what to expect." He then added uncaringly.

It took him some minutes to arrive to the rendezvous point with Team 8 due to his lazy pace, but after finally getting there, he saw the three genin and jōnin already waiting for him, a little annoyed by his lateness, "Waddup." He then greeted lazily after getting within reach.

" _Sigh,_ Seriously Naruto, you should not copy your father's bad habits." Kurenai said after the boy spoke, she scolded him a little but was carrying a small smile while pinching the silverette's cheek playfully. She, like her best friends, adored the boy, she was wary of him at first though she never thought of him as the Twelve-Wings, she was just afraid that he might lose it, but eventually after spending time with him, she really began to care for him.

"Unpunctuality is not a graceful trait in a shinobi, Naruto." Shino said with an emotionless voice.

"Guess the apple didn't fell far from the tree." Kiba then added a little annoyed after having to wait for his rival for 15 minutes. His relationship with the Uzumaki has grown ever since their first encounter, at first, the Inuzuka male thought that Naruto was just a dead-last with a lot of luck, but after some time, he saw that the ex-blond was actually a genius. Naruto was also fun to be around with, so throughout the Academy, the brunette teenager spent almost all his free time with Naruto, Sasuke, Shikimaru and Chōji.

"H-Hi Naru." Then the soft and melodic voice of one Hinata Hyūga said. While her shyness and self-esteem problems have faded, she could not avoid getting nervous around the silverette since her feelings for the Uzumaki had only grown through the years, ever since he stopped the bullies that were hurting her back when they were 9, she could not stop her love and admiration for him to grow.

Massaging the cheek that Kurenai pinched some seconds ago, the Namikaze swordsman replied, "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry… I was umm… helping a little girl who got lost, ya know?"

Team 8 and their leader just shook their heads to the sides while releasing a heavy sigh, already knowing it to be a lie, "You know, in all my years alongside your father and Guy, I have never understand how does Kakashi fools Guy with his lies every time…" The genjutsu mistress muttered before she added, "Alright then, before we go, let's have a quick briefing."

The four genin present nodded and soon stood before the ruby-eyed jōnin who then said, "Now, Naruto, do you know what this mission is about?"

Naruto nodded in yes while responding, "Yup, unfortunately…" He then sighed before he added, "We're supposed to hunt a stupid bug or something, aight?"

Shino Aburame just twitched his eyebrows while he chided, "Bugs are not stupid."

Naruto fell a little startled after hearing the annoyed voice of the Aburame heir but quickly after regaining his wits, he retorted, "Oh, right, I'm sorry, I meant to say an annoying bug!"

"Now, now, you two calm down…" The soft voice of Team 8's jōnin sensei then said, calming the two teenagers down after seeing the increasing conflict, "While you could have phrase it better Naruto, you are correct, your mission is to locate the bikōchū beetle, we will travel to its nest and then you'll head there to search for it while I attend to another mission."

Tilting her head to the sides, the blue-haired Hyūga heiress said, "You'll separate from us, sensei?" She didn't wanted to sound scared of being without their sensei, but she was still a genin and this was their first outside mission, so even if she knew that they were a strong team, she couldn't hide her uneasiness.

Smiling at the bluenette teenager, Kurenai replied, "Yes, I was giving a specific mission from the Hokage and I must tend to it while you tend to your own…" Walking towards Hinata, she rested a hand on the heiress' shoulder and added, "But don't worry, Naruto here is strong and smart enough to handle things, he'll be the one in charge once I leave you alone."

"Ah… nobody mentioned that to me… ya know…" The wary voice of Naruto then said, he was genuinely surprised to hear those words from the beautiful black-haired kunoichi.

"Well, it was obvious, you are the 'ROTY', the strongest of the genin and the best tactician, even better than Shikimaru…" Kiba then stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. But hearing those words coming from the usually arrogant Inuzuka was quite the surprise to those present, mostly Naruto who had his mouth opened in surprise. Seeing that everyone was watching him transfixed, Kiba the muttered annoyed, "What!? Just because I might be overconfident sometimes doesn't mean I don't know when to acknowledge someone! I mean please, this idiot freed an entire country, is already placed in the Bingo Book as a B-rank ninja AND has a cool nickname already, 'The Dark Swordsman'!"

Naruto, Shino and Hinata were a little taken aback by the Inuzuka teenager's outburst, but Kurenai on the other hand was feeling quite relieved actually, _'Uff… I thought that he was jealous of Naruto, but he actually looks up to him now…'_ Yuhi thought while releasing a relieved sigh that she didn't know she's been holding for some time now since she was somewhat wary that Kiba might turn out arrogant and overconfident, but seeing that he seems to know his capabilities and limits rather well, was a relief to her.

Shaking her head to the sides, Kurenai ended her pondering on her Inuzuka student and then said, "Kiba is correct, Naruto here should already be a chūnin, so for the time that I am not with you, you'll do as he says, alright?"

Kiba, Hinata and Shino nodded without retorts while Naruto said annoyed, "Don't I have a say in this?"

The black-haired beauty just turned to him and with a sexy smile that melted the silverette's resolve completely, she said, "Nope."

With nothing left to say, Team 8, Kurenai and Naruto began their trek to the legendary beetle's nesting grounds.

* * *

Team 8 with Naruto arrived to an inn on a nearby town from the bikōchū's nesting grounds, they have been traveling for almost two hours now and finally, they're at their resting place, "Alright, now that we're finally here, let's discuss our moves." Kurenai said after sitting on the couch in the large room they rented.

Team 8 plus Naruto nodded and after taking their respective seats, Naruto said, "What's the big fuss about this bug anyways?"

Hearing the question, Kurenai looked at her sunglasses wearing student Shino and nodded at him to answer, which he did when he said, "The bikōchū is a legendary rare beetle that is close to extinction, that's why it was placed on a special nesting ground that has no human interaction, it was used by my clan during the previous wars due to its special trait to follow the first scent they are exposed to the moment they hatch…" Shino took a sip of his water before he added, "Since it follows through the rest of its life the first scent they smell, it is imperative that the bug is caught the moment the female lays the eggs because the process of transition to adulthood is minimal."

Naruto nodded a little before he said, "So, they are perfect for tracking right?"

"Correct, the bikōchū is the most exceptional bug in that regard." The Aburame heir added.

"I'm guessing that since this bug is so rare, the species only lays eggs seldom?" The silver-haired Uzumaki heir then deduced.

Nodding slightly as in yes, Shino responded, "Yes, the species only lays its eggs once every few years during a certain breeding season and a day following a rainstorm."

The Namikaze sighed before he muttered back, "Well, that explains why we came during this shitty weather…" He then stood up and said while looking at the beautiful ruby-eyed sensei, "So, how are we gon do this, Kure-sensei?"

The jōnin in question just smiled at the ex-blond before she replied, "Well, as I said earlier, I have a special mission, so I'll be leaving you guys alone for three days, in the meantime, you four go to the nesting grounds and hunt the bug."

"Sure but… umm… sure you want to go on your mission by yourself?…" The silverette asked before he added, "You can always take one of us if you wish, I doubt the four of us will be needed for this mission."

Resting a hand on the silverette's shoulder, the blackette replied, "Thanks for the concern Naruto, but don't worry, my mission is quite simple, just a pickup nearby." She then smiled at him and her students to reassure them.

"If you say so then, sensei…" Kiba said while petting the pup on his jacket.

"Yes, don't worry…" Kurenai reassured and walked towards the door. She then said before leaving, "Okay then, you better go already, you need to be ready since it will rain soon…" Team 8 nodded and then she looked towards the silverette and with a smile, she said, "I leave them to you Naruto, good luck."

The silverette just smirked back and replied, "Yeah, don't worry fam, good luck to ya as well." And with that, the black-haired genjutsu mistress left the room, leaving Team 8 and Naruto alone.

"Shall we go then?" Hinata then asked while stretching her body a bit, earning the looks from her teammates and crush due to her rapidly developing body showing a little from her tight jacket and tight pants.

"Yeah let's go…" Naruto then muttered after shaking his head away from his lust, _'Damn boi… Hinata's getting way too hot!…'_ He thought while leading Team 8 out of the inn.

It took them some minutes but soon after, they arrived to their destination. The nesting ground was a large hole in the land with a medium forest inside it, clearly created to allow the bugs leaving there a healthy growth.

"So, how do we with do this, Naru?" Hinata asked the temporal leader of Team 8, she was really excited to be around with her beloved and show just how good of a kunoichi she has become.

Naruto just narrowed his eyes while scratching his chin before he turned towards the cloudy sky and said, "The rain is about to fall…" He then turned towards Shino and asked, "How much time do we have after the rain stops?"

Shino hummed in thought and after some seconds, he replied, "Well, I'd say we have tops twelve hours."

Naruto just nodded and ordered, "Aight team, since the rain will fall in a few hours, let's head down there and sleep until it rains, we're gonna have to pull an all-nighter for this one."

Team 8 nodded and with that, they jumped down the hole and headed towards a comfortable place to sleep some hours before the hunt begins.

* * *

"Well, this mission is getting interesting." A tall slender man said to his two companions. He had long blond hair and black eyes with glasses over them, he was wearing a white zip-up poncho over a long black shirt that had two beige-coloured circular markings on each lower arm area and a black par of baggy pants.

"How so? They're just genin and one of them is an Aburame." A female voice then said with a fierce grin on her face, eager to fight the Aburame. She has shoulder length brown hair with a single lock falling onto the right side of her face, she had grey eyes with orange markings in the corner and was wearing an altered purple dress with red trimmings, she also had a yellow sash around her waist and a thigh-length stockings that merged into her sandals.

"Jibachi wasn't talking about the Aburame, Suzumebachi…" A deeper voice then added to the now identified Suzumebachi and Jibachi. The large man had black eyes and black hair that connected into a beard and a moustache, he was wearing a similar poncho to that of Jibachi and a pair of black baggy pants and red open-toed sandals, "He's talking about the silver-haired boy."

Suzumebachi turned to look at her older brother and asked with a raised eyebrow, "What's so special about him? I mean yeah, he looks really yummy…" She said while biting her lips seductively thinking about the silverette youth before she added, "But I doubt he poses any threat to us."

Jibachi for his part just shook his head at his sister's ignorance before he explained, "You should really look at the dated version of the Bingo Book, dear sister…" He then brought up a small black book from inside his poncho and after locating a certain page, he read aloud, "Naruto Uzumaki, aka The Dark Swordsman, B-rank, proficiency with dual wielding style and wielder of the 'Sword of the Thunder God', and worst of all, he's the jinchūriki of the Twelve Winged Dragon."

The brunette beauty did gasped in surprise after hearing the boy's impressive curriculum, she had heard about the 'Dark Swordsman' before since the tale of Wave Country's liberation was spreading like the sea throughout the Elemental Nations, but she did not expected him to be here. And even more troublesome, him being the jinchūriki of the most powerful Tailed Beast there is, "Damn, now I see your point." She said while frowning, this definitely put a small damper on their plans.

The three siblings stood there in silence, pondering on how to proceed, that is until Suzumebachi declared, "It changes nothing, we are still stronger than them, plus, we need the bikōchū if we are to bring the Kamizuru clan back to glory!…" She then grinned evilly and added with a little bit of spite in her voice, "Plus, there is an Aburame in there, we can have a small revenge on them for all they've done to our clan."

Her two siblings just smirked and nodded at the Kamizuru clan's head and with that, they went down the bikōchū's nesting grounds and began to prepare a plan to get rid of the Leaf ninja. They were set on returning their disgraced clan back to glory and nobody was going to get in their way.

* * *

Unaware of the three plotting ninja hidden on the other side of the grounds, Team 8 plus Naruto were currently sleeping peacefully, well, three of them, because one silver-haired Namikaze could not close his eyes for the nervousness in his stomach, "Damn boi…" He muttered annoyed.

 ** _"_** ** _I really do not understand why you're getting nervous, you've already done it with that blond haired girl and those you already marked."_** The posh voice of the Nine Tailed Fox said inside his mind, she honestly could not grasp why his host gets nervous.

Sighing, the ex-blond replied, _"Well, I now that! But… it always gets on my nerves, ya know!?... just thinking that one of them might reject me makes me shiver…"_ That much was true, he wasn't afraid of rejection, he was afraid of what one failure might do to all of his plans since he really didn't feel comfortable with manipulating somebody else's mind and really didn't know if he could go with that.

Knowing exactly what her host was thinking, Kurama just sighed and said, **_"Sometimes you're too soft…"_** She had no spite in her voice whatsoever, in fact, she had a small smile gracing her beautiful face, simply because said softness made her believe that Naruto was not going to lose his way the same way that cursed man did, and that relieved the mighty fox greatly.

Naruto just chuckled and soon after, he stood up and walked out of his tent, "It should rain soon…" He muttered while watching the darkening sky, signalling that a storm was coming, "Amma take a walk." He then added and walked towards seemingly nowhere.

The silverette was calmly strolling through the woods until he heard the noise of water being splashed, he knew that there was a cascade near their camp since they decided to camp close to the edge of the grounds, so he followed the direction towards the cascade and soon after some seconds of walking, he arrived at the waterfall, "Oh boi…" He muttered stunned after seeing such a beautiful sight. There, in front of him, a gorgeous female body was gracefully performing movements that seemed to belong to a noble dance, "Damn, I didn't know Hinata was packing such a fantastic body." He knew that the female in question was none other than Hinata Hyūga, he was surprised to see the heiress apparently dancing at this hour and in the middle of a waterfall while being naked, but he was not going to complain aloud.

Hinata for her part had already felt the presence of Naruto, she was startled at first because she sensed someone coming her way, but after realizing who it was, she decided to continue with her training to give her beloved a good show of both her moves and body, _'God, this is such an unladylike behaviour…'_ She thought with a cute blush adorning her porcelain cheeks.

After some more moments of her little show, Hinata stopped and breathed out before she turned around and directed her eyes towards Naruto, who was nonchalantly enjoying the show while leaning his body on a tree, "D-Did you en-enjoyed the show, Naru?" She wanted to sound bold and seductive, but the blush on her face, her small stutter and her downed gaze while saying it completely ruined it and she ended up sounding like an embarrassed damsel, but to her credit, she had not covered her body at all, she wanted him to see her on her full glory.

Smirking at the blue-haired girl, the silverette looked at her body for some seconds before he walked towards the edge of the waterfall and replied, "How could I not? It's not every day you get to see such a beautiful sight, ya know?…" He then tilted his head a little and asked, "Not that I don't like to see your magnificent growing body, but why are you not covering yourself?"

Gulping hard, Hinata gathered her courage and said with a whisper, "Because…" She then realized that she needed to show her strength so with a burst of courage, she let out, albeit a little forcefully, her intentions, "Because I'm not going to lose to Ayame!" She then covered her face and due to her outburst, her chakra control stopped and fell onto the water. She then rouse again and after seeing her crush laughing, she looked at the sides embarrassed.

"Oh Hina… hehehe… sorry… amma calm mah ass down now…" The silverette said between laughs before he finally controlled himself. After wiping a tear from his eye, he asked, "What do you mean?" He already had an idea of what she meant by that, but he wanted to hear it from her, to make it easier for him.

Gathering her strength again, the Hyūga heiress looked back at the silver-haired Uzumaki and replied, "I… I k-know that… there's something go-going on between you two…" She then got out of the water and walked a little closer to him before she added, "I… I love you Naruto! I'm not lo-losing you so easily!" Her face was stern and her eyes burned with determination fitting for a Princess.

Naruto felt a little startled first after such strong declaration but then after regaining his composure, he closed their distance and brought his hand towards her cheeks before he asked, "Do you really want that?"

The bluenette beauty gulped and nodded while saying, "Y-Yes… I… I re-really want to be by your side, Naru… n-no matter what."

 _'_ _Well, here goes nothing I guess…'_ Naruto thought before he nodded at her. He told her to put on her clothes and after she did, he urged her to sit beside him, she did as told and soon after, Naruto said, "Okay Hina, before you say anything else, there is something critical you need to know about me…" With that, he began his long explanation about everything, as usual, it took him quite some time to do it but finally after 30 minutes, he finished his explanation, "So?…" He then asked a little warily, not knowing how she was going to respond.

Hinata for her part was a little freaked out, everything she thought she knew about the silverette has been almost shattered, she always thought of him as a normal ninja with great potential but after hearing his tale, she now knew that he was not someone of great potential, he was someone with world-shattering potential, she understood that this young man had the same potential to achieve what only the greatest and worst before him could, _'But… can… can he really… can we really love more than one person at once?…'_ She didn't doubt the honesty and the goodwill that the silverette clearly had, and as much as it irked her, his plan to bring unity to this world was sound, weird and perverted yes, but it was sound. She just was someone who so far had the idea that there can only be one true love, so she was at a loss of words to answer.

Seeing that Hinata was having an inner battle to find an answer, the silverette said, "Look Hina, you don't have to give me an answer now, just breath and think about it for some time, aight?" He gave her a reassuring smile that held no pressure whatsoever, but contrary to his clam outside, he was a little afraid internally, _'Damn, hopefully this won't backfire, son…'_

Said girl just shook her head to the sides to get rid of her stupor and then said with a little stutter, "Th-Thanks Na-Naruto… I… I really ne-need to process it a-all…" The teenaged silver-haired ninja just nodded with a reassuring smile, making her heart pound faster than before.

Before anything more could be said or done though, the foreseen rainstorm started to fall hard, instantly soaking them, "Damn, come Hina, let's go back to the camp." Naruto said while offering his hand to lead the bluenette to the camp.

To his relief, she accepted it and with a smile, she nodded at him and both made their way towards their camp, with Naruto feeling a little anxious and Hinata feeling confused.

* * *

"Aight team so this is how we gon do this…" Naruto said to Team 8 while sheltering inside Hinata's tent which was the biggest, the rain outside was pouring hard but it was close to ending so they needed to move quick if they wanted to catch the bikōchū, "Since we need to be fast, we're gonna separate, each one of us will take one quarter of the grounds."

The three genin nodded at their temporal leader before Kiba claimed, "I'll take the south point."

"I'll take the east." Hinata then said.

"Then I'll take our current point" Shino stated with a monotonous voice.

"Then that leaves me with the north…" Naruto said before he added, "You all have something to signal the other in case you find the bug?"

"Yes, I can tell Akamaru to howl." Kiba responded first while petting the white pup.

"Yes, I can throw a paper bomb into the air." Hinata said then.

"My bugs will let you know." Shino finished.

Nodding at Kurenai's team, the silver-haired swordsman said, "I'll send a fireball to the sky in case I find it…" He then remembered them of a must, "Remember, if you do find it, do not try to capture it yourselves, Shino's the only one that knows how to do it properly."

"Yes." The three genin replied in unison.

"Aight then, get ready, the rain has already stopped…" The silverette said before he stepped out of the tent followed by Kiba, Shino and Hinata. He then turned towards them and ordered, "Aight team, let's do it!"

Team 8 nodded and quickly faded from their spots, each one of them heading towards their designated area.

* * *

"Mm… where are you?…" Hinata muttered while looking around with her byakugan. She had just arrived at her designated spot and has begun her search for the elusive bug.

She looked towards the photo in her hand which was handed to her and her team to recognize the bikōchū, the bug had two distinctive traits, one was their large nose and the other was their blue eyes, "Mm, the eggs are supposed to be nested on a wet branch…" She mumbled while surveying the trees around her.

She continued this on for some 15 minutes but much to her annoyance, she could not find the egg, "Dammit… where are you, bug!?" She once again muttered through gritted teeth.

Unbeknownst to her, three Rock ninja were watching her from afar, far away from her byakugan range, "Good call on the girl Jibachi, she is indeed a Hyūga." The eldest of the siblings, Kurobachi, praised his younger brother's insight.

Jibachi just smirked before he replied, "Yeah, if I hadn't caught that, our plans would already be ruined."

"Let's stop the praising…" The annoyed voice of their sister and clan head then said, she was eager to begin their plan and was starting to get rattled for their stillness, "Let's start the show." She then added while grinning, action mimicked by her two siblings and companions.

Hinata continued her search throughout the forest before she had to suddenly jump out of her spot to avoid a kunai thrown at her, "What the hell?…" She muttered while landing some steps back. She hadn't have the time to ponder however, because out of nowhere, a large man appeared behind her and tried to kick her on the face but at the last moment she managed to avoid the hit, "About time you made your move." She declared with a fierce smile.

"Ah, so you knew we were here as well, quite impressive for a genin." A feminine voice sounded behind Hinata, making the blue-haired teenager turn to look the newcomer.

"Well, you aren't that subtle…" Hinata responded with a stern face, seemingly unaffected by being surrounded by enemies, "What do you want?" She then asked while getting her byakugan and gentle-fist stance ready.

"The same thing that you do…" Another voice then said, revealing a blond slender man who appeared at her right side, "Since your little team has more chance to find the bikōchū than us, we need to have leverage."

At that, the large man jumped at her again and tried to deliver a punch but Hinata was very quick and managed to avoid the hit. But not just that, almost unnoticed, she landed a hit of her own on the man's right thigh, making him stumble a little.

Grinning, Kurobachi said with his deep voice, "Well, look at you, you managed to land a hit on me…" Said man then recovered from the hit and added, "But let me show you what we jōnin from Rock can do!" With those words, he jumped once again at Hinata with two kunai in hand.

Unfortunately for the Hyūga, that was not all that she had to face at that point, since a barrage of bees was sent to her, _'Bugs? Are they like Shino's clan?…'_ She thought while gritting her teeth. She was evading the large man's strikes simply because she was smaller and faster, but the bees that were trying to sting her were making it all the more difficult.

"This girl is good." Jibachi said to his sister while controlling the bees from afar, he was genuinely impressed of the girl's skill.

"Shut up and focus, we need to subdue her quickly." Suzumebachi retorted to her brother, she was starting to get annoyed.

Kurobachi after seeing that a hand to hand attack was not going to work decided to jump to a nearby tree, surrounding the Leaf kunoichi with his siblings who were positioned specifically for this move, "You Leaf-nin are not as weak as I've heard." The older man said with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"True, but it's useless girl, you're coming with us, whether you want to or not." Suzumebachi then added with an evil grin on her face.

 _'_ _Damn… this is bad…'_ Hinata could tell that she was in trouble, she was good in close quarters combat, but when it came to long range she was weak since she really didn't had many jutsus. Her pondering was broken however, when a buzzing sound reverberated around her, to her horror, what it seems like thousands of bees were surrounding her and prepared to attack her.

The bees stood still for some moments until a silent command was sent to them and faster than Hinata would've thought, they sprung at her. She wasn't immobile though, as she quickly took on her family's most powerful jutsu stance and with a strong voice, she declared, "Rotation!" With those words, she began to rotate so fast that her chakra started to form a shield around her. Normally, the 'Rotation' technique will only protect the user from harm, but since thanks to Naruto she now knew she had lighting affinity, she managed to conjure the little she could of lightning chakra and with all the strength she could gather, she released it on the shield, instantly burning all the bugs that came into contact with the technique.

The blue-haired heiress managed to keep this up enough to kill all the bees that were thrown at her, but as a price, almost all of her chakra was wasted, _'Dammit… that was stupid of me…'_ She then scolded herself after realizing her mistake, she now had almost no strength left to fight the Rock-nin who were calmly looking at her with smug looks. She brought her hand towards her pouch, trying to grab the kunai with the paper bomb attached to it to let her team know of her, but before she could reach it, she went stiff, completely unable to even lift a finger, "W-What… t-the… h-hell?…" She muttered with a lot of trouble to speak.

"Having trouble?…" The smug voice of Suzumebachi then brought the Hyūga's gaze back to her opponents, "You, impressively, managed to kill all our bugs but one…" She then walked towards the now falling girl who could not move anymore and added, "You see, our little friends have a special poison, one that renders all your muscles useless, no matter how hard you try, there's nothing you can do to stop it from spreading."

Hinata only looked at the Rock kunoichi with angry eyes while thinking, _'Dammit… I'm… I'm s-so useless!… N-Naruto…'_ She then stopped because a hard punch on her head knocked her out completely.

"That wasn't necessary." Suzumebachi said a little annoyed at her elder brother's rude action. While she had no problems with being cruel to those who harm her clan, she did not liked to gain new enemies, especially not the Hyūga.

Kurobachi just shrugged as he picked the unconscious girl up in his shoulders and then said, "Maybe, but it did the job faster."

The female Kamizuru just shook her head with a tired sigh before she commanded her two siblings, "Let's not waste any more time then, let's take her to the fall and place her there while her companions find the beetle."

With her word, her two siblings nodded and immediately disappeared from their spots, feeling eager to have their revenge on the clan that brought them to misery.

* * *

"Umm… I really doubt that damn bug is supposed to be that… umm… big…" Naruto muttered while staring blankly at a huge ass beetle that perfectly resembled the bikōchū he and Team 8 are searching for. Seeing the picture in his hand, he focused on the background and noticed that the bug in comparison to the branch it was resting was quite small, the size of a normal beetle, " _Sigh…_ Guess this ain't the bitch I'm looking for…" He muttered tiredly.

He's been searching for over three hours now and he has been unsuccessful in finding said bug, "Wonder how the others are doing?…" He then muttered before he narrowed his eyes after sensing a small spike of chakra coming from Hinata's position, "Guess them fools that were following us made their move." He, like the rest of Team 8, already knew that somebody was watching them from the shadows, three presences to be exact, but he and the rest of the team agreed to let it play out to see what they wanted.

Before he could ponder more on the subject though, the sound of Akamaru howling at the distance signalled him that Kiba had apparently found the bug, "Guess I'll have to stow it for now." The Uzumaki muttered before he took off towards Kiba's position.

It took him some minutes, but finally he arrived at Kiba's position where Shino had already caught an egg, two actually, "I see you already caught it." He then made his presence known to his companions.

Both Kiba and Shino turn towards their temporal leader and with a fierce smirk, the Inuzuka boy replied, "Yup, found two actually…" He then turned to his surroundings and noticing one missing person, he added, "Where's Hinata?"

Shino did the same and said, "True, my bugs cannot sense her coming."

"Probably she has been taken as a hostage by the fools who came here with us." Naruto then replied calmly while massaging his chin, seemingly not worried at all.

Kiba on the other hand, immediately flipped after hearing that, "What!? How can you say that so calm!? And how would you know that's what happened!?"

Turning to look at the distressed brunette teenager, Naruto replied with a shrug, "It's not that hard to decipher, kidnapping her is out of the question since they know that the chances of escaping here unnoticed are null…" He then looked towards Hinata's earlier direction and added, "Plus, I felt a small spike of chakra coming from Hinata's direction, the spike was purposefully made, so they are not after her…" He then brought his gaze back at the other two and finished while pointing at the small container with two eggs in Shino's arms, "They are probably after the bugs."

Shino nodded slightly and deduced, "So they took Hinata as leverage for an exchange."

The silver-haired Uzumaki nodded while confirming, "Correct."

"Then what are we doing here doing nothing!? Let's go and look for her already!" Kiba then claimed angrily, really annoyed for their inaction.

Looking at the fuming boy, Naruto thought, _'Does he likes her?… hope not… it could get reeeeally uncomfortable if she agrees to join me…'_ He then shook his head to get rid of unnecessary thoughts and said, "Relax Kiba, use your head for once…" Before the Inuzuka could retort back, Naruto took a piece of cloth from his pocket and held it in front of Akamaru's nose while saying, "Aight boy, take us to her."

While Akamaru was sniffing the peace of cloth, Kiba asked confused, "What's that?"

The Uzumaki looked back at the Inuzuka and replied, "A piece of cloth from Hinata's jacket, I tore it off before we separated back at the camp…" He then pointed to Kiba's jacket and added, "Same with you two."

Kiba looked at where the silverette was pointing at and found that indeed, a piece of cloth from his jacket was missing, "Oh shit… I didn't even noticed…" He muttered.

Shino found that his coat had a piece missing as well and replied with a little bit of awe in his voice, "You knew this would happen."

Chuckling, the silverette responded, "Not really, I had it covered just in case…" The small white pup then barked at him as if saying that he had the scent and soon, Akamaru took off, "Aight, let's go!" He then ordered to the two males of Team 8.

The three continued to follow Akamaru for quite some time until the small dog led them to what it looked like a giant hive, "I have a bad feeling about this…" Kiba muttered uneasily after seeing the giant structure.

"Shino?" The Uzumaki turned towards the Aburame and asked quietly.

Shino understood and then while bringing his hands forward, sent his bugs to investigate the inside of the hive. After some seconds, Shino turned to Naruto and said, "She's there."

Naruto nodded and ordered them to move, they then entered warily inside the hive and began searching for the Hyūga heiress, "Where are you Hinata?" Naruto muttered while looking around. It took them some moments, but finally, Akamaru managed to pick up her scent, so they followed the dog to a sort of room and there at the opposite wall, Hinata was stuck to the wall with what it seemed like wax.

Kiba quickly made his way towards Hinata to free her but was then stopped when Naruto placed his arm in front of him, "Naruto what the hell!? We need to help Hinata!" He barked at the silverette who didn't even looked at him.

Naruto just narrowed his eyes and after heightening his sense of smell, he grabbed a kunai from his pouch and threw it at Hinata, surprising both Kiba and Shino.

"Are you fucking crazy!?…" Kiba wanted to kick the silverette's ass after seeing him throwing a kunai at their comrade but then he shut up after seeing that the 'Hinata' that was in front of them, disappeared in a poof of smoke and swiftly avoided the kunai, "What the hell!? Who are you!?" He then asked after a woman in her early twenties appeared from the smoke.

The woman just laughed haughtily and replied with a seductive tone, "Mm… I should have known that a foolish trick like that wouldn't work on such a fine specimen like the Dark Swordsman." She then winked at Naruto and stood defiantly as if she was not outnumbered right now.

Naruto just narrowed his eyes and then said, "Rock ninja… you are after the bikōchū… that means you are from that clan that was ridiculed by the Aburame clan, am I right?" Naruto smirked after seeing the burning anger that suddenly rouse on the beauty's eyes, signalling a spot on deduction on his part.

Suzumebachi just gritted his teeth in anger before she replied, "Shut up! That was long ago! And that bikōchū is going to bring us back to glory!…" She then grabbed a paper bomb from her pouch and with a smirk, she said, "You should be more aware of your surroundings."

After those words, they realized that they were surrounded by paper bombs and before they could do anything, the Rock kunoichi set them all off, blowing the whole place down, "Careful boys, this is no ordinary cave." She then said with mirth while watching the three Leaf genin fall into the darkness of the cave.

She then leapt to the outside of the hive and muttered, "Need to be ready, that's not going to stop the Dark Swordsman at all." She then headed towards a nearby cliff to wait for her sibling to set off their plan while wearing an excited grin on her face, she was too excited to get her revenge on the Aburame and to face off against the rising ninja star, 'The Dark Swordsman'.

* * *

 _'_ _Dammit!… no… I can't be weak… I need to find a way to get out of this…'_ Hinata thought while being stuck in a cocoon made of bee's honey that was extremely resilient. She was floating on a river that threaten to suck her into the fall at the end of it, the only thing stopping her from falling to her death is a small cable that was being guarded by bees that would cut the cable at the minor movement, making her escape tricky, _'No! I won't be weak!…'_

Taking a deep breath and relaxing her muscles, the Hyūga bluenette closed her eyes and then focused her senses on her surroundings to feel how many bees were guarding her, _'Three… six… ten… twelve!…'_ She counted on her head and after having them all, she focused her chakra on the water of the river and with a powerful technique she learnt from her late mother, she summoned water needles that shot at the bees with incredible speeds.

The bees had no chance to evade the fast needles of water and were all pierced by them, leaving Hinata free to move and attempt her escape, _'Yes!… now… how do I get out this!?…'_ She started to crack her brain up for an answer until it finally came to her.

Focusing all the lightning chakra she could on her body, Hinata stiffened a little before she opened her eyes abruptly and allowed all the lightning chakra she gathered to sprout freely for her body, successfully destroying the cocoon that was encasing her, but that move left her on a free fall towards the end of the river, a fall which will no doubt be her end.

Regaining her composure quickly, Hinata managed to focus chakra on her hands and with them, she stopped herself from following the river's current and in a swift movement, she managed to jump to the surface and then to the ground beside her, " _Uff…_ That was too close…" She muttered between breaths.

After catching her breath again, Hinata developed a determined look on her face and while looking towards the spot where the most amount of chakra could be felt, she darted off while muttering, "I won't be a burden… I will fight by your side… Naruto…"

* * *

"About time you got here." A clearly annoyed Suzumebachi said to her siblings after they landed behind her, she was starting to get a little nervous because she could feel that the Leaf genin were close to reach the surface again, no doubt having almost no trouble with the large insects that lived inside the hive.

"Sorry, it took us longer than we thought to get the Hyūga in place." Suzumebachi's elder brother, Kurobachi, said.

"I take it our little trap was not enough." Jibachi then added after seeing the slight nervousness that was creeping in his sister, he too knew that something as weak as this will not be enough to stop the guy that supposedly defeated Zabuza Momochi.

Suzumebachi just turned to look at him and with an irked voice, she replied, "What do you think, smartass?"

As soon as those words left her mouth, an explosion suddenly rocketed the whole hive, bringing it down almost completely. Soon after the smoke from the explosion died down, a smug voice claimed excitedly, "Ha! Told you guys my 'Fang over Fang' was strong!" Kiba pointed at his inflated chest while Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, you can boast later Kiba…" The strong voice of one Naruto Namikaze said while calming the excited Inuzuka down. The silver-haired Uzumaki then turned towards their opponents and said, "I suppose there's no peaceful way to solve this?" He really didn't wanted to fight, but he was finding it hard to believe that a fight could be avoided in this situation.

The beautiful Suzumebachi huffed before she replied with clear hate in her voice, "Peaceful!? After what this bastard's clan did to mine!…" She pointed towards Shino before she continued, "I know that attacking the Leaf was a stupid idea, but there was no need to humiliate us! It brought shame to the Rock Village, it brought shame to us!…" She then balled her fists tight and added, "We are the family of the First Tsuchikage, the founder of the Rock! And yet, we are being looked down with disgust! I won't allow it to continue, the Kamizuru clan will be brought back to glory!"

Her voice carried passion but also fear, a fear that the silverette could deduce came from what happened to all the clans in Rock that are no longer dimmed 'worthy', "Shame…" Naruto just muttered with sadness for both the way the Rock Village do things and the fact that a battle could not be avoid.

"Enough! Let's do this!" The eldest of those present said, Kurobachi was getting impatient of all the chattering, he wanted to fight and get his revenge on the Aburame soon.

His two siblings nodded and soon, Jibachi and Suzumebachi leapt some steps behind and summoned their bees while Kurobachi sprung against them with axe in hand, "I'm going to kill you, Aburame scum!" He declared with fury while jumping straight at the Aburame genin.

Shino was no pushover however and with a swift movement, he jumped away from the large man's trajectory, avoiding the lethal strike aimed at him, "Don't underestimate us." He declared with an emotionless voice while conjuring his bugs which he then sent at the man.

While Shino and Kurobachi were facing off against each other, Naruto and Kiba were fighting the swarm of bees that the two other Rock ninja sent at them, the bees weren't tough to beat, but there were so many that it made it difficult to avoid taking a hit, "Dammit!… Kiba be careful! These little shits release something sticky every time you kill one!" Naruto said to the Inuzuka after already being sprayed with the sticky honey of the bees.

"Yeah, I noticed!" Kiba said back while also being a little covered with the honey.

"Let's see how much can you keep on going." Suzumebachi said with a smirk before she sent a silent signal to her brother who nodded in agreement. Both then call for more bees and quickly sent them towards the two struggling genins.

 _'_ _Damn… I can't release my power here… not in front of Rock ninja…'_ Naruto knew that he could easily take care of this if he releases his Ddraig form, but this ninja came from the village that hated his biological father religiously and if he shows that he has even more power than that it is said he has, people will start to dig deeper into who he is, and while he did indeed wanted to be known throughout the Elemental Nations, he knew that right now it was still too soon for him to be revealed as the son of the Yellow Flash and the Red Hot Habanero. So opting for keeping a slightly low profile for now, Naruto jumped back a little and said to Kiba, "Kiba! Jump back!"

Kiba was confused at first but after recognizing the hand-signs the silverette was doing, he did as he was told and quickly stepped back. As soon as he did that, Naruto finished the signs and after breathing in a big bunch of air, he aimed at the swarm of bees coming their way and wordlessly, released a giant wall of fire.

The fire was so intense that everyone present had to cover their eyes, Suzumebachi and Jibachi who were in front of the attack, although a little far away, still felt the incredible heat coming off from the incredible wall of fire the silverette just created, "A-Amazing…" Jibachi muttered in awe.

Suzumebachi was in awe as well, she expected him to be strong after what it was said he did back in Wave, but this incredible jutsu he just pulled goes beyond that of any genin, heck, any chūnin could even think of, _'Why aren't you from Rock, Dark Swordsman?…'_ She thought after feeling the hotness from the fire which also seemed to ignite her lust for the young man. She then smirked though, before she said, "Impressive, but you ended up helping us in the end, Dark Swordsman."

Naruto had no time to ask what the hottie in front of him was talking about when from the wall of fire he just created, a wave of honey came rushing down at them. He did in fact forgot that once he kills the bees, they will release their sticky honey, "Shit…" Was all he could mutter before the rain of honey covered him, Kiba, and even Shino and Kurobachi who were fighting behind them.

"Arg… dammit!… Suzumebachi, get me out of here!" Kurobachi said to his sister with an irked tone after being completely covered in the resilient honey of the bees.

"Pathetic…" Suzumebachi mumbled in disappointment before she leapt towards her captured sibling and with a kunai, she freed him from the honey. The two then jumped to where their youngest sibling was at and then the brunette said, "I wish this wouldn't have ended like this, Dark Swordsman, but it doesn't matter how much I like you…" Her voice carried genuine regret which surprised even her, but before anyone could say anything, she finished with a cold tone, "But I must bring my clan back to where they belong and nothing's going to get in my way."

After those ominous words, the Kamizuru siblings made a succession of hand-signs and then screamed in unison, "Thousand Stingers Jutsu!" At that, a swarm of bees that reached the thousands came out of nowhere and headed straight at the stuck Leaf ninja who could not move a finger to escape.

"Damn man, what are we going to do!?" Kiba asked heatedly while trying with all his might to escape from his sticky position, but like the other two, there was nothing he could do.

 _'_ _Fuck… dammit… guess I have no choice…'_ Naruto thought with gritted teeth after seeing that there was really no way for him to escape from the honey without using his powerful forms and seeing that the bees were seconds away from them, he had no choice.

Fortunately for him though, a voice he recognized screamed before a female figure appeared between them and the dangerous bees coming their way, "Protecting Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!" Hinata declared before she then, in an extraordinary show of flexibility, waved her hands all around her and without moving from her spot, created a protective shield but just like with the 'Rotation' she did before, was charged with a bit of lightning chakra and hit each and every one of the bees that were aiming to sting them.

"Whoa…" Kiba muttered in awe after witnessing such display of prowess from his usually calm and regal teammate, he knew she was strong, but this was beyond what he imagined.

"Atta girl…" Naruto just muttered while smirking with pride over the heiress' prowess, he was indeed impressed to see that Hinata had finally finished developing the attacking form of her incredible original move.

"What the hell!?…" Suzumebachi screamed with immense anger after seeing that the genin that was supposed to be trapped in a cocoon is actually here and had just cancelled their most powerful technique, "What the hell is she doing here, you maggots!?" She then screamed at her siblings who were as baffled as her.

"I-I… I do-don't know…" Jibachi mumbled while staring at the panting Hinata.

"I s-swear we ma-made sure that she wouldn't be able to escape!" Kurobachi then added, albeit a little more composed, but none the less surprised at the bluenette's inopportune appearance.

Hinata smirked after seeing the awed faces of her enemies but then closed her eyes in pain after feeling exhaustion coming from doing her most powerful technique so recklessly, _'Dammit… I… I do-don't have any more energy… i-in the end… I… I s-still failed…'_ She thought depressed after realizing that even if she did managed to save her companions, she now had nothing more to fight with and were completely exposed to an attack from the Rock ninja.

Her body then began to fail and suddenly, she fell backwards but before she hit the floor, a pair of strong arms caught her, "Na-Naruto?" Hinata mumbled a little weakly but with wide eyes after seeing her love holding her with a proud smile on his face. She was happy to see him proud of her but didn't understand how he got out of their bindings.

"You did well Hina, I'm proud of ya." Naruto said with a warm smile while gently placing her on the ground some steps away from them.

Suzumebachi now realized that while she and her siblings were bickering, the supposed captive ninja were now free and looking at them with calculating eyes, "W-What… ho-how a-are you out!?" After saying those words, her two siblings also looked at them and went pale after seeing them free and ready to fight.

Shino smirked under his coat and replied with his signature unemotional voice, "While you were occupied with Hinata and your bickering, I had my bugs eating your bees' honey."

Suzumebachi just gritted her teeth in frustration after seeing that her plan was getting harder and harder by the moment, she looked at her siblings and with a nod, she bit her thumb and screamed, "Summoning Jutsu!…" At those words, a giant poof of smoke appeared and after it cleared, a giant bee with razor sharp teeth, a giant deadly stinger and wings that were powerful enough to cause gale winds as they flapped, appeared, "Just give already! This is the Queen of Bees! Give us the bikōchū and we might spare you…" Suzumebachi said while standing on the bee's giant torso before she then narrowed her eyes and added, "All but the Aburame that is."

Naruto could feel that both Kiba and Shino were now really tense after seeing the huge ass bee in front of them, he knew very well that they had no chance against that bee and the Rock ninja if he doesn't uses his true power, so now totally resigned, he closed his eyes to call on Ddraig's cloak but was stopped when the voice of said beast spoke inside his mind.

 ** _"_** ** _Boy, your lungs are now strong enough to resist it, use it."_** Ddraig said calmly to his successor after feeling his inner turmoil on what to do.

Naruto just widened his eyes before he developed a fierce smirk that resembled that of a dragon about to destroy a country, "Kiba… Shino… stand back." He ordered them with a cold voice while staring at the giant bee.

Kiba and Shino just looked at each other in confusion before they looked at the silverette and asked, "What are you talking about, Naruto!? You can't possibly think that you can defeat a boss summon on your own!" Kiba said heatedly, thinking that the silverette might have gone mad.

Naruto just looked at them over his shoulder and sent them a smirk that said that he actually believed that, but before Shino or Kiba could say anything more, they felt immense pressure coming off from the silverette that strangely made them obey his command without more retort.

After seeing that both the Inuzuka and the Aburame were at a safe distance away, Naruto looked back at the beautiful brunette and asked one last time, "Are you sure you want to continue this? You might not survive." His voice was strong, stronger than any of those present had heard from him, his presence now was immense as well, making everyone, including the Rock ninja, to feel intimidated by his presence.

Suzumebachi though, was feeling incredibly aroused, the presence of the young silver-haired man was intoxicating, it was like his aura was crawling inside her body, _'What t-the hell… h-how is h-he ca-capable of making me feel so… so… hot?…'_ She thought while biting her lip hard to stop her lust from taking over her. It took her some moments but finally she managed to regain her composure and replied with genuine regret, "I have no choice."

Seeing the genuine desperation in the young woman's eyes, Naruto decided to tone down a little his attack before he replied with the coldest voice anyone here has ever heard, "As you wish then." He then breathed in a huge amount of air and without making any hand-signs or saying any words, he blew an immense amount of fire towards the giant bee. The fire was magnificent, frightening, mesmerizing, it was such a powerful fire that even the mighty Bee Queen tried to fly away from it in fright, but it was to no avail, the wave of fire was even bigger than the wall of fire he summoned before, it was so powerful that it made the sky above darken. The Queen Bee had no chance and fell prey to the hellish fire, incinerating her completely.

Suzumebachi managed to escape the hellish fire when she jumped away from her summon, but she was now on the ground staring at the silverette in both awe and fear, just like her companions and the silverette's teammates. They all knew what he just did, but they were so stunned because to their knowledge, what he did was impossible to achieve, that fire was no chakra fire, it had no chakra in it whatsoever, it was pure and natural fire, heck, it was above that, it was so hot that she had burns on her body while the rest present had slight tans on their exposed skin, "H-How?…" She whispered, almost unable to even breathe out of the fear and awe she had for the powerful teenager.

Seeing the stunned looks directed at him from all sides, Naruto smirked while saying, "How did I blew natural fire without hurting mahself?…" The downed female just nodded weakly at him before he said dismissively, "Sorry luv, trademark secret."

Before the Rock ninja could do even more though, Shino's bugs had already surrounded them and had almost eaten all of their chakra, leaving them completely at the mercy of the Leaf ninja, "They're almost out of chakra Naruto, what do we do?" Shino asked, apparently composed after the impressive display from their silverette temporal leader.

Looking at the now gasping Rock ninja, Naruto lifted his hand and said to Shino, "Release them."

After they were released from the bugs, the three Kamizuru ninja went down to the ground and struggled for breath after being abruptly deprived of their chakra reserves. Suzumebachi recovered quickly due to her stubbornness and managed to say angrily at the silverette who was calmly looking at them, "Why!?… just… j-just kill us already!… you don't know… you don't what'll happen to us…" Tears were now starting to fall from her eyes, they weren't tears of failure, they were tears of despair, frustration and fear.

Naruto just sighed tiredly before he looked at the Aburame to say, "Shino, do you need the two eggs?"

Kiba after finally releasing himself from the shock, felt confused after hearing the silverette's words but Shino on the other hand, had a slight inkling at to what the Uzumaki wanted and while it might be against the codes of his village, he agreed with the Uzumaki so answered truthfully, "No, one is enough to build a stable community back in the Leaf."

Nodding, the Namikaze said, "Can you separate one then?" Shino nodded and took one of the eggs from the container and placed it in a spare container he had in a scroll before he gave it to Naruto.

The Kamizuru siblings were confused as to what was going on but then went wide-eyed in shock when the Dark Swordsman walked towards them and lifted Suzumebachi to set her in a sitting position so he could place the container on her lap before he walked back towards his team. Suzumebachi wanted to ask him what was he doing but the loud-mouthed Inuzuka beat her to it.

"H-Hey man! Naruto, what are you d-doing!?" Kiba screamed angrily at the silverette after he gave them one of the bikōchū eggs.

Naruto just looked at him and replied calmly, "Giving them an egg we have no use for."

"B-But… they… they're enemies!" Kiba retorted back, now thinking that the silverette had indeed gone mad.

"They tried what they did out of desperation Kiba… you, Shino, Hinata and I, would've done the same in their circumstances…" He then looked towards Suzumebachi who was looking at him wide-eyed before he added, "Disgraced clans in the Rock Village tend to… disappear out of nowhere…" He looked back at the Inuzuka and declared fiercely and without a hint of doubt in his words, "Even if they're from an enemy village, slaughter is not something I will allow to happen, to anyone, that is not my ninja way." He then began to walk towards Hinata but stopped when the female Kamizuru whispered.

"Y-You… w-want… no-nothing i-in return?…" She had no idea how to react at this boy's incredible kindness, she has never been shown such a thing. This man was giving them the key to bring their clan, an enemy clan of the Leaf, back to glory, she just couldn't understand how someone would do such a thing without asking anything in return, so she asked that, strangely feeling the need for him to say that he wanted her in return.

Naruto just turned to look at her and after a genuine warm smile, he said, "One thing only…" Suzumebachi just nodded weakly before he added, "Remember this act of kindness and pass it down to someone else one day, you don't know how much you can do for someone when you lend them a hand."

Again, everyone was stunned, even Kiba and Shino, this was beyond anyone expected, he just wanted them to help somebody else one day in return, no money, no fame, no favours, just that they helped someone else. Suzumebachi was feeling like she had just found the man of her life and quickly before he turned around to leave, she said with a small blush on her cheeks, "Y-Yes… I… w-we will… umm… c-can I know your name?"

Naruto just smirked charmingly before he replied, "Naruto Uzumaki…" He then turned to leave but asked, "And yours?"

The brunette just smiled at him, this time a genuine smile that contained no malice and replied, "Suzumebachi Kamizuru."

Naruto just nodded and walked towards Hinata while saying, "It's a pleasure to meet ya Suzu, and don't worry…" He grabbed Hinata and carried her bridal style before he looked at Kiba and Shino and silently signalled them to head to their hotel back in the town. They did as they were told and before the Namikaze left, he said, "We will see each other again."

Suzumebachi just smiled a little while staring at the spot where the gorgeous swordsman was just moments ago, she then brought her gaze down to the bikōchū egg and realized that there was something else left beside the container, "What is this?" She muttered before she grabbed the small vessel. She opened it and saw that it was a cream, but she could tell by the smell that it was a healing cream, no doubt left for her wounds, _'I really hope we do…'_ She thought while looking at the container with dreamy eyes, not able to stop thinking about the silver-haired man that just stole her breath.

* * *

A long exasperated sigh escaped from the mouth of an old and tired Third Hokage after hearing the report of what happened on the bikōchū search mission. He was hoping that the mission turned out to be a walk in the park but much to his annoyance, it turned into a complete mess, "At least you're all alright." He said while massaging his temple to ease his aching head.

Kurenai had the very same exasperated look on her gorgeous face, she had heard that the silver-haired Uzumaki was a magnet for trouble, but she never thought that it would be that literal, "Good thing Naruto is a good leader, otherwise I don't believe you would have escaped so unscathed." She then praised the young son of Kakashi, she was genuinely impressed when Shino told her that the silverette immediately took charge and led them to victory.

The silverette chuckled before he said, "It's not all me, ya know? Your team is quite impressive, Kure-sensei…" The silverette sent a charming smile at the blackette kunoichi that made her blush a little before he then praised the bluenette of the group, "But the true praise here goes to Hina, if it wasn't for her, we would be inside a big ass bee's stomach right now."

Both Shino and Kiba nodded at this, sending proud looks at the blue-haired Hyūga heiress who was now blushing due to the praise received from everyone, especially her beloved, "I-It wasn't t-that much, re-really… I was c-caught before th-that… it w-was m-my fault you struggled…" Said Hyūga declared with her gaze casted down with a little bit of shame, she still felt like a failure for getting caught so easily and making things harder for her team.

Kurenai walked towards her and petted her head like a big sister would while saying, "Hinata that's nonsense, what Naruto said is true, you saved them from a gruesome fate, don't underestimate yourself."

"Kurenai-sensei's right Hinata! You were awesome back there!" Kiba claimed excitedly while Shino nodded in agreement, both were quite impressed by their teammate's display.

Naruto just smirked handsomely at her while adding, "You listen to her Hina, you da real MVP."

Hinata just smiled gratefully at them, feeling really content to have such caring comrades by her side, "T-Thanks." She muttered with a cute blush on her porcelain cheeks.

The old Sarutobi just smiled warmly at the scene, he felt really content knowing that his young forces had true camaraderie between each other and seeing that his adopted grandson had not lost all of his warmth towards others, eased his old heart quite a lot, "Well, congratulations on your successful mission…" The Third then congratulated the young genin before he looked towards the jōnin and said, "I trust you were also successful on your mission, Kurenai."

The black-haired beauty nodded while saying, "Yes, Lord Hokage." She then walked towards the desk and placed a scroll on it, she opened it and after pouring some chakra in it, a poof of smoke appeared and soon revealed a bottle of sake.

"Ah! Sake handcrafted by Nobu Ono, the Land of Fire's greatest distiller…" The old man known as the Third Hokage claimed happily while examining the bottle of sake, "Thank you Kurenai." He then thanked the ruby-eyed female to which she bowed and walked back towards her team.

Team 8 had twitching eyebrows after seeing that the so called 'special mission' of their sensei was no more than just a simple pick up, Naruto on the other hand just sighed tiredly while shaking his head to the sides, "Well then, if there's nothing more, I'm out of here fam…" He then walked towards the window and said before he disappeared, "See ya, fools!"

The Sarutobi just chuckled before he dismissed Team 8, leaving him alone to enjoy his precious bottle of handmade sake.

* * *

"Uff… that was exhausting…" Naruto muttered after finally arriving to his apartment, he was genuinely tired after the whole bikōchū ordeal and just wanted to relax for the rest of the day, "I'll go and see Aya later." He then muttered after melting his body on the couch.

He was about to close his eyes but the sound of someone knocking on his door broke him out of his tranquil state, but instead of getting mad at the intrusion, he smirked after sensing who was knocking on the door. He stood up and walked towards the door and after opening it, he greeted, "Hey Hina, come on in." He stood aside to allow the bluenette beauty entry.

Hinata just nodded with a shy look on her face and entered the silverette's home, she looked around and saw that it was quite a rundown place but not wanting to be rude, she kept quiet.

Naruto however, guessed what was on the heiress' mind so said nonchalantly, "Ya don't have to keep it to yourself Hina, I know this place is a shithole." He laughed while heading towards the couch and sat again.

"I… i-it's not th-that bad…" Hinata replied shyly while taking a seat beside the silverette on the same couch, quickly developing a mad blush due to the closeness.

"Hehe… it is… but don't worry, I'm moving out soon…" He said while remembering the favour he asked Tazuna in return for freeing Wave. He then looked towards the girl sitting beside him and questioned, "So, you have an answer for me?" He sounded confident but inside he was getting a little nervous.

Hinata just nodded shyly while casting her gaze down before she whispered, "Y-Yes… bu-but… can I a-ask something fi-first?"

"Sure." Naruto replied.

Gulping loudly, Hinata reigned her emotions and asked while locking her eyes to his to detect any kind of deceit, "D-Do you… do y-you pr-promise t-to take c-care of me and ne-never forget a-about me?" She wanted to sound confident but even if she has matured a lot from that over-shy girl she used to be, this was about her feelings and that always had a huge impact on her.

Naruto smiled lovingly at her and reached to pet her cheek while saying without breaking eye contact, "Hina, I promise that I will love you, take care of all your needs and never forget a single thing about you for as long as you allow me to."

Hinata smiled after seeing that he carried no deceit whatsoever, she saw genuine commitment in his word and knowing him as well as she did, she knew his word meant everything to him, "Then yes, I agree…" She declared with a smile but then said smile fell before she added a little depressed, "But… I d-don't know h-how useful I-I can be to y-you, N-Naru… m-my father still do-doesn't hold me in t-the highest r-regard… H-Hanabi still might end up as the n-next clan head…" She hated to disappoint him, but she couldn't lie to him, for some reason her father still held distaste towards her and while the rest of the clan saw her as the genuine heiress of the clan, her father still held the highest authority.

Naruto just smiled at her and in a bold move, she picked her up and placed her on his lap, earning a cute yelp from the Hyūga, "It doesn't matter Hina, I didn't chose you just because of your position as heiress of the Hyūga, I chose you because you are important to me and I know I can get to love you, you don't need to be a heiress to help me, you merely standing by my side is enough."

Seeing that reassuring smile and hearing those words made Hinata fall even harder for the silverette, it also made her realize that while he did valued the position his targets could have, it wasn't the most important thing to him, to him what was worth more was that they were by his side and that they truly believed in his dream. Knowing this now, Hinata couldn't stop her feelings anymore and boldly crashed her lips against his, entering in an entrancing kiss that lasted for almost 10 minutes. She then broke the kiss and with a dazed look on her porcelain face, whispered weakly, "W-Whoa…"

Naruto just chuckled after seeing the dazed look on the heiress' face, he always felt proud whenever he saw what he could do to the opposite sex, "So, you want me to mark ya then?" He then asked while caressing her back and legs.

Hinata regained her composure and after registering what the silverette said, nodded while saying, "Y-Yes Naruto, I'm y-yours, forever." She then leaned her head to the side to allow him a good look at her neck, signalling him where she wanted the mark.

The silver-haired Namikaze smiled and said, "Then I'll take you, my princess." He closed their distance and in a matter of seconds, he sunk his sharp teeth into the bluenette's neck and began the marking process, injecting his essence into his new mate.

Hinata couldn't avoid the sexy moan that came out from her mouth, she could not believe how good she was feeling right now, it was as if the silverette's presence was being encoded deeply into her own DNA and she loved it. It took some seconds but finally after the silverette took his teeth away from her neck, her mind presented a beautiful scenery to her, a sun, a beautiful warm and fierce sun that she knew it was her mind's representation of her new mate and seeing the two planet-like things orbiting around the sun, she could deduce it was the other women he had marked, that was all she saw before she passed out due to the over dose of pleasure she was subjected to.

Naruto just chuckled after feeling Hinata's body falling limp and then carried her bridal style towards his room before he gently placed her on his bed. He then kissed her forehead lovingly and said while caressing her head, "I'll take good care of ya Hina, of all of you, I promise."

With that, the silverette laid beside the Hyūga Princess and she immediately cuddled with him, making him smile fondly and think of his next move to further his dream, now with the support of another great woman by his side.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya lads have! Hope it was to your liking! Next chapter will be the introduction of a character you've been eager to see, sostay tuned for that! See ya and cheers!**


	14. The Raven Witch (Part 1)

**A/N: Yo waddup! Here ya lads have it, the new chapter! But as usual, some words.**

 **Originally** **for this story I had many OCs in mind, but after listening to some of my mates and readers I realised that this is a fanfiction and as such, it is supposed to deliver fan-service, so I've decided to take all of my OCs and swap them with characters from other franchises, just so you guys have the chance to see some of your favourite characters in this story. Now, let me warn you something though, just like with the DXD characters, the ones dragged from other stories (In this chapter I dragged one from IS and one from SAO) will receive a complete overhaul because I will have to fit them into the story, I'll try to keep them as honest to the originals as I can, but don't complain if a character in their original story is portrayed as a villain, shows in here as a hero, that is simply because I have to find a way for them to act accordingly here. Also, I am not a big fan of anime, I practically don't watch it at all, I got into DXD because of the light novels, SAO was recommended to me by my gf and Naruto and DBZ, well, they're Naruto and DBZ, who hasn't seen those? Beyond those four though, I really have no knowledge of anime, so feel free to send me your suggestions, male or female, and I'll make sure to investigate the character and their stories to see if it could work, just make sure to give me a brief summary of the character.  
**

 **Another thing, don't think that every female that appears in this story is going to be in Naruto's harem, that includes the characters you suggest, IF i find a good reason for them to join him, then they will join, if not, I'll leave them as allies or simple acquaintances.**

 **Sorry it took me longer for this one, but I was having trouble with coming up with a way to introduce this character, so let's not waste any more time and let's jump to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **The Raven Witch (Part 1)**

"A-Are you sure about this, Lord Hokage?" A very worried Kakashi asked his leader after hearing what the old timer had in planned for his son. The Third apparently wanted to send Naruto on a solo mission and while Kakashi did understand why the old Sarutobi wanted to send him out on his own, he still was reluctant to agree.

The old Hokage smiled at one of his strongest shinobi before he replied, "Yes Kakashi, I understand and I'm quite worried myself as well, but this mission is something that fits Naruto's skills quite well…" He then blew a little from his pipe before he added, "This is a very strange mission, one that touches on something that I think only the Twelve-Wings will be capable to understand." That much was true, this mission that was requested by a somewhat wealthy family head bordered on the supernatural, he didn't know if it was true, but if it was, the only capable to understand such a creature would be an even stranger creature like the Twelve Winged Dragon itself.

Kakashi nodded slightly because he had to give that to his leader, he had read the mission and he was quite surprised to see such request, he did not believed in such things, but he knew that this world has many things to offer and an apparent 'witch' surely falls on that category. Still, sending Naruto alone without someone watching his back so early in the game was unnerving him a lot, "I understand and I agree Lord Third, but still, I don't feel comfortable with letting my son go out all by himself when there are so many people after him." He then declared sternly.

The old Sarutobi nodded while saying, "Yes, I understand, that is why he'll have two escorts to watch his back." The Hokage then handed the Hatake a document that had the info on who were the shinobi that will be sent on this mission.

Kakashi looked at the documents and then chuckled, finding it amusing to see who his son's companions will be, "Very well, I trust these two and I'm sure they won't keep their eyes off of him." He relented while using a knowing tone at the end, knowing that the two sent with his son will have it hard to take their focus away from Naruto.

The old Hokage just chuckled back, knowing exactly what the silver-haired elite jōnin was talking about since he also knew that Naruto was the most sought out male in the village.

* * *

"Naru!… this… this is amazing!…" An excited Hyūga heiress said to her new mate after practicing a little with her new power. She found that the upgrades made to her body thanks to the mark that she now sported proudly, although hidden most of the time to avoid suspicion, were amazing, her chakra capacity had augmented drastically, rivaling that of an elite jōnin, her body was also firmer and stronger and her senses were incredibly shaper.

Said silverette chuckled while laying lazily on the lap of Ayame Ichiraku who was currently enjoying a small picnic with her new family, "Yeah and you'll only get stronger from now on…" He said before he stood up and after stretching his body, he added, "How's your byakugan? Can you use it correctly?" Ddraig had told him that Hinata might have some trouble with using her byakugan for a while due to his essence still being fresh in a foreign body, so he was a little worried that she might be having said problems.

Hinata turned to look at her beloved and with a smile, replied, "I had trouble at first, after I woke up two days ago…" She then focused and activated her byakugan while adding, "But now I have no problems and my range of vision has actually increased drastically." She was really happy because she knew that the stronger she gets, the more help she will be for her beloved.

He smiled at the good news before he turned back and held his hand to Ayame who took it with a smile, he led her towards Hinata and said to the lavender-eyed Princess, "That's fantastic Hina, I knew you would be capable of getting the hang of your new power in no time…" He then kissed her chastely on the lips before he added, "Now, I've got a favour to ask ya."

Hinata smiled at the affection given to her before she tilted her head slightly and replied, "A favour? Sure Naruto, anything for you!" She declared with conviction and passion.

The silverette smiled back before he said, "Yeah, I need ya to train this brunette hottie right here…" He turned to look at the now wide-eyed Ayame who felt surprised that her beloved had asked that, "I've been wanting to look for someone who could teach her and I had candidates already, but then I realized that she had a different kind of power, one that you now also possess."

Ayame just smiled at him, still feeling a little shocked that the silverette has been looking for someone to train her. She had thought that he might have forgotten about it since she never heard about that from him before but now she understood why, he just realized that it would be better if one of his lovers would do it, since they would share the same kind of power and it would be easier between them, "I-I wo-would r-really appreciate it i-if you could help me, H-Hina." She then said while bowing politely to the Hyūga Princess.

Hinata smiled warmly at the brunette waitress before she brought the elder girl's head up gently by the chin as she replied, "There's no need for you to bow to me Aya, you are my sister now and I will be glad to help you in any way I can." Hinata had a warm an honest smile on her face, which surprised her because she had the idea that she might struggle a little with accepting that she will be sharing Naruto, but to her surprise, she actually welcomed it, she felt good feeling all the presences connected to her through the mark, it felt warm, she felt accompanied, like if she would never be alone again, and she loved that.

Ayame smiled warmly back at the byakugan user before she replied more confident now, "Thank you Hina, I will also help my sister in any way I can, we are family now and family support each other through it all."

Seeing such bonding session between two of his lovers made the silver-haired Namikaze smile wide with happiness, his dream was starting to become a reality. Contrary to what even his lovers believed, bringing unity to this world was not the ex-blond's greatest wish, it was to have a family of his own, one beyond that of his father and brother, and seeing both Ayame and Hinata getting so close to each other already filled him with pride and happiness.

He then walked towards them and embraced them both, making them go all hot due to being in such close contact with the object of their desires, "That's right, we will all support each other and one day, after all this is over, we will live as a true family." He declared before he kissed them both lovingly, a kiss which the two ladies happily allowed their bodies to melt into.

Hinata smiled happily at him before she said, "Yes Naru, you can always count on that."

Ayame did the same and while enjoying the strong grip on her waist, declared with an equal smile, "I can't wait for that."

The silverette smiled back at them before he gently released his hold on them, the girls were about to retort but Naruto said, "I know, I wish I could stay and cuddle with ya two hotties but remember that we need to keep it all to ourselves for now, I'm sorry." He was genuinely sorry that he had to do things this way, but it was necessary, he just hoped that the two ladies present didn't resent him for that.

To his relief though, both Ayame and Hinata smiled at him before the latter replied, "We understand Naru, we will have our chance in the future to display our affections publicly." Ayame nodded in agreement while holding the Hyūga's hand.

The silverette smirked happily while saying, "Thank you mah loves, I promise ya thou, I'll find a way for us to go out and such." He knew that he now had the power to turn into whatever he imagines, but his lovers did not had that ability just yet, only Ayame since she is the only one fully mated to him, but that still required training to achieve and Ayame had none, so he needed to find a way to take his girls out, individually of course.

The two females felt happy that the silverette wanted to find a way to do that, they were girls and as such, they wanted to go out and have dates with their beloved, but since they couldn't show the world the truth of their relationship, they knew they needed a way to do it in secrecy and they hoped they could find one soon.

Everything was interrupted however, when a low growl came from their silver-haired lover's stomach, signalling that he was hungry, "Naruto, how can you be hungry already!? You just ate twenty minutes ago!" Ayame chided the silverette, finding it extraordinary that after eating 10 bowls of ramen he was still hungry.

The Uzumaki for his part just scratched below his nose while replying sheepishly, "Hehe… yeah… but I umm… oi!… I got three mouths to feed, ya know!?…" He claimed while patting his stomach before he added, "And one of 'em is a big ass a hundred metres tall dragon!"

Both Hinata and Ayame just chuckled at the young man's antics before Ayame said, "Alright then, let's go to the stand and I'll make you one more bowl, but only one, eh!"

Hinata nodded with a stern face while adding, "Yes, only one more, we can't have you eating so much ramen from now on, you need different kinds of food."

The silverette just sighed in defeat before muttering depressively, "Ya girls gon kill me one of these days…"

The two females just laughed a little before they all headed towards the stand. It took them some minutes but they soon arrived at the ramen stand and Ayame got ready to begin her shift and make her lover a bowl, but a presence then interrupted the whole ordeal.

"Naruto, the Hokage has requested your presence." A cat masked ANBU said with a soft tone that she only used whenever she spoke to the ball of mischief she held so dear.

Naruto looked at Yūgao and with a tired groan, he said, "Wha!? Maaaan… what did I do this time?"

Yūgao smiled behind her mask and while pinching the boy's cheek playfully, she replied, "Surprisingly, nothing, he has a mission for you apparently."

"Ow! Stop Yū… that hurts…" Naruto said while sending pleading looks towards his two mates who were watching the scene with amusement. Finally after being released by the ANBU Captain, Naruto sighed once again and said to both Ayame and Hinata, "Well, gotta go and see what the Old Man wants, see ya later fam."

Both females nodded at him with a smile as he then disappeared with Yūgao in tow, leaving the two Harem sisters alone in the ramen stand, "I hope the Hokage doesn't send Naru to any dangerous place." Hinata said with great worry, she knew that the silverette had an incredible knack for attracting trouble, so she was worried that he might get into a shitty situation on this mission.

Ayame shared her concern as well, but she declared confidently, "Me too… but don't worry, our man is strong and will be able to beat anything and anyone, I know it!"

Hinata smiled and nodded, confident of their shared lover's abilities. With that, the two females spent the rest of the afternoon chatting in the stand, waiting for the silverette to tell them what mission required of him.

* * *

"Thanks Y… I mean… ANBU… hehe…" Naruto thanked his companion after arriving at the Hokage's Tower. He laughed sheepishly after almost forgetting not to call Yūgao by her name when she's wearing the mask.

Said purpled-haired ANBU Captain snorted before she pinched his cheek while saying, "Seriously Naru, you're gonna get my identity revealed one of these days." She then went back to her hiding place.

The ex-blond just chuckled and jumped through the window to see that there in the office of the Hokage, three figures were waiting for him, "Yo, Old Man, Pa, waddup?" He greeted both his father and surrogate grandfather while walking in front of the desk.

"Son." Kakashi greeted back with an eye-smile.

"Hello Naruto, how has your day been?" The old Sarutobi greeted with a grandfatherly smile.

The silverette smiled back before he replied, "Uh, it's been cool fam, all chill…" He then turned to his right where a man with somewhat expensive clothes and a suspicious face was standing with clear irritation in his face, "Who's this sucker?" He asked rudely while pointing with his thumb to the now angry man.

Kakashi just sighed tiredly while the Hokage reprimanded the boy a little, "Now Naruto, don't be rude to our client here…" Hiruzen sent an apologetic look at the grumpy man before he added, "He has brought us a mission that requires the aid of… umm… your 'friend'…"

Naruto raised his eyebrow after hearing that since he knew perfectly fine which 'friend' the wrinkled man was referring to, so after being swayed by his curiosity, he looked at the man beside him and asked, "Oh really now?… what's this mission about?"

The irked man instead of answering the rude boy turned to look at the Hokage and said with clear displeasure, "Lord Hokage, are you perhaps insulting me? This… brat… is what you give me? This is a serious threat to my village and it requires a professional, not a rude boy!"

Naruto just growled silently but before he could lash out at the annoying man, the village's leader spoke, "I understand that Naruto's first impression might… suggest something different, but I assure you Mr Eisuke, he's the only one that could help you with this peculiar case."

The now identified Eisuke just agreed defeated before he turned to look at the boy who was now bored, so stowing his ire, the man explained the request, "You see boy, the village where I come from has a lurking threat, one that lures men to their demise and damages our image, no village wants to trade with us knowing that such… demon… lives near our home, I even had to leave the village with my family out of fear that the witch might attack us!"

Naruto just raised his eyebrow after hearing the man's tale. Showing his disbelief, he said incredulously, "Pardon me… did you just said… a 'witch'?" He was finding it hard to believe that a 'witch' was haunting a village.

The man then replied angrily, "Yes boy! A witch! Some of our people have disappeared and just some days ago, a man that she lured managed to escape her filthy claws by mere chance! You need to slay that whore!"

Naruto was still a little sceptical of such thing but the man did seemed to look genuinely distressed, but he could still see a hidden meaning to those words. Naruto just decided to keep his suspicion to himself before he said, "Right… then I guess I'll do it…" He turned to look at both his father and grandfather who nodded in thanks at him before he looked back at the man and said, "This man that escaped the… witch… what's his name and where in your village does he usually hangs around?"

The man seemed a little relieved to see that his mission was being accepted so he answered a little calmer now, "His name is Genzo and he's always at the local brothel, 'The Red Lantern' is the name of the place, Genzo has a scar on his left cheek left by the witch, so you should be able to recognize him easily."

Naruto nodded and then the Hokage said, "Very well then, Mr Eisuke, your mission will be tend to so you might leave with Naruto if you so wish."

"That won't be necessary, I'll stay here in the Leaf until your shinobi return." With that, the man bowed and left the room, leaving the three ninja alone.

Naruto just turned to look at his leader and said, "Aight, what's this really about?" He was really sceptical about the 'witch' thing and more so after seeing the suspicious behaviour of the man.

"I understand your scepticism my boy, but the mission is exactly what he said, he came here and asked us to slay the… witch…" The Hokage replied before he blew some of his tobacco and added, "If such thing is real, I thought that only the Twelve-Wings could know how to deal with it."

Naruto just nodded while thinking, _'Well, magic does exist, I wouldn't doubt that maybe a magic user has come to the continent…'_ He then looked back at his father and with a sudden change of demeanour, asked with fright in his voice, "Aight, I get it but… umm… there are… th-there aa-ren't any ghosts in t-that place right!?… 'cause if there are you can all go and fu…"

"Naruto!" The voice of Yūgao then reverberated throughout the room, breaking her ANBU behaviour trying to stop the boy from cursing his own father and leader.

The occupants in the room then laughed at the now blushing purpled-haired kunoichi before the Hokage said, "Naruto, you have THE Twelve Winged Dragon inside of you and you're afraid of ghosts?" The old man knew of the silverette's greatest fear very well and he always found it funny, both of Naruto's fears actually, ghosts and needles.

"Oi! Ghosts are scary as fuck! They're all… tr-transparent and they… they float and appear at n-night! Their v-voice has that… that… scary echo… oh shit…" He then hugged himself while shivering in fright, genuinely afraid of ghosts.

Kakashi just chuckled while walking towards his shivering son, he patted him on his head and said, "Now son, it's alright, there are no ghosts in Sun Village."

Naruto stopped shivering and said, "Sun Village? That where this… witch… is?"

"Yes my boy, that's where you're going…" The Hokage answered before he added, "And don't worry, you won't be going alone."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and said, "Really? Who's going with me?"

"Oh you'll see, they're already waiting for you at the village's gates, so you better leave now." The Sarutobi said with a mischievous grin on his face.

Naruto just sighed in defeat and made his way towards the window, he was about to leap off but said, "You do know that there's something suspicious about that guy and his mission, right?"

Both Kakashi and Hiruzen nodded, with the latter saying, "Yes, that's exactly why you're not going alone, I want you to figure out what's really going on there."

Naruto nodded and with that, he jumped out of the office through the window, with the intention of heading to Ichiraku's first to let his girls know where he would go.

* * *

"A witch?" The soft voice of one Hinata Hyūga said unbelievingly after listening to the kind of mission her beloved was being sent to, she, like Ayame, was having a hard time believing that such thing existed.

"Yeah Naruto, that sounds pretty… fictitious…" Ayame then added with equal disbelief.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders before he replied, "Not really, I mean I told ya girls about 'magic' right?…" Both girls nodded after remembering that Naruto's adopted daughter had that kind of chakra and then, the silverette added, "If this witch's powers are something that Sun villagers have never seen before it might be that she's just from the western continent."

Both Hinata and Ayame agreed to that, that was very possible since a different kind of techniques could seem like witchcraft to those who don't recognize it. But still, there was something that was worrying both, so Hinata said, "It does seem possible but Naruto… I don't like the idea of you going on your own." Ayame nodded in agreement at that, both females were feeling really worried.

The silverette just kissed them chastely to reassure them before he said, "Don't worry mah luvs, I ain't going alone."

Hinata and Ayame tilted their heads at the same time before Ayame asked, "Really? Who's going with you?"

"I don't know yet…" Naruto responded while standing from his seat as he then added, "But they're already waiting for me at the gate, so…" He walked towards them and after kissing them again, this time deeply, he said, "I gotta go now, I'll be back soon, don't worry."

The Hyūga and the Ichiraku both smiled at him lovingly and then bid him farewell and good luck. With that, he left the ramen stand and headed straight to the village's gates at a quick pace, knowing that he was already late to meet with his companions.

It took him some minutes but finally, he arrived at the gates and was surprised when he saw who will be accompanying him on this mission, "Hani? Ko?" He said surprised at seeing both of his dreaded Handlers here waiting for him.

Both Hana and Anko smiled sweetly at him before Hana stepped forward and bonked him slightly in the head while saying, "You're late, Naruto, we've been waiting for you for some time now and that's how you greet us?" She crossed her arms under her bust and pouted, action mimicked by Anko who surprisingly showed that playful side of her.

Naruto massaged his head while chuckling sheepishly before he said, "Hehe… yeah sorry… lemme make it up to ya…" He then surprised them both when he kissed them on the cheek while hugging them tightly, making them blush madly and sputter nonsense, even Anko was behaving like a school girl, "There, all better now." The Namikaze then said with a smug smirk on his face, always proud of how much he could affect a female with merely being close to them.

It took them some seconds to recover, but finally, Anko managed to say something, "Gee Naruto… y-you're getting too good at this…" Anko said a little shyly while still carrying a blush on her face, she just could not grasp how can the silverette have such an effect on her.

Hana also recovered a little and said, "Y-Yeah… you might end up making us fall for you…" She, like Anko, always turns into a mess whenever the silverette was around. Strangely though, her arousal and attachment to the boy grew to new heights after the first time he massaged her and Anko in the Forest of Death and no matter what she do, she could not think of any man other than him.

"Don't see anything wrong with that…" The Uzumaki said with a seductive smirk, hoping that that actually becomes a reality. He then realized that they had already wasted much time and the people around them were starting to look at them, so deciding to get a move on, he said, "Leaving our impending romantic feelings aside…" Both kunoichi just blushed even harder but didn't corrected him, so he continued, "Ya hotties know what this mission is about?"

After finally regaining their composure that broke due to the silverette's over charming words, Hana and Anko both nodded in yes with the former saying, "Yeah, something about a witch, right?" Both were sceptical of such things but they knew that there might still be something going on.

The silver-haired Uzumaki heir nodded and said, "Yup, I know it's hard to believe but whatevs… they're paying… so fuck it…"

The two kunoichis just chuckled while shaking their heads in amusement at the silverette's uncouth mouth before they then proceeded to leave the village and headed straight towards their destination, Sun Village.

* * *

A blue-haired beauty was walking towards a dark corridor, she was a little nervous for what she was about to do but she could not contain her curiosity to know more about her colleague's plans regarding the man she has been unable to get out of her head ever since she met him back in Wave Country.

Konan has just received word that both Kisame and Itachi were back from capturing the Four-Tails jinchūriki and now she was heading towards the Uchiha's quarters, with the intention to let him know that she had already met his legacy. She also wanted to know what exactly was he hoping to achieve from his death at the hands of the silverette and his younger brother since she really does not understand what good could come out from that.

It took her some minutes but she soon arrived at a door that was far from the other rooms, she breathed in, waiting some moments to gather her courage and knocked on it.

It didn't took long for a response to come when after seconds, the door opened and there in front of the amber-eyed female, the figure of Itachi Uchiha stood looking at her with a raised eyebrow, obviously surprised to see her here, "Konan? Did Leader called for me?" He then said, sounding confused but the truth was that he had a slight inkling as to what was she doing here.

Konan sighed heavily before she asked, "C-Can I come in?…" Itachi shrugged and stepped aside to allow her entrance and soon after he closed the door, she said, "I w-wanted to talk to you ab… a-about…" She couldn't finish her sentence because for some strange reason she couldn't stop feeling embarrassed whenever she thought about the silverette jinchūriki.

Itachi just smirked mentally after seeing that his little brother had apparently already snatched Konan, _'You work fast little brother…'_ He thought with pride before he finished her sentence for her, "You met my little silver-haired brother didn't you?"

Konan widened her eyes after apparently being read so easily before she said with a slight stutter, "H-How did you k-know?"

Itachi just sighed before he sat on a chair and replied, "Your eyes, even though you hide it incredibly well, I can see that you're no longer okay with what we're doing, you used to be over-loyal to Pain, but seeing this doubts now tells me that you have found another way, I presume that said way, is Naruto's way."

Konan just gasped a little after hearing such a spot on deduction from the Uchiha, everything he said was completely true. She no longer felt okay with what they were doing and has being doing her best to avoid Nagato so that he won't send her to fetch more jinchūrikis, and she has even gone as far as to maybe indulge the thought of leaving the Akatsuki and run to the silverette that seems to have etched an almost unbearable longing for him in her heart.

Itachi just chuckled a little after seeing the flowing emotions that appeared in the paper user's eyes, it was clear to him that she was closer to follow his little brother that she was to go back to her old ways. He stood up and went towards a table where a bottle of water was placed, he drank it and then said, "You know that Pain will eventually find out right?"

Konan then regained her composure and after turning to look at the blackette, she conceded, "Yes, honestly, I don't know what to do anymore… N-Naruto… he… raised some valid points…"

Itachi nodded in understanding, knowing that the blue-haired kunoichi genuinely cared for their organization's leader but now was feeling very conflicted at what to do, "Stay here for now, you'll help Naruto more here than out there." He then advised.

Konan just nodded after hearing those words since she was also thinking that that might be the better option for now. She then looked back at him and asked, "I… I have a question…"

Itachi raised his eyebrow before he nodded while saying, "Go ahead."

Konan breathed out before she asked, "I figured out that you intend to fight both Naruto and your younger brother in the end…" Itachi nodded at her deduction, prompting her to continue, "What I don't understand is why? What would they gain after killing you? Because I know you'll lose…" Itachi just smirked at hearing his plan being completely laid out by the bluenette and with a nod, he conceded her point. She then added, "For what I saw from my brief encounter with Naruto, he loves you, probably more than anyone else, I don't see how your death at his hands would benefit him, he would be broken I reckon." Even she was surprised when she heard her own worry etched in her question, making her feel troubled at how quickly the young man was breaking her emotional walls.

Itachi this time did showed a sad look in his eyes after hearing the truth in her words, he was very aware that his death will undoubtedly hurt both Naruto and Sasuke greatly, but he replied, "I know, and you are right, my death at their hands will be a turning point for both…" He then declared with passion and confidence, "But, my death will make both Naruto and Sasuke's dreams come true."

Konan raised her eyebrow and with confusion, she asked, "How so?"

"Simple…" Itachi then walked back towards his seat and explained, "Sasuke wants to restore our clan and this time do it right, Naruto wants to bring an understanding to the world, if they want to achieve that, they'll need the support of the people and to earn that support they need to become heroes to those who follow them, Naruto especially…" He then sighed with sadness before he finished, "…my death will provide that."

Konan widened her eyes after realization hit her, she finally understood what his plan was. Itachi wanted to use his own death to make Naruto and Sasuke heroes so that they have it easier with their own ambitions, Sasuke will redeem his clan's honour and will have it easier to restore his almost extinct clan, while Naruto will be hailed as a hero for getting rid of the man that slaughtered the most powerful clan in the world and that will allow him to gather followers for his cause. The plan made sense and while she still could find good counters for it, she decided to stow them simply because she was astonished at the amount of love that the elder Uchiha had for both Naruto and Sasuke, he was willing to be remembered as a monster if it meant that both his little brothers had what they desired, it was something to admire, "I understand." She then said while nodding at him, not knowing what else could be said.

Itachi could see that Konan was keeping her retorts to herself and he was quite relieved for that because he knew that there were other ways to help his little brothers, but this one was the only one he could come up with at the time and now he had to stick with it, but he held no remorse, his two younger brothers were worth it all, "Just be careful from now on, Pain will start to suspect you soon."

Konan nodded and replied, "I know, but hopefully, I'll already be gone when he realizes the truth…" With that, she left Itachi's room, leaving a pondering Uchiha who wanted nothing more but to see his two beloved brothers to succeed in their plans.

* * *

" _Pff_ … We're finally here!" Hana said with a relieved sigh after finally arriving to Sun Village.

"Well, this place doesn't seem so bad." Anko then added after seeing the village.

Sun Village was a somewhat important village inside the territory of the Land of Fire, it had a population of around 20 thousand people and thrived due to the mines that surrounded it. The people were known to be somewhat cold though and had the reputation of being a sinful town with its many brothels that attracted a lot of the criminal world, the only reason why this town was not under the criminals control was because the village's guard was very good, and they needed to be good because Sun Village was one of the Fire Lord's favourite places inside his land, so it was somewhat usual to see samurai patrols roaming around the streets.

When it came to bigger threats though, Sun village relied on the Leaf for protection and had at least a team of 4 shinobi permanently posted in the village in case any sneak attack is tried, or in this case, a witch starting to threaten the village's wellbeing.

"Let's get to a hotel." Naruto then said to his two companions and led them towards a hotel.

They soon found one some steps away from the village's main entrance and after checking in, the three Leaf-nin gathered in Anko and Hana's room to discuss their next move, "Alright Naruto, how are we doing this?" Anko then asked after taking a seat on her bed.

Naruto raised his eyebrow while saying, "Me? Anko, I thought you were the one in charge of this mission, you are the only jōnin here." That much was true, Naruto thought that the purple-haired special jōnin was in charge of this mission, but apparently, he once again was put in charge without his knowledge.

Anko smirked before she pinched his cheek playfully and replied, "Yes Naru, but this is your solo mission, me and Hana here are only your… _escorts_ …" She whispered the last part seductively, not knowing why she always had the urge to jump at the silverette whenever he was around.

Naruto just chuckled slightly while fighting his own arousal down that suddenly spiked after hearing the seductive voice of Anko, but soon after regaining his wits, he said, "Aight then, I guess I have no choice…" He sighed in defeat and added, "The only solid lead we have is the guy that supposedly managed to escape the witch… mmm… he's supposed to spend most of his time in… what was the name?... ah right! The Red Lantern!"

Both Hana and Anko nodded before the former said, "Then Anko and I should go around the village and ask the people about this witch."

The silverette nodded and stood up while saying, "Aight then, I'll go to that bar while you ask the villagers."

Both females stood and walked outside the room with the silverette in tow, they soon reached the hotel's exit and before they went on their separate ways, Anko threatened, "Now, don't go fooling around with naughty girls, eh Naruto…" She and Hana then closed in on him and with a threatening gaze, she finished, "Me and Hana will not take that very well."

Naruto just gulped loudly and replied nervously, "Hehe… yo-you girls have nothing to worry 'bout!…" He then developed a seductive smirk on his face before he said while turning around to walk away, "You two are the only naughty girls who might get reprimanded tonight." With that, he walked away, not waiting for a response because he knew that both Anko and Hana were too flustered to even respond.

And true to Naruto's deduction, Hana and Anko were frozen on their spots, sporting mad blushes and breathing hard due to the incredible rush of arousal they just felt after hearing such commanding tone on their beloved silverette's voice.

"D-Damn… I… I d-don't know if I c-can hold it much m-more…" Anko whispered huskily while staring lustfully at Naruto's retreating back.

"M-Me neither…" Hana agreed with an equal husky voice while fighting her arousal down.

Both have already talked about their growing feelings for the silverette and they at first chalked it up to a mere physical attraction since the silverette was the handsomest man they have ever seen, but as time went on, their thoughts about the dragon jinchūriki started to take on a deeper way, one that they didn't know how to act on, so they decided to one day try to sleep with the silverette just to see if after that, those strange feelings disappeared.

* * *

"Well, this gotta be the place…" Naruto muttered while staring at a big two stories house. The house had a pinkish tone on the walls and red lights illuminated the sign that said 'The Red Lantern', "Hopefully they won't realize I'm 'thirteen'…" He then said while walking towards the door.

Naruto opened the door and walked inside the large lounge that had a stage where a band was playing music on the opposite side of the hall, many tables with food and drinks where at the sides and in the middle, a long stage where many courtesans were dancing at the beat of the music.

As soon as he walked in, all the girls in the place turned to look at him and he could smell their arousal at seeing him, all the girls had longing eyes for him while the males had somewhat wary and irritated looks as if they were feeling threatened by his presence, "Me and my enticing dragon ass…" He muttered tiredly while walking towards the bar to fetch a drink. He knew why they were looking at him but since he was wearing his Leaf headband they knew that antagonizing him was a crime.

"Hello, do you have whisky?" The silverette said after sitting on one of the bar stools. In front of him, there was a cute bartender who was blushing madly after seeing him and just nodded timidly before she quickly went to serve his drink.

The girl soon got back and served him a glass of whisky while saying timidly, "H-Here y-you go, sir."

The silverette just sent a charming smirk her way, making her squeal in delight, as he drank from his glass and gulped with happiness. Contrary to what might most believe, Naruto enjoyed alcohol quite a lot, whisky especially since it was a rare beverage here in the Elemental Nations. He had his first taste of the exquisite malt when Rosalia brought him a bottle she had with her from her home country and he immediately fell in love with it, _'Now… how do I do this?…'_ He thought while looking around the place.

"My… so young and already displaying such exquisite tastes…" Suddenly, a seductive voice could be heard coming from his left side. After Naruto turned to look at the owner of said voice, he was delighted to see such a beautiful woman looking at him with want, she was wearing an expensive looking green dress that allowed her upper torso to show her creamy skin and her seductive cleavage, she had dark green hair that reached her calves with two long bangs on the sides of her posh face, her eyes were a beautiful olive green colour and the way she moved clearly showed that she was the Madame of this place, "Hello young warrior, I am Sakuya, owner of this fine establishment." She then introduced herself while sitting next to him and scooting a little closer.

Naruto just smirked slightly before he replied, "Nice to meet ya, Ms Sakuya…" He then grabbed her soft hand and kissed it politely before he added, "My name is Naruto."

The woman now identified as Sakuya didn't know why she was blushing and feeling such a longing for the young man sitting next to her, but when he kissed her hand she could feel her heart going at uncharted speeds, but not wanting to look weak in front of her girls, she managed to compose herself and replied, "M-My… such a charming young man… it is rare to see men like you nowadays…" She then ordered a whisky of her own and after getting it, she took a sip and asked, "What is such a fine warrior like you doing here? Are you perhaps looking for… relief?" She again didn't know why she wanted him to say yes and that he wanted her, but she leaned closer to him, enough that her hand was now resting on his leg.

Naruto just chuckled after seeing how strong his presence affected regular females. Females with chakra and strong will tend to have a lesser effect whenever he's around, but as he learned in his own village, civilian women on the other hand seemed to struggle a lot to hold themselves at throwing their bodies at him, he has tried suppressing his aura but Ddraig said it would be impossible to avoid said effect, "As much as I would enjoy having a delightful time with any of the girls here…" He then turned to her and wanting to see her blush harder, he added while releasing some of his pheromones, "Especially with such a fantastic woman like you…" His tease had the desired effect because Sakuya's face went completely red while her breath started to get ragged, obviously trying with all her might to fight her lust down.

Deciding to end the teasing because he could see that all the females were acting the same and the men were starting to get riled up, he stopped his pheromones and finished, "I'm actually here to solve a problem of yours."

After regaining her breath and finally controlling her want for the young man, Sakuya shook her head to the sides and inquired, "P-Problem y-you say?…" She then took a big sip of her drink to finally calm down and with a more reigned tone, she added, "Wait, you mean the… 'Raven Witch'?" After those words left her mouth, it seemed as if the whole brothel went quiet. The whole village was starting to get really afraid of said witch and hearing that the Leaf has send someone to take care of it made them reveal a relieved expression.

Naruto lifted his eyebrow after hearing the name and confused, asked, "Raven Witch?"

The brothel's Madame nodded while explaining, "Yes, it is said that she has wings that resembled that of a crow's, black as night, Genzo is the only man that has survived an encounter with her, he even managed to get a feather from her wings."

Naruto narrowed his eyes while thinking, _'Mm… wings?…'_ He was finding the whole 'winged witch' thing to be too fictional but stowing his scepticism for now, he said, "I heard about said man, is he perhaps here now? I would like to have a talk with him."

Sakuya smiled at him before she replied, "Yes handsome, he's right over there…" She then pointed at a man who was talking to some of his friends while drinking some liquor, "If you do manage to get rid of this witch, you have no idea how much this village, _and I_ , will be grateful to you." She then said with a seductive tone in the end, she has apparently set her mind on having some fun with the silverette.

Naruto on his part surprised her when he didn't even looked fazed at her seductiveness when he replied with a provocative tone of his own, "Mm, careful Madame, because this young warrior might come and _claim_ his reward…" He then sent a considerable amount of pheromones at her, making her lose her posh demeanour badly, "I would like to continue our bonding, but I'm afraid I have work to do." He then stood up and prepared to walk towards Genzo's table but was stopped when Sakuya whispered.

"P-Please… d-do come back…" She didn't know why she was acting like a love sick puppy, but such longing words left her mouth seemingly on their own, making her blush even harder while looking at the sides to avoid his gaze.

"Of course, Saku." He just said with a smug smirk before he finally made his way to Genzo.

"What do you want?" Genzo said rudely to Naruto who just arrived at his table, for some reason he felt very irked at him but he wasn't stupid, he could feel that this boy had great power, so like the rest of the men inside the brothel, he decided to just stay out of his way.

"You know what I want…" Naruto said dryly, losing completely his charming smile and replacing it with stern eyes that made the rest of the table flinch, "Your encounter with this… Raven Witch… talk." He then commanded.

Gulping after listening the commanding tone from the silverette, Genzo replied with some stutter in his voice, "W-What's there to t-tell? I e-escaped by miracle f-from her, that's all."

Naruto just narrowed his eyes at him and questioned, "What was she like?"

"Delicious…" The man blurted before he gasped after the silverette intensified his glare, "I-I mean… s-she was q-quite beautiful… b-black, long h-hair tied in a p-ponytail… it r-reached her l-legs even…" He then drank from his liquor to gather strength to continue and added, "H-Her eyes we-were v-violet… a-and… and she h-had c-crow wings!… b-black as night!"

Naruto just narrowed his eyes harder at him when he asked, "And how did you encountered her?" Genzo seemed like a shady man and for the sweat running down his forehead and the way his companions were sending frightened glances, he could tell that his encounter with the creature was not an attack initiated by said witch.

"W-Well… she… umm… s-she attacked m-me…" Genzo stuttered before he gasped in fear after the silverette grabbed his leg and placed a bone-crushing grip on his knee, obviously threatening him to break his knee if he does not answers correctly.

"Don't lie to me, the truth, now…" He then tightened his grip on the man's knee before he added with a cold tone, "If you lie, I'll know."

Genzo just nodded scared before he gulped once again and replied, "Al-Alright… I… I w-went to Teko Village… I w-wanted to see i-if the bandits le-left anything to loot… she was t-there a-and attacked me… that's the truth, I swear!"

Naruto released Genzo's knee but continued to push when he inquired, "Teko Village? Why would you want to loot a town full of people?"

It was one of Genzo's friends who answered him though, when he explained, "T-The town h-has been abandoned… s-some gang d-drove all the villagers out… t-they all c-came here…"

Now, that was interesting, _'A gang driving people away from a small village? Strange…'_ He thought. He then brought his attention back to the men on the table and asked, "These people, do you know where they are now?"

The three men shook their heads in no but Genzo said, "C-Captain Orimura i-is the only one wh-who would know w-where they live now."

Naruto then asked, "Captain Orimura?"

"The Village Guard's Captain, s-she's always a-at the commissary." One of the men answered him.

Naruto then stood up, much to the men's relief but then said while showing his opened hand, "The feather you apparently took from the witch, give it to me."

Sensing that there was no room for retort and out of his own fear of this young man, Genzo nodded and with shaking hands, he took from his pocket a feather and gave it to the silverette.

Naruto took it and began to make his way towards the door, where Sakuya was waiting for him, "Going already?" She then asked with clear disappointment.

Naruto smiled at her and replied, "Yes Saku, I must find this Captain Orimura and ask her some things…" He then walked past her but said before he left, "I'll come by and see ya soon though, don't worry." For the moment, he had no intentions of adding her to his family, but he could feel that the woman felt lonely, so he thought that having a talk with her and extending his friendship will do her good.

Sakuya nodded with a sweet smile and with that, he left the brothel and headed towards the village's center, where he agreed to meet with Hana and Anko, _"Yo D, do witches have wings?"_ He then asked the only being who could know what was going on.

 ** _"_** ** _No, witches, as humans know them, only have the ability to wield magic, it could either be that this supposed witch casted a spell on her appearance to make it look like she has wings or…"_** Ddraig then stopped and started to ponder on his assumption.

Naruto tilted his head to the sides and asked, _"Or?"_

 ** _"_** ** _Or you're dealing with a rogue reincarnate."_** Ddraig then answered.

Naruto just widened his eyes after hearing that, he knew what the mighty god was talking about and after remembering all the specific details about the reincarnates, he could only think of one kind of reincarnate that fitted the description, "Fallen Angel." With those words, he continued his trek towards his rendezvous point with his companions, now having a small idea at to what was he dealing with.

* * *

"Ah Naruto, you're finally here." Hana greeted when she saw the silverette walking towards her and Anko.

Naruto just smiled at both and said "Yeah, sorry it took me long but this guy was umm…" He then scratched the back of his head before he finished, "Hard to talk to, ya know!?"

Sensing the small signs of nervousness in the boy, both Anko and Hana shared a suspicious look but deciding to get down to business, they stowed said suspicion before Anko said, "Right… well, did you learned anything?"

Sighing after seeing that he was not going to get interrogated by the two kunoichi, he replied, "Only two things really…" He walked towards the wall of a building and leaned on it before he continued, "Apparently, a village nearby got its people driven off by a gang, pretty weird if you ask me…" Both Hana and Anko nodded at that, sharing the sentiment, "And this guy that apparently survived his encounter with the witch, was in said village to loot, meaning he's a lowlife and for what I could sense from him, I think that this guy was actually the one that attacked the witch first."

"I see, the only thing we learnt was the Teko Village incident as well, nobody else knew much about this witch, but they do seem to fear her a lot." Hana then said while petting one of her three dogs.

Naruto hummed in yes while nodding slightly before he said, "Maybe Teko Village is her turf."

Anko nodded as she commented, "It appears so, but what now?"

The Uzumaki turned to look at both and after straightening himself, he replied, "We gotta talk to the villagers of Teko, I asked this guy about them but he and his friends didn't know where they're at…" He then turned towards a large building some steps away from them and continued, "But they did told me that Sun Village Guard's Captain was the only who could tell us where they are."

Anko and Hana understood why he looked at the building that had a sign that said 'Commissary', so they nodded and with that, they headed towards said building, "You think this Captain's going to help us?" Hana said, a little unsure because of how cold the people in Sun Village seemed to act towards foreigners, even if said foreigners are Leaf ninja.

"She has to, she might be the Captain of the village's guard, but when a Leaf team is here, the leader of said team automatically becomes the superior of the guard…" Anko then explained, surprising both Hana and Naruto. Seeing their confusion, Anko decided to clear things more, " _Sigh,_ I see you didn't know about this so I'll explain briefly, the Land of Fire's military ranks pits both Samurai and Ninja at the same level, below them the rest of the military and law enforcement forces of the country, this makes it that whenever a Samurai Yoriki or a Ninja Jōnin are around they are immediately given command to make things easier and avoid misunderstandings."

Both Naruto and Hana nodded after finally understanding that, but still a little confused and irked after once again being put in charge without his knowledge, and now of a whole village guard, Naruto asked, "But you're the only jōnin here, Ko, doesn't that makes you the one in charge?"

Anko shook her head in no while saying, "Nope Naru, I would if I was in command of this mission, but remember that you are the one in command, that puts you as the superior."

Hana then just bumped his head and chided, "Stop being so lazy! I know you hate being put in charge but suck it up!"

Naruto just massaged his head and said in defeat, "Aight, aight, I get it fam…" He indeed hated to be put in charge, it annoyed him but knowing that it would be for just the time it takes to complete this mission, he sighed and asked the guardsman posted at the desk in the Commissary's building, "Hello, can you direct me to Captain Orimura." He used a commanding voice to let the guardsman know that he was not going to take a no for an answer.

The guardsman at first felt a little irked when a teenager seemed to be ordering him around but when he felt the young man's presence and saw his Leaf headband, he went pale after realizing that this was a Leaf ninja and by extension, his superior, "Y-Yes sir, f-follow me." He then said with a little stutter while walking around his desk.

Naruto nodded and he alongside his companions followed the guardsman to an office on the second floor where he knocked on the door, the guardsman then opened it and said, "C-Captain, Leaf ninja are here to talk to you."

The female Captain raised an eyebrow but said with a stern voice, "Let them in."

At those words, the guardsman turned back and nodded at the three Leaf-nin to enter, they did as told and once inside, they finally got a look at Sun Village's highest ranking officer. Captain Orimura had black wavy hair with a long lone ponytail while many strands of her hair fell freely on the front of her face, she was wearing standard ANBU gear with a black coat similar to that of Naruto and underneath it she had a dark blue vest that hugged her well trained figure, her eyes are amber colour like those of Konan's and her aura spoke of a strong willed woman that despise her young appearance, she exuded significant power.

"I see that old fool Eisuke requested the Leaf's assistance with this witch…" The Captain then said while standing up and walking to stand in front of the Leaf-nin, Naruto specifically, "But I didn't expect them to send the Dark Swordsman himself…" She said with a smirk that faltered the moment she got close to the silverette because her body suddenly screamed at her to jump at him. She managed to control her strange behaviour though and soon after, she extended her hand towards Naruto and finished with some stutter in her voice, "M-My name is Chifuyu Orimura, I a-am the Captain of the village's police force."

Naruto resisted the urge to smirk smugly after sensing the now identified Chifuyu's sudden arousal and while shaking his hand with hers, replied with a friendly smirk, "Nice to meet ya Capt. Orimura, I am Naruto Uzumaki…" He turned to look at Anko and said, "This here is Anko Mitarashi…" He then looked at Hana and finished the introduction, "And this here is Hana Inuzuka, we were sent here per request of Mr Eisuke who asked for our aid with a supposed… umm… Raven Witch…"

Smirking back after feeling the power coming off from the silverette, Chifuyu nodded and leaned on her desk and while looking at them, she said, "Yes, I figured you came here for that, if you ask me, this 'witch' thing is a load of crap, but I do have to admit that there have been strange things happening and we have no clue of the cause."

The silver-haired Namikaze nodded while saying, "Yes, we find it hard to believe as well but there does seems to be something weird going on…" He walked towards the window and continued, "I spoke with this Genzo fool, the man that supposedly escaped the witch's clutches, and while his tale does sounds strange, it is obvious to me that said fucker is a lowlife who probably attacked first."

Chifuyu felt a little surprised after listening to the young silver-haired nin's deduction skills, she heard about him, like the rest of the continent was doing, and she found it a little hard to believe that a supposed fresh out of the Academy ninja had apparently freed a country and possessed great power, but now being in the same room than him and feeling his presence first hand, she could say that the silverette was being underestimated, "You are correct, sir…" She added the 'sir' because he was her superior right now and while she's usually a tough nut, she was smart as well and she had no intention of antagonizing a jinchūriki, plus, she found herself strangely eager to help him, "Genzo is a past offender and a notorious pig around women, I wouldn't put it past him to try something on the witch."

Naruto nodded and said, "Figured as much, the girls at the brothel did seemed to avoid his table…" He muttered while remembering how the girls at Sakuya's establishment avoided said man, "We've also heard about an incident that occurred in a nearby town, Teko Village, is that true?"

The black-haired Captain hummed before she replied, "Yes, a gang showed up and drove everyone off of Teko Village, the villagers came here to seek refuge."

Naruto nodded before he inquired more, "The leader of Teko or its highest ranking persona, can you tell me where they at?"

Chifuyu raised her eyebrow a little because she was confused as to why would he ask that but answered none the less when she said, "Amm… yes… the village's mayor, Ikko Adachi, lives near here alongside the rest of Teko's former residents, we accommodated them on a block some minutes away from here, but why would you ask that?"

Naruto looked back at her and explained, "Genzo was attacked in Teko, these villagers were driven off by a gang, it seems to me that Teko is the Raven Witch's turf, so I want to know more about this attack and the village itself."

Chifuyu nodded before she walked towards the door and said, "Then follow me, I will take you to them."

The three Leaf-nin nodded and soon followed the beautiful Captain, with Naruto preparing a course of action to take once he talks to Teko Village's former residents, _'Sigh… so troublesome…'_ He thought while releasing a tired sigh, already feeling annoyed by the whole ordeal.

* * *

"Mr Adachi, are you here? It's Captain Orimura and there's something I wish to talk to you about." Chifuyu said while knocking on a door. They had just arrived at a block specifically made for Teko Village's former residents.

Soon after the knocks, the door opened and a middle-aged brunette female appeared, she flashed a gentle smile and greeted, "Ah, good evening Captain, my husband is inside in the living room, please come in."

"Thank you…" The Orimura replied before she looked back at the Leaf-nin and said, "Well, come on then."

The three ninja nodded and followed Chifuyu inside the house, where the mayor's wife led them to the living room where a bulky middle-aged man with grey hair was going through some papers, "Honey, Captain Orimura is here with ninjas from the Leaf." His wife then said.

The mayor after hearing his wife's voice turned to look at the visitors and with a smile, he greeted, "Oh, Captain Orimura, what brings you here with these Leaf-nin?" He then gestured them to sit on the couch at the opposite side of his seat.

They did as told and after seating, Chifuyu replied, "I'm sorry to bother you Mr Adachi, but these Leaf ninja were sent here to investigate the strange events that have occurred lately in both of our villages…" She then turned to look at the three shinobi and introduced them, "Allow me to introduce them, this is Hana Inuzuka…" At that, Hana nodded and smiled, "Anko Mitarashi…" Anko then mimicked the gesture and Chifuyu finished, "And this is Naruto Uzumaki."

After hearing the last name, both the mayor and his wife widened their eyes with the latter saying, "THE Naruto Uzumaki!? The Dark Swordsman!?"

"This is getting ridiculous…" Naruto just muttered with a tired sigh, his fame was starting to get on his nerves. He brought his eyes back to the couple and replied with a gentle smile, "Yes, that's me."

"He and his team would like to ask some questions to you, Mr Adachi." Orimura then requested.

Ikko smiled and nodded while saying, "Of course young ones, ask away."

"Can you tell us exactly what happened regarding the bandits?" Naruto asked while thanking the mayor's wife for the tea offered to him.

Ikko took a sip of his tea and replied, "Well, it happened six days ago, everything in the village was going as usual, we are a tiny place so we don't have much noise going around, but then coming midday, a group of at least two hundred men came and surrounded the village, the leader of the gang then came into my house and took me out, he screamed at us to leave or they'll kill us, since we really don't have a large force, only thirty men really, we couldn't fight back so we heed their warning and left." The tired man then looked at the floor, he was genuinely ashamed of his failure.

His wife immediately sat by his side and started rubbing his shoulders while saying soothingly, "It's alright sweetie, there was nothing you could've done."

Sighing, the silverette then inquired, "This men, how did they look?"

Bringing his gaze back up, the mayor tilted his head a little in confusion but replied, "Mm… let me see… the one that grabbed me was bald and had a big beard…"

His wife then added, "Actually, they were all bald and had big beards."

Naruto at that narrowed his eyes and asked, "Were they wearing vests?…" The coupled nodded and he then added, "These vests, did they had a wolf's head painted on them?"

Both Ikko and his wife looked at each other for some seconds before the latter answered, "Yes dear, they did had that, why you ask?"

"The Wolves." Chifuyu muttered, earning a nod from both Hana and Anko who also recognized the description.

Naruto then massaged his chin while saying, "Were there any casualties on your side?"

"No." Ikko replied.

"Rapes?" The silverette then said, earning surprised looks from the people around him, not understanding where he was getting at.

"Dear god, no!" Ikko's wife replied, feeling surprised of the look he was giving.

"You seem somewhat disappointed." Ikko then said after seeing the pensive look on the silverette.

"Naruto, where are you getting at?" Anko then asked, feeling really confused.

"I'm not disappointed, it's a relief to hear that actually…" Naruto then sipped some of his tea and explained, "But pardon my confusion after hearing that a gang who has the motto of 'Kill. Rape. Loot' did absolutely none of that."

Everyone now understood what he was saying, the mayor and his wife didn't know that so gasped a little, but Chifuyu, Anko and Hana now remembered that that was true. 'The Wolves' are a quite notorious gang that wherever they go they left said motto written on the walls or the ground, usually using the blood of their victims as ink, so now hearing that said gang had apparently driven a whole village off without violence was quite the shocker.

"I see your point now, I don't think they have suddenly changed their ways." Chifuyu Orimura then added, finally seeing the strangeness in this case because at first she thought that it was just a regular gang attack, but now knowing that it was The Wolves changed her perspective.

Naruto then went quiet for a while before he stood up and said, "I think I have an idea as to what is going on…" He looked at the mayor and added, "But I'm gonna have to go to Teko to take a look myself."

The mayor nodded while saying, "O-Of course, but… don't you think is d-dangerous?"

"Don't worry, he's not going alone." Anko then replied with a smirk, with a nod from Hana that added her support and strangely, Chifuyu as well who seemed to want to join in for the ride.

Their hopes were shattered though, when Naruto said, "No, I'm going alone, if my theory is correct, then I need to do this alone."

Hana then stood up and said with great worry, "Are you crazy!? Going alone to a bandit infested village all by yourself!?"

Chifuyu then added, much to her own surprise, "She's right sir, I mean no disrespect, but we're talking about two hundred men at the very least."

Naruto then released some of his presence to qualm all doubts and worries before he said with a cold tone, "I already slaughtered a gang of three hundred people back in Wave, remember?…" He saw that the people present were starting to have problems to breathe so easing his aura, he said with a more kind voice aimed at Hana and Anko, "Don't worry, I'll be fine, I just don't wanna tempt fate by taking three beautiful women with me to fight a gang known for being brutal and worship rape, I know you're all strong, but I can do this on my own, this is an order, not a request."

They were all surprised to hear such commanding tone, Chifuyu was flabbergasted actually, because never in her life had she felt such urge to submit to someone like she was right now, _'T-This guy… h-how is he ma-making me so… w-weak?…'_ She thought, completely confused as to why she could not raise against the silverette.

Hana, after releasing her body from her aroused state that the silverette's commanding-self threw her into, said, "O-Okay… I-I g-get it… but… at l-least take one of the t-triplets w-with you…"

Anko then added her plea, "Y-Yeah N-Naru, that way you'll have some way to l-let us know if y-you need assistance."

Naruto just smiled at the worried kunoichi before he relented, "Aight…" He walked towards the door and said before he left, "If I don't come back by tomorrow noon, feel free to go and search for me, but take a significant force with ya, aight? If I do find something, I'll send Haru back to ya."

The people in the room nodded at him and Anko said, "Don't get yourself killed, you reckless idiot."

Naruto just chuckled and with that, he left the house and walked outside the building where Hana's triplets were waiting, "Come Haru, you're with me!" Naruto then said while petting the head of said dog, who barked at him while he waved his tail happily.

The new pair then left and began their trek towards Teko Village, while Naruto was thinking, _'If mah guess is correct, this reincarnate is using the bandits to protect her turf, but to make them let the people go unharmed, this Raven Witch doesn't sounds so demonic at all…'_

* * *

"Seems awfully quiet for a village occupied by a gang." Naruto muttered when he arrived at Teko Village. He was surprised to see that there was no bandits in sight, he had the idea that the bandits had taken the town as their HQ but to his surprise, it was completely deserted.

As he continued walking through the ghost village, Haru suddenly barked at Naruto, "What is it boy?"

 **"** **I can smell food inside this house!"** The dog replied with a youthful voice.

"Food?" Naruto muttered while narrowing his eyes.

He then walked towards the house and saw that the door was open but he could not sense any kind of presence inside, so he walked in with Haru in tow and was once again surprised to see that the house seemed completely fine, there were no signs of looting or break-ins, "The fuck? It seems as if the occupants just went for a stroll around the village…" He then headed towards the kitchen and saw that there was still food there, some stuff was already rotten but beyond that, everything was in place, "Haru, can you tell if someone's been here in the past days?"

Haru barked and started sniffing the whole house, trying to find fresh scents but he could not find any, **"No, there are no recent scents, no one's been here in days."**

The silver-haired jinchūriki narrowed his eyes at that, finding it awfully suspicious, "Aight, let's check out the other houses." He said before he walked out of the house.

The two then headed towards the next house and found that the door was unlocked as well, probably due to the occupants leaving in haste, "What a lousy bunch of bandits…" Naruto muttered after seeing that this house was in a similar state as the one they were in before, everything was in order.

Both Naruto and Haru continued this on until they checked most of the houses in the village and just like the first two, they were all in order, nothing was missing, "Why would a gang that professes to kill, rape and loot wouldn't do any of that?"

 **"** **You seem to have an idea."** Haru then said after sensing that the silver-haired young man seemed to have a theory.

Scratching the dog's head, Naruto replied, "Yeah, sorta, I think that The Wolves are being manipulated somehow by this Raven Witch…" He narrowed his eyes in thought while adding, "But, if this witch is referred to as a demon, why would she stop the bandits from killing the civilians? It makes no sense."

Haru after delighting himself on the petting from the Uzumaki, deduced, **"So you think the witch is not actually bad?"**

"Seems the most likely scenario…" The Namikaze replied before he added, "I think that maybe she just wants to be left alone…" He then looked towards a hill that could be seen from the village and said, "Can you smell the bandits?"

Haru then sniffed and after some seconds, he finally managed to catch a scent so said, **"I caught a scent, come on."**

Naruto nodded and followed the Haimaru triplet towards the hill where it appears that the scent was coming from. It took them some minutes, but they then arrived towards a field that had on the far side of it a fort, the fort had big wood spikes as walls and many bandits were stationed in watchtowers with two more guarding the door.

"Seems we hit the jackpot…" Naruto muttered while studying the scene, trying to figure out a suitable course of action. He crouched there pensive for some minutes before he brought his gaze to the sky and mumbled, "An hour or two for midnight…" He then looked at Haru and said, "Haru, I need ya to go back to Sun Village and let the girls know that I'm going to engage the gang and hopefully attract the witch, tell them to wait until tomorrow noon, if I'm not back by then, bring 'em here."

Haru just looked at the silverette with disbelief as he said, **"You honestly believe they're just going to sit and wait while you fight a group of bandits and a witch?"** Haru knew very well of his companion's infatuation with the silverette and because of said infatuation, he was finding it hard to believe that she will just accept and wait.

Naruto just sighed before he replied, "Yeah, I know that they're gon be mad, but you need to convince them to trust me, just give them my two reasons. One, I'm not going to be comfortable with them fighting a bunch of raping savages, and two, if the witch does appears, the sight of many people might frighten her."

Haru just sighed but nodded none the less, understanding the silverette's reasoning, so he just licked the boy's cheek and proceeded to leave the premises, heading straight to Sun Village and do as told.

 ** _"_** ** _What do you intend to do?"_** The posh voice of the Nine Tailed Fox then said, she was finding the whole witch thingy quite entertaining but now much to her annoyance, she was starting to get worried for her host, not that she would ever admit it.

The silverette just continued his survey of the place for some moments before he replied the beautiful red-head, _"The only thing I can do… feed it…"_

Kurama needn't ask more, she completely understood what her host wanted to do and she was dead against it, simply because she knew the after effects that the corruption curse leaves on the affected, she would admit that she was worried for Naruto, but she was also scared, scared that he would become the same as that cursed man that hurt her and her siblings so much.

Hearing no retort coming from the red-headed buxom nor the dragon, Naruto sighed tiredly knowing that both were against it, but it was the only way, "Aight, time for ya fools to meet the devil…" He muttered those ominous words before he closed his eyes and called on Ddraig's second state, a state he just recently managed to unlock and it was his first winged form.

* * *

"God dammit… this is so boring!" An annoyed voice said to his companion. The voice belonged to one of the bandits guarding the door to their HQ.

"Yeah… I heard ya the first fucking hundred times you said it!" An equally annoyed voice replied, the first guard's companion was already pissed off due to the constant complaining from his partner. He was annoyed as well, but he was not going to go against The Wolves' leader's orders, he appreciated his life, thank you.

The first guard was about to continue his whining but then stopped when he saw a crimson glow coming from afar, seemingly heading their way, "What the hell is that!?" He screamed.

His partner turned to look at him before he brought his gaze towards the spot the other bandit was signalling and like his partner, he too saw a crimson glow along with an ominous feeling that was starting to creep into his body, "C-Chenzo! Can you s-see what the hell i-is that!?" He then screamed at one of the bandits in the watchtower.

After hearing the apparently frightened voice of one of his comrades, Chenzo tilted his head in confusion before he grabbed his binoculars and aimed them at the spot that his comrade was pointing at and there, at the distance, he saw something that will haunt him for the rest of his now short life. A young looking man shrouded in dark crimson flames, he had glowing green eyes and was walking calmly towards the fort, but there was something that frighten him the most, this, devil, had wings, wings that were made by the same crimson flames, he could even feel the power exuding from the demonic winged man as if he was standing right in front of him.

Chenzo just dropped his binoculars and started to gasp hard, trying to formulate words. This completely stunned the two guards who were seeing the scared shitless form of their fellow bandit, "C-Chenzo! W-What the hell is wrong with you!? What is it!?" One of the two guards screamed at the stuttering bandit who was frozen looking at the approaching crimson glow.

Chenzo managed to regain a little of his composure when he screamed back, "C-Call… c… c-call everyone here now!… t-the a-alarm… a-activate it!" He then grabbed his weapons and prepared his stance because for some reason, he knew that escaping was futile, so he stood there and waited for the devil to come.

Both bandits at the door were left stunned after hearing the scream from Chenzo, but they did as told and one of them quickly ran towards a bell and sound it, alerting the rest of the bandit camp that there was trouble coming.

It took seconds for the whole bandit camp to approach the gate with weapons in hand, they were all confused but after seeing the scared form of Chenzo, they all waited for their leader to say something.

"Reko, what is going on?" A large buffed man said with a strong and powerful voice. The man was wearing a dark grey vest with its sleeves tore off and had a golden wolf engraved in it, he had black ANBU pants and had a huge axe resting on his back, his face had many scars and he exuded an aura of power, this was the Wolves' infamous leader, Sato Tagawa.

Reko turned to his leader and said with a shaky voice, "I-I don't know b-boss… but… Chenzo s-says we got trouble and… look o-over there…" He then pointed towards the now brighter crimson glow.

Sato looked at the ominous glow coming their way and even he couldn't help but feel an ominous pang in his heart, as if it was telling him to run away from here. He looked towards the frozen Chenzo and questioned, "Chenzo! What the hell is that!?" Chenzo however did not respond, he was looking at the glow and was shaking badly, so seeing that one of his men was scared shitless, he looked back at the rest of his gang and ordered, "Get ready! Whatever this is it's not going to live long!"

His men roared in response and they all stood ready, waiting for the ominous crimson glow to come. They all gasped though, when the glow was now clear as day and they could all see what it was, a man covered in crimson flames with glowing green eyes, the man had terrifying flaming wings and two horn-like flames on his head, he was looking at them with bored eyes as he walked closer to them.

"W-What the h-hell…" Sato muttered after having a good look at the intruder and for the first time in his life, he could freely admit that he was scared shitless now, the kind of fear he has never felt before in his life.

Finally after what it seemed like forever, Naruto stopped right in front of the fort and with his frightening neon green eyes with an equal neon red iris and his famous golden slit, he looked at the bandits, judging each and every one of them. He looked towards the tougher looking man and said with a voice that carried both immense authority and divinity, **"You have committed many sins…"** He then brought his right hand forward where a pitch black rasengan was forming and added with a dead tone, **"You shall be judged."**

After those ominous words left his mouth, Naruto released the rasengan and it flew towards the frozen bandits, but much to their surprise, the pitch black energy ball stopped right in front of them. Some of them released a relieved sigh, thinking that they had escaped death by some miracle, but much to their horror, the ball started to spin at incredible speeds and began to pull those close to it.

Those near the rasengan tried to escape the pull but to their despair, they could not do a thing, the rest jumped back and watched as the ball began to suck their comrades in, as if they were being disintegrated by it, and their deduction wasn't too far off. Said pitch black rasengan was a move that Kurama had taught Naruto, it was a rasengan that instead of being produced by chakra, was produced by pure demonic energy, but to add an even more dangerous effect, it was the signature 'destruction' energy from Kurama. The demonic rasengan had a pull that was impossible to escape from and those inside the pull will suffer a slow and painful death due to their bodies being slowly disintegrated as they approached the rasengan.

Sato felt his legs wobble a bit as he witnessed the gruesome sight of his men being eaten by the demonic looking ball, he could see how the skin of those unlucky to be close to the ball was being detached from their bodies, their blood then followed as if a magnet was attracting it and soon their bones fell into the same fate. He managed to regain some valour though and with a shaky voice, he roared, "W-What are you all d-doing f-frozen stiff!? G-Go! K-Kill the d-demon!"

His men suddenly regained their composure and with a war cry, they all leapt at the young man encased in flames. But they soon learnt that the demon was incredibly good at close range fighting, because as soon as the first bandit leapt at him, Naruto sidestepped and the body of the bandit that dared to attack him fell at his side, with his body cut in half.

They all then noticed the sword on his hand that had a strange looking red lightning acting as the blade of the weapon, they were so transfixed by its beauty that none of them noticed when Naruto disappeared from sight and reappeared behind the bandits. Just when one was about to turn, he was decapitated swiftly by the silver-haired devil and he soon continued on with his slaughter.

Sato could not believe it, his whole force of 200 men strong was being slaughtered by this demon, and worse, his body was not responding him at all, he was so frozen in fear that he could not attack, "W-What the hell i-is he?…" He just muttered shakily while he continued witnessing his forces being trimmed.

 **"** **Pathetic."** Naruto mumbled with his resounding divine voice. He was clearly bored at the pathetic threat this bandits represented to him, he was even surprised to see that he was having an easier time with controlling his corruption curse from taking over but knowing that he was reaching the limit of his control, he decided to end this once and for all.

The 30 bandits that were left fighting saw how the winged demon jumped at the center of the camp and started doing some hand-signs with incredible speed, prompting them to stand their ground and prepare for the incoming attack. Naruto didn't let them waiting for long though, as he blew a ball of fire at the already darken sky and decided to do one of his brother's work in progress techniques, he concentrated and declared, **"Kirin!"** He lifted his Nex at the sky and soon after, crimson lightning fell straight at the Thunder God Sword as if it were lightning rod.

The bandits had no time to act though, because the moment the lightning touched the sword, bolts of crimson death were shot at them, killing them instantly. The whole bandit camp was then in complete silence, all the bandits but one were slaughtered in a matter of minutes.

Sato was the only one left and he was still frozen after witnessing such demonstration of prowess, this devil had just completely wasted his whole gang as if they were all mere amateurs, he didn't even struggled. Sato then shook his head though and managing to muster some courage, he screamed while leaping at the calm devil who was looking at his handy work, "D-Die d-demon!"

Naruto just spared a bored look at the buffed leader of The Wolves and easily sidestepped his attack, but faster than Sato could even register, Naruto used Gloria to deliver a devastating slash on his stomach.

"Ahrg!" Sato just grunted in pain before he painfully landed on the ground. He kneeled and looked at his stomach and saw it bleeding badly, he could even see his intestines threatening to spill out of his stomach if the cut was not treated soon.

Naruto just walked with a calm pace towards the struggling bandit and with a cruel kick on his side, he threw him on his back, making the bandit cry in agony. The silverette then walked to him and placed his knee on his stomach while closing his demonic looking face to the scared bandit's face, **"The Raven Witch, where is she?"** He asked with his demonic voice while grabbing the face of the bandit with his flaming hands, burning the bandit in the process due to his corrosive essence.

The bandit known as Sato just stared in fear at the devil himself but somehow managed to reply, "I-I d-don't k-know… s-she… s-she just a-appears a-and o-orders us th-things…"

The demonized Uzumaki just narrowed his glowing eyes at him and was about to say something when a voice inside his mind said, **_"Naruto, let me look at him."_** Naruto mentally nodded and allowed Ddraig to take over his body for some seconds.

Sato could only release a hollow moan as he was being subjected to the Absolute God of End's divine judgment, he could do nothing but moan in pain. It lasted for some seconds, but soon after, The Wolves leader's body finally fell limp and lost all life in him.

Naruto just shook his head while shivering slightly after Ddraig returned control to him before he said, now without his demonic voice, "Shit fam… I hate the feeling of doing that, yo…" Whenever he allowed Ddraig to control his body he felt dizzy after being given control back, _"So, what'cha found?"_ He then asked the mighty god.

 ** _"_** ** _It appears that he and the rest of his gang were under a powerful incantation, whoever this reincarnate is, has quite the proficiency with magic, only a powerful magic user could completely undermine at least two hundred people at once and bind them to her will."_** He replied with genuine praise at the witch's prowess with magic.

 _"_ _I see…"_ Naruto muttered before he finally deactivated his cloak. He then stood up and finally realized the whole damage he caused, bodies were dismembered everywhere, blood was flooding the ground and a sickening scent of burnt flesh lingered on the surroundings, " _Sigh…_ " He just sighed tiredly while closing his eyes, trying his best to not lose his cool in this situation.

 _"_ _What do I do now? She's obviously not here…"_ Naruto then mentally asked both Ddraig and Kurama since he did not know how to get the witch to show herself.

 ** _"_** ** _I'm sure that if you make a signal to let her know that her pets have been dealt with, she will appear."_** The haughty voice of Kurama added her idea, feeling a little worried after witnessing her host in a corrupted state for the first time.

Naruto nodded and soon an idea came to him. He started gathering all the bodies and piled them up in the center of the camp and after getting them all in position, he walked outside the camp and while jumping in the air, he breathed in a huge amount of air and soon after, he released a hell of fire on the camp, completely setting it all in flames.

"This oughta do it." Naruto muttered after he landed back on the ground. Knowing that the witch will have to come and see what happened, he headed towards a tree and rested on a branch, planning how to deal with the witch once she shows herself.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya fellas have, I believe most of you already figured out who the witch is, this is really pure fanservice though, because I had originally planned to wait more for her introduction, but I thought, why the fuck not?, there's only one part left for this one so I'll see y'all on the next chapter, cheers!**


	15. The Raven Witch (Part 2)

**A/N: Yo waddup lads! here we are with 'The Raven Witch' last part! Since I really have nothing to say, let's jump right into it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **The Raven Witch (Part 2)**

"He's gonna what!?" A distressed Hana Inuzuka screamed after listening to what her dog companion said. Haru had just arrived some moments ago and immediately relied the things that Naruto told him to say, but just like the Haimaru triplet predicted, Hana did not took it well.

"Hana, what did Haru said?" Anko then asked at her friend since she, like Sun Village Guard's Captain, could not understand dogs so she was confused as to what had Hana so riled up, although, knowing her beloved ball of mischief as well as she did, she could tell that he once again was doing something reckless.

Chifuyu for her part was somewhat confused at seeing the Inuzuka heiress seemingly talking to a dog, she was kinda new to ninja stuff and could not really understand the depths of said world, she only knew what to mess with and what not to, like jinchūriki.

Hana took some deep breaths and after calming herself down a bit, she turned to look at the two females by her side and said, "Apparently, that reckless idiot is going, or probably already has engaged The Wolves all by himself…" She then massaged her temples and added, "And since that's apparently not enough, he's going to lure the witch and confront her himself."

Anko just sighed tiredly before she muttered with annoyance and worry, "That reckless idiot, why does he always has to do things this way?"

Capt. Orimura for some strange reason to her, found herself feeling worried after hearing that, she knew the young jinchūriki was strong, but she believed that he was still young and was prone to mistakes, so making her confusion and slight worry known, she said, "A-Aren't we going to aid him? I-I mean, we're talking about o-one of the most brutal gangs there are, leaving Mr Uzumaki alone to deal with The Wolves and the Witch sounds like a b-bad move to me."

Both Anko and Hana turned to look at the slightly nervous and stuttering form of the proud Captain. Normally, they would have think it weird to see that the black-haired woman was feeling drawn to the silverette, but knowing that the silverette was no normal man and they themselves being in the same situation, made them think at the same time, _'Naruto you asshole, you already snatched another one…'_ Both just shared a tired sigh and a knowing look before Anko teased.

"My, my… aren't you warming up to him already, huh?" She nudged the Captain's sides while winking at the nervous Chifuyu.

The Orimura immediately developed an uncharacteristic blush on her creamy cheeks and while walking back and flailing her arms dismissively, she claimed, "N-No! It's n-not that! I… umm…" Chifuyu then mentally cursed herself, _'Why the h-hell am I feeling s-so embarrassed!?…'_ She the reigned her raging emotions and finished more calmly this time, although still sporting a slight blush, "I just think it's a bad idea to leave it all to him alone."

Both Anko and Hana chuckled at the flustered woman but the Inuzuka then said with a frown on her face, "I know, and we don't like it either, but Naruto… he's a high profile target… I'm sure you know that he's a jinchūriki…" Chifuyu nodded at that, prompting Hana to continue, "There are many people and organizations after his power, we received orders to let him do as he wish and allow him to do the heavy work, so he could be ready once those who want him come." Hana then just shivered a little, the mere thought of someone taking away Naruto from them made a mess of her.

Anko saw the depressed mood her friend was starting to fall into so she walked closer to her and rested her arm around the Inuzuka heiress' shoulders while saying, "What's with the long face? Are you forgetting who are we talking about?…" Hana then chuckled after hearing that and nodded slightly. Anko smiled before she looked at Chifuyu and added, "And don't worry Captain, I don't like this either, but Naru… he…" She then breathed in heavily before she finished, "He has a side that even our Hokage fears, he's loving, caring and loyal to those he cares about, but with his enemies… he's… a nightmare…"

Chifuyu just widened her eyes after hearing that the young silverette had a side that even THE Hokage, the most powerful man in the Elemental Nations, feared to confront. That also made her remember another thing she thought was just an exaggeration, "Then… h-his other mo-moniker…"

"Fits the bill perfectly…" Hana then confirmed with a frightening shiver running down her body. She had heard about the other moniker the people had given Naruto, one besides 'The Dark Swordsman', and while she saw it as an insult, she could not find any reason to retort it.

Anko decided to end the gloomy atmosphere when she walked towards the door of the Captain's office and said, "Let's just believe in him, alright? He told us he will come back to us in one piece and he has never once broken his word."

Hana smiled and finished with a dreamy tone, "That's his ninja way."

Chifuyu chuckled and felt a little mystified at seeing the two kunoichi clearly head over heels in love with the silverette, she also felt a little sad because of her own loneliness, but she was the Captain, the strongest person in the village and the village needed her, so remembering that, she stowed all her sadness and said, "Then we'll believe in him, in the meantime you should rest, I'll let you know if a learn something new and please let me know if you hear from him."

Both Leaf kunoichi nodded at her and bid the beautiful Captain goodbye before they left the room, the worry in their hearts would not disappear but they felt confident of Naruto's strength, simply because they have seen it and more importantly, because he promised to come back, and he has never once lied to them.

* * *

A cloaked figure stood at the top of a hill near The Wolves HQ, the figure was currently watching the burning hell that said bandit camp has become, "Who could have done this?" The figure muttered with a feminine voice.

The cloaked female found it surprising to see the camp in complete flames and the scent of burnt flesh could reach her even in her hiding place, she knew that The Wolves were no pushovers so someone with the strength to take them all down was somewhat unnerving to her.

"Soooo… ya the famous Raven Witch, huh!?" Suddenly, a manly voice said from behind her with a lazy tone, she had to jump away the moment she heard the voice due to the newcomer actually surprising her.

 _'_ _H-How in the h-hell?… h-he snuck up o-on me!…'_ The witch thought with great dread at the idea of this person managing to sneak on her, something that no one has done before. The witch quickly got rid of all surprise in her demeanour and with a calm yet on guard stance, said, "I don't know what you are talking about." She knew that it was futile to deny it, but she at least wanted to try.

That is until the person that spoke finally revealed himself from the shadows to her though, and she quickly got flustered after seeing the dreamy man in front of her. A dark silver haired young man with haunting deep blue eyes that had a divine golden slit in them, the young man was slightly taller than her and was wearing a black cloak with crimson outlines, a dark red undershirt and black standard ANBU pants with black boots. The Raven Witch was finding her breath being taken away while seeing his haunting silver hair waving freely with the cool breeze, but she then felt an incredible sense of warning in her heart because finally after releasing her mind from her awed state, she could now feel the young man's aura and she knew very well what kind of aura that is, _'N-No!… h-how… w-why is a g-god after me!?… I j-just want to b-be left alone!…'_ The witch thought with fear now that she knew what this handsome youth was, she felt like kneeling down and cry freely.

Naruto for his part narrowed his eyes after sensing the fear that suddenly instilled itself in her heart, he could tell that she was really afraid of him but for the life of him, he didn't know why.

 ** _"_** ** _She knows you are a god boy, she is a fallen angel, so she can sense your divinity."_** Ddraig then answered the sudden fear from the witch.

 _"_ _I get it, but why would she fear me? Her demeanour tells me of a distressed woman, not of an evil witch…"_ Naruto mentally said, feeling greatly confused. He brought his attention back at the wary form of the witch and said, "There's no need to deny it, miss, I purposely made such a ruckus to attract your attention."

The witch just cursed herself for falling into such a trap, she did felt that something was out of place but she could not figure out what, so she just recklessly came to look, "I see… t-then yes, it appears that that's how the l-locals call me." She backed away slightly, trying to get in an advantageous position for her when the fight breaks in.

Naruto just sighed tiredly when he saw the cloaked female taking on an attacking position, he really wanted to avoid a fight so said, "Yes, but I have to differ thou, I don't think they are right about you, but I can't really blame them either, since your arrival here has brought… some strange occurrences…" Naruto then walked a little closer to her and added, "Tell me, what is it you really doing here, fallen angel?"

The witch just widened her eyes covered by her hood, she felt really scared when the god in front of her recognized what she truly is as well, but knowing that there was no point in lying, she replied with an angry tone, "I… I j-just want to b-be left alone!"

Naruto just raised his hands in a placating manner and said with a soothing tone, "Relax, I'm not here to fight."

That didn't work though, because the witch retorted with a scream, "Y-You're lying! I… I d-don't know w-whether my bastard of a f-father or my a-asshole of an uncle sent you, nor do I k-know why would a g-god help them…" The witch then breathed out and continued her rambling, "But y-you're not taking me b-back to either of them!…" The woman then suddenly jumped at the air and two black crow-like wings sprung from her back, "You're probably a rogue god who enjoys making others suffer! I'll kill you!" The Raven Witch then brought her hands to the sides and after they glowed in a blue light, seven circles appeared around her, the strange circles had markings on them and were glowing with a blue light while spinning slowly.

 _'_ _So that's magic huh…'_ Naruto thought with a sad sigh after seeing that a fight could not be avoided. He knew that those circles were not for show, so sensing the danger, Naruto unsheathed his two swords and stood ready for the bombing sure to come.

"Die!" The witch screamed before she brought her hands forward and soon after, the circles shot a deadly beam of magical energy at her adversary.

"Here we go." Naruto muttered tiredly while timing his action. It took seconds for the bombing to come but Naruto was more than ready for it, he just brought his swords forward and after channelling lightning chakra into Gloria, he slashed diagonally in an 'X' shape with both swords and created a lightning shield that successfully dispersed the witch's attack.

"Damn it…" The witch cursed after seeing her attack being swiftly dispersed by the silver-haired god, "That isn't everything I got!" She then screamed while summoning even more circles this time, she did the same with her hands and soon after, another heavy bombardment came.

Naruto knew that now it was too much to disperse so breathing in a huge amount of air, he blew it all at the ground and used the recoil to propel himself away from the strike area of the bombardment, "Damn, she's good…" He muttered after witnessing the huge explosion that ensued after the magic attack hit the ground.

Not wanting to be on the defensive, Naruto crouched slightly and using his heightened dragonified body, he leapt towards the flying witch who was startled when she saw him flying at her like a bullet, "Didn't wanted to hurt ya, but you leave me no choice!" He said while flying her, as soon as he got into arms reach, he cocked his hands back and immediately after, delivered a deathly double slash at the witch.

The witch was no pushover though and while the silverette was undeniably faster than her, her instincts more than made out for her lack of speed because out of nowhere, an invisible bubble surrounded her and protected her from the deathly slash, "Be gone!" She then screamed before she overcharged her magical shield with energy and made it explode, forcing the silverette to cover his face from the explosion.

Naruto was sent back at the ground after the explosion but before he could land painfully on his back, he recovered mid-air and landed perfectly on the ground. He didn't waste time though, because he immediately sheathed Gloria and with his now free hand, he made single hand-seals and called, "Magnet Style: Mineral Spikes!" After he smashed the ground with his palm, huge conic pillars made out of the soil's minerals sprung from the ground, aiming their pointy end at the flying witch.

The witch cursed after seeing the deathly spikes coming at her, she began to fly frantically trying to escape the onslaught of spikes by flying in zigzag but much to her frustration, the attack seemed endless, so seeing that she needed to bring her A-game to this fight, she flew a little higher and screamed, "That's enough! Take this!" She then lifted both of her arms and two spear-like streams of light formed on them, she threw them at the silverette and much to his surprise, the spears multiplied and created a rain of deadly light spears.

Naruto could sense that this attack was stronger and quickly jumped away from his position, his wariness was soon proved right when the spears touched the ground and a huge set of explosions ringed throughout the hill, destroying his field of mineral spikes in the process, _'Oh shit… that was powerful… the fuck was it?… that was no magic nor chakra…'_ He thought, confused after seeing the rain of energy that seemed to be like his demonic energy.

 ** _"_** ** _That's 'Light Projection' or 'Angelic Energy', which is basically the opposite of demonic energy, this type of energy comes from light itself, it can only be used by fallen angels and angels."_** The divine voice of the mighty Absolute God of End then said, revealing the truth of the spears of light.

 _"_ _I see… that's why I can feel the presence of the essence coming off from those spears…"_ Naruto replied while dodging another rain of light spears that the witch sent at him, _"Is it too harmful for me?"_ He then asked at the dragon while sending a slash from his Thunder God Sword charged with lightning at the witch.

 ** _"_** ** _It can harm you yes, not as much as it does to devils and demons, but it can still leave nasty burns and holes in your body if that's what you mean."_** Ddraig replied nonchalantly while enjoying the fight from inside his host and successor.

Naruto just raised his eyebrow while thinking, _'Oh well then… better avoid it… don't want that fou shou…'_ The silverette then jumped back a few steps and muttered, "Let's see how you do against my flames." He breathed in a huge amount of air and soon later, he blew it all in the form of dragon's fire, a fire as hot as magma and as powerful as the highest ranking village-destroyers jutsus.

"W-What the!?" The witch muttered with fear after feeling the fire coming her way, it was incredible how she could feel her skin beginning to burn before the giant ball of fire even reached her. The witch quickly crossed her arms and conjured her most powerful barrier to try and stop the attack which hit her mercilessly just after her barrier appeared, the barrier did work for the most part, but the power behind the flames was so immense that it sent her flying down to the ground and burned most of her cloak.

The witch landed painfully and immediately gritted her teeth while thinking, _'Dammit, he's not even winded…'_ She was frustrated to see her opponent so calm and unharmed after her relentless attack, she was so immersed in her frustration that she did not noticed the true nature of her opponent, "Let's see how you take this…" She muttered before she stood up and removed her burnt cloak, she used the cover of the smoke and decided to use one of her strongest assets, her luscious body, so she removed the rest of her clothes and stood there.

Naruto just raised an eyebrow slightly after the smoke finally disappeared and the naked form of the witch was then revealed. He was delighted to finally see the beautiful fallen angel and she was just like Genzo described her to him, black long hair tied in a single long ponytail, she had a soft yet strong face and had mesmerizing violet eyes, her body was the stuff of legends, her bust and butt were like carved by the finest sculptor and her whole demeanour spoke of a seductive woman. Most men would have immediately falter after witnessing such magnificence, but Naruto wasn't most men, and while he enjoyed greatly the sight, he perfectly knew what she was doing, so he kept his eyes locked on hers.

The witch for her part just clicked her tongue in frustration after seeing that the young silver-haired god was seemingly unaffected by her naked body, she thought that maybe he was just trying to focus on her face, so conjuring some light on her hand, she created a spear and jumped at the air while saying, "It's not over yet!" She released the spear while purposefully moving her body to make her bust and butt bounce, trying to affect the focus of the god.

 _'_ _Nice…'_ Naruto thought lecherously while enjoying the sight but his focus still remained on the fight as he easily slashed the light spear with his Thunder God Sword, not once losing his focus on the battle.

The witch just growled in anger when she finally realized that the young looking god was not avoiding her body at all, he acknowledged it and he even seemed to luxuriate in it, he just didn't really cared that she was naked, that spoke to her of a true warrior and that scared her. The witch then summoned clothes after realising that trying to seduce the god was useless, she summoned a traditional red and white priestess attire before she brought her hands up and claimed, "Come thunder!" The sky's above suddenly roared and a powerful bolt of lightning flew at her like if she was a beacon and then redirected it at him.

Naruto this time did clicked his tongue because he could feel that said lightning was natural lightning and hence, was deadlier than chakra lightning, so in a quick movement, he threw Gloria some distance away and quickly substituted himself with the sword, avoiding the bolt of lightning.

Seeing the opportunity to strike with lightning of his own, Naruto did some quick hand-seals and said, "Let me show you my lightning! Kirin!" The sky's above suddenly roared even louder than before and rain of red lightning suddenly fell from it, the problem with Naruto's Kirin though was that it was nowhere near as strong as Sasuke's because his main affinity was not lightning, so he could not really reach the point of controlling natural lightning, but his Kirin was still powerful enough to obliterate almost anyone.

The witch was surprised to see the ominous red lightning falling from the skies, but not wanting to be punched out of the fight so easily, she once again conjured her most powerful shield, successfully stopping the brunt of the attack but once again was pushed to the ground by the force behind it. She recovered quickly though and taking flight directly at the silverette, she formed a large blue spear of light and swung it at her opponent.

Naruto smirked after seeing that the witch apparently wanted to take the fight to close quarters combat, his favourite style of combat, so quickly calling forth the lightning blade of Nex, he positioned the blade in front of him and parried the attack of the witch, feeling a little surprised to feel the incredible physical strength the witch possessed, "You certainly pack a mean punch, miss." He praised the witch with a charming smirk.

The witch felt irked when an excited shiver ran down her spine after seeing the dreamy face of the silverette up close, but quickly controlling her emotions, she replied, "Underestimating me will get you killed, you're not the first god I've faced." She narrowed her eyes while concentrating more strength in her push.

Naruto decided to indulge her want to fight seriously when he pushed her away from him with an even stronger force that he seemed to have been holding back on his quest to just calm the raging female.

The witch stumbled a little and gritted her teeth while thinking, _'Damn… he's b-been holding out on me… w-what am I going t-to do!?…'_ The witch was starting to get desperate because she could feel that the silverette god was holding back on her, she thought at first he was underestimating her, but she now realised he just didn't wanted to fight. She didn't cared though, because her want for freedom was stronger than her rational thinking, so she once again jumped at him with her spear and engaged in a deadly dance of blades.

All that could be seen from afar were a bright blue light and a dark crimson light clashing against each other in chaotic harmony, their dance of blades was mesmerizing but also a little one sided. The witch was really good with her spear, more so than Naruto thought she would, but he still had the upper hand whenever it came to blades, simply because he was already one of the best swordsmen in the Leaf and coupled with the fact that he had such a powerful sword as the Thunder God Sword, it just made him a force to be reckoned with.

So implementing said advantage, Naruto began to deliver a relentless assault of deathly slashes aimed at the witch's hand, he went from the defensive to the offensive so suddenly that the witch struggled greatly to hold her ground against the incredibly precise, fast and strong attacks of the silverette.

The witch felt a little relieved to see that her own skills weren't letting her down because she did managed to parry most of the god's slashes, but those few that managed to pass her defence, stroke at her hands and delivered quite the damage. It was then that she realised what he was doing but unfortunately, she was too late to do anything because the pain in her hands became almost unbearable and forced her to jump away and throw her spear, no longer able to hold it due to her much damaged hands.

Naruto just calmly walked towards her and said a little softly but still adding a commanding tone, "We don't have to continue this, I didn't come here to hurt you, I just wanna talk to ya."

The witch just looked at him angrily but he could also see despair and fear etched in her beautiful violet eyes when she answered, "I don't believe you!…" She then stood up and added with both hate and determination, "I'm not going back! Even if I have to become a rogue reincarnate for eternity, I am not going back!" She then flapped her wings and flew high again, preparing another bombardment of magic.

"For Great Red's sake…" The silverette just muttered annoyed, he was getting really tired of this unnecessary fight but he was also very intrigued to know just what was making her so on edge and what was all the _not going back_ about, he could tell that she apparently wanted to be away from her father and uncle, but since she didn't wanted to sit and talk, he was forced to fight back.

"Die!" The witch screamed before she released a torrent of magical energy at her opponent, this time though, she added a bit of her lightning in the beams, making them both faster and stronger.

"Fuck." Naruto muttered after sensing the strong beams' true nature, he could tell that he needed to do something and do it fast because escaping was no longer an option, and those beams could now do some serious damage to him. He cracked his brain for some seconds before finally, his unpredictability aid him with a crazy plan, but not seeing anything else that he could do, he decided to improvise and quickly made a demonic rasengan, which he threw at the incoming beams and hoped for the best.

His improvisation proved fruitful though, because the moment the rasengan started to spin, the magical energy began to get sucked in the pull of the pitch black rasengan, it was incredible to see because even the light around it began to bend, as if light itself was being sucked into the ominous looking ball of demonic energy.

Naruto smirked at seeing his plan working but then heard inside his mind, **_"Jump boy, the thing is going to blow."_** Naruto had no time to question the dragon though, because true to his words, the demonic rasengan started spinning wilder and sparks flew from it, as if it could not contain such amount of energy anymore.

"What is…" The witch couldn't finish her sentence because the black ball suddenly blew up, creating a huge explosion that rocketed the whole hill, heck, even Teko Village seemed to shake due to the force of the condensed energies' burst.

Naruto was able to jump away a little from the explosion but was still hit by some of the energy, not enough to hurt or stagger him though. The witch wasn't so lucky because the explosion occurred close to her, she did managed to call on her barrier but she wasn't fast enough and the power of the explosion managed to burn her wings, making her cry out in pain and fall straight to the ground.

After the place cleared from the smoke, Naruto could see that the witch was down on the ground while breathing with a lot of trouble, so hoping that she finally had enough, he walked closer before he said, "Stop, there's no need for this to continue, you can barely stay awake now."

The witch surprised him though, when she showed him just how strong her resolve was as she shakily managed to kneel while grasping for air and then looked at him with tears in her eyes while she declared, "N-No… I… I w-won't… give…" She then proved her will to emerge victorious when she stubbornly stood up, although, she clearly had no strength to fight anymore, her desire to live free was stronger than her pain when she added, "I… I-I will… b-be… f-free…" She was crying freely now, frustrated that things weren't going her way but mostly, afraid, afraid of what will happen if she loses.

 _'_ _Beautiful…'_ Naruto just thought with a genuine awed smile aimed at her, he wasn't talking about her looks, he was talking about her incredible determination. While most would laugh at someone crying when they were losing, he could see that those were tears of frustration, sadness and despair, tears that he was very familiar with. But seeing that this had already dragged on for too long, he decided to end it once and for all when he called on his Ddraig cloak and in seconds, he disappeared from sight.

The witch widened her eyes when he saw the silver-haired god disappearing so suddenly but then felt her senses warning her of danger from behind, but she was too tired and hurt to react quickly, so she could do naught to stop the sudden kick that landed on her bottom, sending her flying a little. Unfortunately for her, that was not it, the silverette once again disappeared and reappeared behind her and deliver a powerful punch to her stomach, making her cough a little bit of blood and crash really painfully on the ground.

Naruto didn't waste any time though as he immediately headed towards the witch once she fell on the ground, he pounced on her and placed his knee on her stomach while stabbing his lightning sword beside her head, really close to her face, "Had enough?" He then asked sternly while looking at her with annoyed eyes.

The witch just widened her eyes after finally realizing what she was truly facing. The young silverette was covered in dark crimson flames and his eyes were now neon red, while she has never seen or feel his power personally, she knew very well what being this man was, he was no mere god, he was the Absolute God of End, the god above all but Great Red. After realising that, she just broke down and cried because she knew she stood no chance, she could not face against such an opponent, doesn't matter what she could do, he was just so many worlds above her.

Naruto just sighed depressively after seeing the beautiful witch breaking down in tears, he realised now that her will to fight was gone and she now only felt despair, he felt bad for doing things this way, but she really left him with no other choice. He just stood up and deactivated his cloak while sheathing back his sword.

The witch saw this and got angry when he apparently had no intention to finish her, so said, "Just kill me, you bastard! Anything is better than going back to any of those monsters!" She could not believe how much of a mess she was now, but she didn't care anymore, she had lost and the only thing that could console her was the mighty god killing her, but he apparently had no plans to do so.

Naruto just sighed tiredly before he growled back with an angry tone of his own, "For fucks sakes, ya fool! I already told ya! I ain't here to hurt ya! I just want to know what the hell is going on!"

The witch had apparently finally calmed down after losing all her battle craze rush, so calming herself down a bit, she whispered, "I… w-what d-do… you me-mean?…"

Naruto just sighed again before he kneeled down and cupped her cheek, he was surprised to see that she instead of rejecting the touch, actually leaned on it. He caressed her a little before he said, "I just want to understand you, a lot of things seem to be out of place here, but I don't think they're because of ya, so please, help me understand."

The witch just looked at him right at the eyes while enjoying the soft caressing she was receiving on her cheek, _'W-Why am I l-letting him t-touch me this way?… w-why don't I want h-him to stop?…'_ She thought, confused as to why her own heart seemed to tell her to allow the silverette to have his way. She gulped and replied with a whisper, "O-Okay."

Naruto smiled warmly at her before he gently lifted her in his arms, the witch just yelped in surprised but clung to him none the less. He looked at her and said soothingly, "What is your name?"

The witch felt her cheeks getting warm, no doubt sporting a mad blush, but replied while locking her eyes to his, "A-Akeno… H-Himejima…"

"Beautiful name, fitting for a beautiful girl…" Naruto said, making her squirm a little in his arms after the praise, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki…" He then added before he jumped at a nearby tree and questioned, "Do you have a home Akeno? We need to tend to your wounds, once we're done with that, we'll talk."

The now identified Akeno nodded slightly before she pointed towards a direction and with that, the silverette jumped towards it while carrying the wounded fallen angel who strangely felt more protected than ever while being in his strong arms.

* * *

"Aight… there ya go…" Naruto said softly while gently placing the injured form of Akeno on her bed.

They had just arrived at the fallen angel's hiding spot which turned out to be an abandoned estate hidden by the undergrowth of the woods. The house was in a pitiful state and Naruto could see that Akeno did not had much time in it, probably a couple of weeks at most, "What a shitty place you got." Naruto commented rudely while looking around, not caring at all for subtleties.

 _'_ _What an a-asshole… but w-why do I like him so m-much?…'_ Akeno muttered while looking at the silverette, she found it strange that the third most powerful being in existence was such an extravagant character, "W-Well… is not like I c-could get anything else…" She then looked down to her wound and began applying some of her magic to heal them before she whispered sadly, "Not even my family took me in…"

Naruto heard her though, and finally seeing a good moment to talk about the girl, he sat on a chair and asked, "Why your family wouldn't took you in?"

Akeno gasped a little after seeing that the god heard her, but reigning her surprise, she replied, although still a little depressed, "B-Because I'm a monster to them… a reminder o-of a disgrace that my mother brought to m-my clan."

Naruto looked at her before he said, "Tell me then, you look like you need to talk about it…" He stood up and then sat next to her on her bed and while squishing her shoulder slightly, he finished with a smile, "I'm all ears, Ake."

Akeno blushed a little when Naruto touched her so gently on her shoulder, and that charming smile of his made it difficult to stop the little upwards tug on her lips to show, but she said, "You see, I'm not really a full-fledged f-fallen angel… I'm half human as well…" She then looked back at her wounds and continued, "M-My mother was a priestess of the Himejima, one of the bi-biggest clans when it comes to temple guardians, she was the priestess o-of one of the temples h-here in Sun Village but… one day… s-she met a w-wounded fallen angel, my mo-mother being my mother…" She smiled a little after remembering her kind mother before she added, "She helped him, even knowing what he truly was, s-she saw a wounded person and helped him…"

Naruto smiled a little and rubbed her shoulder while saying, "Sounds like a worthy person, your mother that is."

Akeno looked at him and smiled a little while nodding in yes before she continued her story, "They inevitably fell in love with each other and soon, I was born…" She then looked back at the ground and said more solemnly, "We lived cosily as a family for a few years, until the rest of our clan realised the truth of my father, one day he left on god knows what and the rest of the clan seized that to…" She started to cry quietly before she finished, "T-To k-kill my m-mother."

Naruto just sighed while still caressing her back in comfort, he really didn't know what to say to her so he just allowed her to let it all out for now. She eventually calmed down after some minutes of quiet sobbing and continued, "I… I w-watched them kill her… I-I s-stayed there with her d-dead body until… my f-father came back… I w-was so angry at him… s-so I ran… I ran away from him… from the clan… f-from everything…" She then inhaled to calm herself and after finally reigning her sadness, she finished, "I never came back, I disappeared from Sun Village and roamed through the Land of Fire."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, surprised that she apparently has been living on her own ever since she was a kid, "How old were ya when this happened?" He then asked.

Akeno looked at him and replied, "Six, I was six."

Naruto nodded before he added, "And how did you survived all this time on your own? A child roaming free in such a dangerous world like this is quite unnerving, even a half fallen angel one." He was afraid that she might have suffered some kind of abuse in her travels, the bare thought of someone taking advantage of her made his rage boil to the point that it even startled the blackette female.

Akeno felt both surprised and somewhat happy that the silverette by her side seemed to get angry at the thought of her surviving all this time on her own, she knew what he was thinking and while she strangely liked to see his anger for those who tried to harm her, she wanted to calm him down, so said, "I-I know… b-but nothing h-happened to me… I m-made sure to s-stay in large villages… I even stayed in an orphanage until I turned ten."

Naruto did seemed to calm down a little after hearing hat, but still asked, "G-Good… that's good… but what did you do after?"

Akeno sighed relieved after feeling his anger gone now, she then replied, "I d-did what j-jobs I c-could… cleaning, babysitting, waitress, anything I c-could."

Naruto nodded before he said, "I see but, why turn into a… 'Raven Witch'… if you could do all those things, why become that?"

Akeno at this looked back at the floor before she explained, "I wanted to… come back here… I was tired of moving between villages…" She then sighed sadly before she continued, "I-I thought that… m-my family w-would welcome me b-back… but… they rejected me… t-they even chased m-me out… t-they wanted to… k-kill me…"

Naruto just placed his thumb on the distressed girl's cheek to wipe out her tears before he asked, "Why would they do that?" He already knew why but he needed to hear it from her, he still had the slight hope that maybe the world wasn't as twisted as he thought it was, that a family that will reject someone just for where they come from or what they are was not something that happens.

But much to Naruto's disappointment, his guess was proven right when she whispered while leaning on his touch, "Be-because I'm a f-fallen angel… a r-reminder… a d-disgrace to our clan…"

Naruto just sighed and while restraining his anger, he looked for clarification of a suspicion he had ever since he received this mission, so asked, "Your uncle, the one you hate so much, his name is Eisuke, right?"

Akeno looked at him and nodded, answering his suspicions about the man, "H-How would y-you know? D-Did he really sent you?" She didn't get scared or anything because she already knew that the handsome god by her side had no intentions of harming her, otherwise she would already be in either her father or uncle's hands.

"Yeah, he was the one that sent the mission request to my village, but we all knew that there was something shady about that pompous ass, I guess he wanted us to get rid of ya for him, what a pitiful fucker." Naruto replied while narrowing his eyes at the distance, feeling his anger boiling at the thought of someone trying to play him and harm an innocent person in the process.

Akeno started to get worried again that the silver-haired god might lose his temper, so thinking quickly, she said, "I-It makes sense, I I'm far s-stronger than all of m-my clan's forces."

Naruto just breathed in before he stood up and said, "Well, I'll deal with the fucker once I go back to the Leaf, for now…" He turned back to her and said, "I need you to tell me what do you wanna do."

Akeno felt a little confused, so while tilting her head to the side, she asked, "W-What do you mean?"

Naruto sighed before he explained, "I can't allow you to continue scaring the people like this, I know you want to be left alone, but you took away the homes of many people, people who want them back, this 'Raven Witch' needs to go."

Akeno widened her eyes before she said a little desperately, "B-But we-were would I go!?… I… I u-understand what y-you're saying and I d-do feel terrible f-for doing that to those v-villagers but…" She looked at the ground and whispered sadly, "… I h-have nowhere e-else to go."

Naruto sighed before he massaged his chin, he couldn't really think on anything else so suggested, "You can always come back with me."

Akeno looked back at him with wide eyes before she asked weakly, "W-What do y-you mean?… w-where?…"

Naruto just petted the head of the surprised fallen angel and with a smile, replied, "To the Village Hidden in the Leaves of course."

Akeno blushed a little when the silverette petted her but after she reigned her surprise, she said, "B-but… I… I d-don't have anything… n-no money… no papers… n-nothing to start over with…" She looked at the ground again and felt her eyes tear up once more, feeling really desperate for her situation.

Naruto just chuckled while kneeling in front of her and after placing his hand on her knee, he explained, "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it."

Akeno looked timidly at him when he said that, she knew that the young man meant well but having so many experiences in the past with 'too kind' people who ended up wanting her body in return, she asked, "A-And what w-would you want in return?"

Surprising and frightening her though, Naruto growled angrily at her after she spoke and with fangs shown, threatened, "I understand that you might have come across scum who asked for something in return…" He narrowed his raging blue eyes at her before he concluded, "But don't you EVER confuse me with those vermin!"

"S-Sorry…" Akeno whispered, really scared for the sudden dark turn on the silverette's demeanour, "I-I di-didn't meant t-to compare y-you with… them…" She added between gulps, for the first time in her life she felt a little glimpse of what the rage of an Absolute God could be and she did not wanted to feel it ever again.

Naruto just shook his head to rid his mind of his rage before he said back apologetically, "No I'm… I'm the one that is sorry… I… I shouldn't have lost like that… you are entirely right to be wary…" He then brought his hand to her cheek and rubbed it tenderly to reassure her while adding softly, "Forgive me."

Akeno just leaned on his touch before she replied, "Y-yes… I understand…" She smiled at him while adding, "If is n-not too much to ask then… I w-would like to accept your offer."

Naruto smiled back and after he finished his caressing, he replied, "Perfect…" He then stood up and added, "All I want in return is for ya to be happy and live your life…" Akeno smiled when she could feel his honesty, "And maybe, aid me in mah goal…" He muttered while turning to look around.

Akeno tilted her head at those last words, so wanting to make her confusion known, she asked, "What goal?"

Naruto realised his slip so turning back at her, he replied with a small smile, "Ah don't worry about that now, we'll talk 'bout it once we're back at the Leaf."

Akeno still felt rather confused but she decided to trust the silverette so just nodded. She then felt a huge wave of curiosity waving inside her body, so not able to hold it back anymore, she asked while fidgeting her fingers, "Umm… L-Lord N-Naruto… can I a-ask you something?…"

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the 'Lord' thing, so annoyed, he responded, "Sure but, drop the 'Lord' thing, it's annoying."

"I'm sorry L… I mean… N-Naruto…" Akeno apologized before she breathed in to gather her wits to say, "If I may… I w-was just co-confused as to w-why would you… umm… introduce y-yourself as 'N-Naruto Uzumaki' w-when… I… was t-taught that your name is… D-Ddraig… sir…"

Naruto just narrowed his eyes in confusion after hearing that and while tilting his head, he muttered, "Wha?"

It was the mighty dragon god the one who cleared his confusion though, when he said inside his mind, **_"She recognized my essence when you used my cloak boy, all reincarnated are taught to recognize their superiors, so she must believe that you are me."_**

Naruto then let out an _aaaa_ after understanding and while chuckling, he replied to the confused buxom female, "Ah, that's because I'm not Ddraig!"

Akeno felt even more confused after his answer, confusion she made known once again when she inquired, "B-But… y-your essence… is that of the legendary Absolute G-God of End… I d-don't understand…"

Naruto just sighed before he sat back beside her and explained, "Well, let me explain, you see, Ddraig has been inside me for all my life, ever since I was born, right here…" He patted his belly before he continued, "Remember those 'flames' that covered me at the end of our fight?…" Akeno nodded in yes, prompting him to continue, "Well, that was actually Ddraig's essence, I use it whenever I need a power boost, that's why you recognized me as the God of End."

Akeno nodded after finally understanding, that's also when she realized that she actually felt two different kinds of essence in him, one that clearly belonged to the mighty dragon god and another one which she could not pinpoint, so wanting to know, she questioned more, "I see now… but… I can feel another kind of essence coming from you… a-and… h-how could you hold the third most powerful being in existence?… i-if I may ask…"

Naruto chuckled at her shyness before he replied, "The other essence you can feel from me is my own, you see, I am a god as well, I died a long time ago but since the scaly ball took a liking for me, he brought me back, but as a dragon, and thus, a god."

Akeno just widened her eyes at that, she finally understood why she felt so attracted and protected by him since dragons are widely known to be irresistible, simply because they are the epitome of power, there's no other kind stronger than them and power attracts everyone, so being a female, she could understand that her own instincts were telling her that he was the best mate she could ever find.

Naruto saw that the girl seems to be piecing together the facts and finally understood her sudden openness to him, so after allowing her some seconds of realisation, he added, "And Ddraig is not trapped in me or anything, he decided to stay with me and be mah partner." He could not tell her the truth though, that he was actually the Absolute God of End's successor, since Ddraig for some reason has steadily forbade him from revealing it.

Akeno nodded after hearing that, she now finally had the whole picture, she still found it a little weird to hear that a god known to be merciless and overall the harbour of destruction has apparently befriended the silverette to the point of even save him and grant him divinity, but that also told her that this young man was poised to become something big, with the blessing of one of the most powerful beings nothing less, "I-I see…" She then whispered, stowing away the rest of her curiosity for the time being.

"Aight then…" Naruto the stood up and looked at her before he added, "Unfortunately, we need to fool the people into thinking that you died and I can only think of one way…" He unsheathed Gloria and finished while locking his blue eyes to her violet ones, "Do you trust me, Akeno."

Akeno gulped because she kinda had an inkling as to what the silverette had in mind, and she knew it was going to be painful, but she could not see any other way and she actually trusted the young man, so she just nodded nervously and called on her black wings while closing her eyes tightly.

* * *

The gasps of the citizens of Sun Village could be heard alongside their awed looks directed towards a handsome silver-haired ninja, his dark clothes and his bad boy looks made the females around squeal with delight while the males growl in irritation and jealousy. His mere looks however, were not the reason for the gasps and awed faces of the crowd, it was the two big black wings he was dragging behind, they all knew who those wings belonged to, and the villagers could not believe what they were seeing.

"My god… did… d-did he r-really killed the witch!?" A male citizen muttered flabbergasted.

"We are saved! T-There's no more witch!" A middle-aged female then claimed with a smile and watered eyes, seeing that the Raven Witch was finally dealt with brought immense relief to everyone, finally she and the rest of Sun Village inhabitants could feel safe again.

"I wonder what he'd like for a reward…" A young woman said to her friends suggestively, earning giggles from her friends while they all carried blushes on their faces.

 _'_ _Sigh… troublesome…'_ Naruto just thought while trying to ignore the looks he was getting. He knew that by carrying Akeno's severed wings around he was going to attract all the attention, but that was exactly what he needed to do, he needed to make sure that the people in Sun Village believed that the witch was dead and much to his regret, this was the only way he could think of.

He was genuinely regretful to do this to Akeno, the process of severing her wings was quite painful for her, she even fainted. Naruto offered her another way but she refused, stating that she hated her wings and she really wanted them gone, he wasn't comfortable with it, but complied none the less and now, here he was dragging them like a hunter boasting his trophy.

He continued his walk until he finally arrived at the village's downtown where three females were waiting for him alongside Teko Village's mayor, his wife and the rest of Sun's Guard, all wearing stupefied looks at seeing him with his trophy, "Waddup." Naruto just greeted nonchalantly after he stopped right in front his flabbergasted audience.

It took them all some moments to break themselves out of their stupor, but suddenly, Anko and Hana jumped at him and hugged him before they both delivered a hard bonk on his head with the former saying, "You reckless idiot! Why do you always have to do things this way!?"

"Yes Naru! Always have to be the reckless hero!" Hana then added with a frown while shivering a little.

Naruto massaged his sore head but then sighed and smiled after seeing the genuine worry on his two beloved companions, so he just patted both on their heads and said reassuringly, "I know it's difficult for ya and I'm really sorry, but understand that I had to do it my way."

Both females nodded with a smile while enjoying the contact with their beloved jinchūriki, but the sweet atmosphere was broken when Chifuyu cleared her throat and said, "Umm… sir… is that… what I think it is?" She was really surprised to see the wings so many people described.

Naruto nodded while saying, "Yup, let's go inside your office and talk."

They all nodded and proceeded to go to Chifuyu's office. Once there inside, Chifuyu saw that all those that needed to be present were there, so after taking her seat, she said, "Alright Sir, what happened in Teko?"

Naruto spared a look at those present in the room, Chifuyu, Anko, Hana, Teko's mayor and his wife, before he brought his attention back to the black wings and after placing them on a table on the far side of the room, he began, "Well, as I thought, The Wolves were being manipulated by the witch, when I got to Teko I was surprised to see that nothing was out of place, your houses were completely untouched, everything inside was as you left it…" They all widened their eyes in surprise at this, finding it really strange, "Haru then found a scent that directed us to the hill behind the village, there was a fort built by The Wolves to serve as their HQ… Seeing that the gang knowing for killing, raping and looting did none of that and also that they had built their own HQ instead of using the village they just overran, made me realise that the Raven Witch just wanted to be left alone and was using The Wolves as her personal guards."

They all nodded at that before Teko's mayor said, "Then… T-Teko is f-free from that demon!?" He and his wife were smiling hopefully but then flinched when they received a harsh glare form the silverette, a glare which also surprised the other three females.

"Don't you ever call her like that again, you have no idea… what was done to her…" He looked at the wings solemnly and added with real regret, "She told me her story… I… I tried to convince her to change her ways… but it was futile…" He then closed his eyes and finished, "She was to lost on her own despair, a despair created by the real monsters in this village."

Those words really surprised them all, they didn't know what could have happened to the witch that made the silverette so regretful over killing her, but the part where he mentioned monsters in their own villages did made Chifuyu think of a few people, but neither Chifuyu nor Ikko voiced their questions, simply because they know it would be disrespectful to a misjudged woman who just lost her life.

Naruto just sighed tiredly after sensing the drop in the room's mood, so wanting to move on, he looked back at the mayor and his wife and said, "But yes Mr and Mrs Adachi, Teko is free now, you can all go back home."

Chifuyu raised her eyebrow after hearing that, so wanting to voice her confusion, she asked, "But, what about The Wolves, sir? Did you drove them off?"

Naruto looked at her directly and replied dryly, "No, I kill'em all… and don't worry about the mess, already burned it all."

They all gulped after hearing the coldness in his voice, they could also see the pain in his eyes that spoke of a man who genuinely regretted taking a life, that's why all those present felt their respect for the young man grow to new heights. The Mayor and his wife then bowed gratefully at him, with the former stating, "Thank you so much Mr Uzumaki, Teko Village will never forget what you've done for us…" He then brought his head up and added, "And I'll make sure that… my village does not disturb the witch's resting soul."

Naruto nodded with a small smile while saying, "Thanks."

Ikko then turned to look at Chifuyu to say, "Well Capt. Orimura, I must go and inform my people that we can go back home, I thank you for everything you did for us."

"There's no need, you can always count on us Mr Adachi, have a safe travel." Chifuyu replied while shaking the middle-aged man's hand and with that, Teko's mayor and his wife said their goodbyes and left the room, leaving the three Leaf-nin alone with the guard's Captain, "So, was she really… umm… a witch?" Chifuyu then asked a little warily, not wanting to disrespect someone she could see made an impact on the silverette.

Naruto then leaned on the wall near the window and replied, "Not really, she just had a strange bloodline, since no one has ever really seen abilities like hers before, me included, I guess it looked as some kind of witchcraft…" He of course lied to them since they weren't his lovers, so telling them the truth was out of the question, for now that is, "She was just misunderstood, that's all."

They all nodded and while they did wanted to know what really happened, they stowed their questions out of respect for the deceased girl known as the Raven Witch, simply because they could see from Naruto's eyes that the girl suffered quite a lot, "What happened to the girl, do I need to intervene?" Chifuyu then asked, she was the main responsible for law enforcement in the village after all, so without really disrespecting the witch, she asked if there were people she needed to prosecute.

Naruto shook his head in no while explaining, "No, don't worry 'bout that, there's really nothing you can do…" He looked outside from the window and finished with a couple of ominous words, "But don't worry, the gods, they don't forget."

Anko, Hana and Chifuyu gulped a little after feeling the pressure coming off from the silverette, Chifuyu was really surprised at how strong this young ninja truly was, she didn't know why, but her gut was telling her that she was in the presence of a god. Hana released herself from her stupor first though and soon after, asked, "Umm… Naru…" Said boy turned to look at her and prompted her to continue, "The b-body of… the girl… w-what happened to it?"

"I cremated it, per her request…" He replied. He then saw their confused eyes so deciding to explain a little, he said, "You see, she… she was just a tormented girl, afraid of everything and everyone… I… I really tried to convince her but, it was too late for her…" He then looked at the wings and finished, "On her last breath she asked me to cremate her and place her ashes on her favourite place, I can't tell ya girls where said place is because I promised to keep it to myself, but she is resting now." He really hated to lie, but there was no other way, the people needed to believe that Akeno was dead and in a way, she really was.

The three females nodded and really felt for the girl, they could tell by Naruto's expression that she indeed was tormented and misjudged, "Then why bring the wings, sir?" Chifuyu then asked, a little confused by that.

Naruto just sighed tiredly before he turned to look at her and replied, "Well, your people wanted the witch dead in order to go back to live in peace, but I knew I had to bring proof so, here it is…" He gestured the beautiful black wings, he really thought that it was such a shame to get rid of them, but Akeno was really adamant on it, so he could really do nothing but to comply.

The three females nodded with Chifuyu saying, "Well then, I guess that concludes your business here…" She, for some reason, was feeling really depressed at the thought of the silverette leaving, and more so when she started to feel the urge to ask him for his help on a personal matter, but not wanting to show any weakness, she stowed her emotions and added, "Will you be leaving already?"

Both Hana and Anko turned to look at Naruto since he was the one in charge, so seeing their inquisitive looks, Naruto shook his head in no before he explained, "Not just yet, there's still something I gotta do here…" He walked towards the door and said to Anko and Hana, "I'll see ya on the gates in an hour, aight?"

Anko and Hana tilted their heads a little at that, feeling really confused, "What are you going to do, Naru?" Hana then asked.

Naruto just smiled while he opened the door and replied before he left, "Got a promise to keep."

Both Hana and Anko just chuckled while they saw their beloved silverette leaving the room, "Always a man of his word…" Hana said with a dreamy voice.

"Yup, that's why every female in this world wants to hump him." Anko then added with a chuckle and a little blush on her cheeks.

Chifuyu felt a little surprised to hear such things, but seeing that she herself wanted to let the silverette have his way with her for some reason, stowed her remarks and opted to ask something that's been eating her for some time now, "Umm… girls…" She said, earning the attention of the two kunoichi who were clearly surprised to see the sudden shy demeanour of the strong Captain. The Orimura just breathed in heavily and after gathering her wits, she said, "T-There's something I… I-I w-would like to ask y-you…"

The two kunoichi raised their eyebrows at the strange behaviour of the Captain, but nodded in yes none the less. They sat on the two seats in front of Chifuyu's desk and after that, Chifuyu started to tell them of her problem and what she wanted to ask the silverette about.

* * *

Naruto sighed relieved after he finally walked inside The Red Lantern, he had trouble getting here because of the whole of Sun Village going fan-mode over him, surrounding him, asking for autographs and to father so many children he lost count, so finally getting to his destination was a huge relief for him, or so he thought.

"Oh my god! I-It's him!" An excited call girl said after she saw the unworldly handsome young man entering their work place.

The rest of the prostitutes immediately turned to look at the newcomer and they all squealed dreamily while saying praises and offering their services for free if he so desired, earning the ire of the males present, but once again, they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut, more so after he defeated the dreaded Raven Witch.

"I hate my enticing dragon ass…" He muttered tiredly while massaging his tired temples.

"Y-You came b-back…" A melodic female voice then caught his attention, making him turn to look at the beautiful Sakuya who was looking at him with wide eyes, visibly surprised to see the young man here as he promised.

Naruto just smirked charmingly at her before he replied, "Why of course, I promised, didn't I?…" He then walked towards her and among the whining of the other girls who were mad that he chose their Madame instead of them, he added, "My business here in Sun are done and I must return to the Leaf soon, but I promised that I would come and see ya before I left, so here I am."

Sakuya was startled a little but she managed to recover her composure and said with an honest smile, "Yes you are…" She grabbed his hand and while leading him towards the stairs, she added, "Let's go to a more private setting."

Naruto just raised his eyebrow at that but still allowed himself to be dragged to what it looks like Sakuya's private quarters. At first glance, he thought that this room is where she 'serviced' her selected clientele, but once he walked in, he found it surprising to see that it appears as if she actually lives here, "Y-You live here, Saku?"

Sakuya just felt her stomach tremble with delight at hearing the endearing way the young silverette has taken to call her, so smiling back at him, she replied, "Yes Naruto, this is my home…" She then led him to a couch and urged him to sit, he did as told and soon, she went for a bottle of whisky she prepared just for this occasion and after serving both a glass, she said, "I gotta admit, I was surprised to hear that you killed the Raven Witch, I was worried something might have happened to you."

Naruto just smiled at her and after sipping his delicious beverage, he replied, "Yeah, it was a tough battle, but I won it in the end…" He then looked at the ground and muttered quietly, "Although, I wish I hadn't."

Sakuya felt a little surprised at that but seeing the pain and regret in his eyes told her enough, she deduced that this witch was not what the people painted her out to be, she always thought so since there was always another side of the story. But seeing the discomfort in the silverette for the subject, she quickly averted the conversation to somewhere else when she said, "The important thing is that you are okay." She squeezed his hand in support while smiling tenderly at him.

"Yeah…" Naruto returned the smile while he also held her hand to return the squeeze, much to her delight. He then looked around and said, "Have you always owned this place?"

Sakuya sipped her drink while enjoying holding hands with the silverette and replied, "No, I inherited it, my grandmother set it up in her forties and then she left it to my mother who in turn left it to me before she died."

Naruto nodded and said, "You must meet all kinds of people here."

Sakuya chuckled and nodded while saying, "Oh yes, my brothel is the most prestigious in the Land of Fire, even the Fire Lord comes sometimes…" She took another sip of her whisky and added, "One of our biggest clients is from the Leaf Village actually, the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin."

Naruto just laughed while shaking his head in amusement as he said, "Totally called it, this has Pervy Sage's tastes all over the place."

Sakuya was a little confused, so while tilting her head a little, she asked, "Pervy Sage? You know Jiraiya?"

Naruto looked at her and snorted before he replied, "Know him? That old perverted fool is my godfather."

Sakuya widened her eyes at that as she said, "T-Then… y-you are the boy he a-always boasts about…"

Naruto looked at her with a raised eyebrow when he asked back, "Boasts?"

Sakuya nodded and explained, "Yes, whenever he comes, he always tells the girls fantastic stories about his godson and how strong he will become…" She then smiled and added, "And I can certainly say he was right."

Naruto just snorted amused while muttering, "That Pervy Sage and his loose mouth…" His godfather's antics always amused him. Naruto then looked back at the green-haired beauty and said, "And, do you enjoy… ya know… working here?"

Sakuya tilted her head in confusion once again before she finally understood his question and quickly, she shook her head and explained a little frantically, "Oh no! I… I don't work as a… umm… c-courtesan… I'm just the Madame."

Naruto was surprised after hearing that, so said, "Really? I thought you needed to… ya know… be a courtesan before you become a Madame."

Sakuya blushed a little but replied, "Well, technically yes, but I never worked as one in my life, I just inherited the place and focused on running it…" She then released his hand and while fidgeting her fingers a little nervously, she said with a little stutter in her voice, "I-I'm… actually… umm… a v-virgin…"

Now, that really caught the Uzumaki off guard, a Madame who has never worked as a courtesan and was a virgin was certainly unheard of. But regaining his composure, he held her hand again and said with a reassuring smile, "Hey come on now, that's nothing to be ashamed of, amma virgin as well."

Sakuya smiled and blushed even harder when he said those soothing words and held her hand again, she could not stop her longing anymore so lunged at him and while sitting on his lap, she claimed his lips in a ferocious kiss that lasted for some good 5 minutes. They eventually broke the kiss in order to breathe and after she regained her breath, she whispered longingly, "I… I w-wouldn't mind… g-giving it to you…" She was really embarrassed of how timid she was acting, but something about this silver-haired god was making her submit herself to him without question, and she liked it.

Naruto smiled warmly at her and while gently caressing her cheek, he said, "I would love to have it Saku, but mine is already promised to someone else, I'm sorry…" He continued his caressing on the now depressed girl while adding, "Plus, with me there's no such thing as a one night stand, is either a full commitment or none at all."

Sakuya was still very depressed for the rejection but she was also confused at his words, so asked, "W-What do you me-mean?"

Naruto sighed and while continuing his caressing, he answered, "It's really hard to explain and unfortunately, I cannot really explain it to you until I'm a hundred percent sure that I can fully commit myself to you."

Sakuya tightened her grip on his coat and with watered eyes, she said, "B-But… w-what if… I want to… c-commit my-myself fully to you?…" She didn't know why she was so determined to be by his side, but her body was screaming at her not to let go of him, being here in his lap while he caressed her body and looked at her with those beautiful ocean blue eyes made her feel as if she has been in love with him during all of her life, and while it was somewhat disturbing, she also did not wanted to let the feeling go.

Naruto sighed after hearing her words and seeing her eyes, he had no intentions of taking it this far, he just wanted to have a talk and extend his friendship to her, but being a regular human made his effect on her even graver and now she was completely in love with him. Still, he couldn't just induct her to his family now, he wasn't marking more females at the moment because he still wasn't strong enough to protect them all, that's why he's only been targeting those imperative to move his ambition forward, "I will take it then…" She smiled but then lost the smile when he said, "But not now Saku, I know you're confused and I can't blame you because even though I really want to explain things to you, I just can't, not right now."

Sakuya released his coat and just looked down while saying with a sad voice, "I… u-understand…"

Naruto then lifted her head gently from the chin and said, "Listen to me, you didn't let me finish…" Sakuya nodded at him to continue and so he did, "For now, try different things, see if you can find someone else, if not, then wait for me, I'll come back in a year or so."

Sakuya did felt a little better hearing that, but she was still depressed and afraid, so whispered back, "You promise?"

Naruto went back to caress her cheek and with an endearing smile, he replied, "I promise."

Sakuya smile now but then muttered with clear fear in her voice, "I've… h-heard that… before…"

Naruto deduced that she might have experienced a heartbreak before, so wanting to show her that he was someone that keeps his word, he kissed her deeply and after ending the kiss, he said with his eyes locked to hers, "But you've never heard it from me."

Sakuya smiled at him, this time honestly because she could see that he was being honest and that he will truly keep his word, just like he did before. So feeling more confident now, she rested her head on the crook on his neck and cooed into his embrace while whispering, "T-Then… can we stay l-like this?… f-for some moments only…"

Naruto just smiled and began to caress her back while resting his chin on her head and saying, "Of course, Saku."

The two then stayed there, embracing one another and enjoying their mutual warmth, with Sakuya feeling like if she was in the moon right now, being in the strong arms of the young man that had apparently just stole her heart.

* * *

"Oh, Capt. Orimura?" Naruto said surprised after leaving The Red Lantern. He had just finished his mushy time with Sakuya who was very reluctant to let go but finally after convincing her, she kissed him once again and let him go on his way with a depressed face. But now here he was outside Sakuya's establishment and was surprised to see none other than Capt. Chifuyu Orimura, leaning on the wall, apparently waiting for someone.

Chifuyu gulped after seeing the young silverette, she would have been embarrassed to catch him just as he was leaving the brothel but since Sakuya was her best friend, she knew the silverette was here, so blushing a little, she replied, "H-Hello sir… I… umm… I h-hope I'm not… d-disturbing you…"

Naruto just raised an eyebrow after hearing her, he found it quite strange to see the otherwise strong willed woman acting like a shy school girl, but realizing what she might be thinking he was doing here, he waved his hands dismissively and said, "Ah! Hehe… no, it's not what ya think… I just came to tell Sakuya that I'm leaving… that's all…" He scratched his scruff sheepishly while laughing lightly, "Oh and please, call me Naruto, I'm no longer on duty here so there's no need for formalities anymore." He then added.

"Oh…" Chifuyu just muttered while fidgeting her fingers. She did thought that maybe Sakuya had finally lost her virginity but hearing the silverette, she realized that they just talked, and for some strange reason, she felt a little relieved at that. Chifuyu promptly shook her head to rid her mind of unnecessary thoughts and said, "Then please call me Chifuyu as well…" The silverette nodded with a smile and after some seconds of silence, she reigned her courage and spoke, "Listen… umm… Naruto… I-I've… I d-don't know why I f-feel this… urge… to ask you this… but…" Seeing that she was turning into a mess, Chifuyu breathed in heavily and finally said with composure, "I really d-don't know who else to ask… I-I spoke with your companions and they t-told me you'll be willing to help me."

The Namikaze raised his eyebrow at that, finding it strange that she would apparently need something from him, and not as the Guard's Captain, so making his willingness and confusion known, he said, "Sure, what did ya need me for?"

Chifuyu smiled after hearing him before she explained, "I don't r-really need you… right now…" She closed a little on him and added, "You see, there is something that happened to me long ago, I lost someone important to me to a group of bandits…" Chifuyu balled her fists at the memory but continued, "I-I've been looking for those responsible ever since, and I'm close, but I haven't really found them yet…" She then calmed down her anger and finished while looking at him straight in the eye, "I… I w-wanted to ask you if you could be there… for m-me… when I find them… I… I know this is sudden… and this is a pe-personal request… but I… I really don't know who else c-could help me…" Chifuyu then saw that the silverette was scratching his chin and remained quiet, so jumping to erroneous conclusions, she said depressed, "I'm sorry sir… t-that was out of l-line… I a-apologize for troubling y-you." She then bowed apologetically.

Naruto just _huh_ confused after hearing the last part and seeing her bow, he then realised that she must have mistaken his silence as a negative so regaining his wits, he cleared, "No Chifuyu, please, look up…" He gently brought her face back up, making the blackette blush due to the contact before he added, "Of course I will help ya, you just gotta let me now when you're ready and I'll come here to your side, just send a personal request to the Leaf and they'll let me know." He then smiled reassuringly while caressing her cheek, always enjoying making females melt on his hands.

Chifuyu smiled and enjoyed the strong yet tender hand rubbing her cheek, she knew she was acting out of character because never in her life has she allowed a man to touch her this way, but something about this young ninja made her resistance fade away completely, and she didn't really mind, "T-Thank you Naruto… y-you… you d-don't know how m-much this means to me." She then said, really thankful for his agreement.

Naruto smiled and then took his hand away from Chifuyu's cheek, much to her disappointment, but seeing that he was already late, he decided to bid farewell when he said, "Don't worry Chifuyu, I'll always be there when ya need me, but now I really gotta go, Anko and Hana surely are already mad at me… hehe…"

Chifuyu nodded and with a sad expression, she said, "Y-Yes, I understand… please b-be careful… and thank you f-for everything y-you've done for us."

Naruto nodded and in a bold move, he kissed the blackette's cheek and quickly made his way towards Sun Village's gates, not stopping to look at the frozen Captain who was holding the cheek he kissed while staring blankly at the distance.

Naruto ran without a care straight at his rendezvous point with his two companions, there, he saw them waiting for him, already irked by his lateness, "You're never gonna change, huh?" Anko said annoyed while pinching his cheek.

"Are you done wooing ladies?" Hana then added annoyed as well while stomping her foot repeatedly on the ground.

Naruto just chuckled sheepishly while massaging his cheek when he said, "Yeah, sorry 'bout that, Chifuyu wanted to ask me something so it took me longer than I thought."

Both Hana and Anko nodded at that, already knowing what he meant since the Captain told them all about her problem, they really sympathized with the woman and hoped that she could get her wish, "Then let's go already." Anko then said while walking away from the village.

Naruto and Hana fell into step with the purple-haired snake summoner but Naruto then said something, "Yeah but, we need to make a stop real quick."

The Mitarashi and the Inuzuka felt confused at that but stowed their inquiry when the silverette suddenly increased his pace and forced them to follow him. After thirty minutes of constant running, the silverette finally stopped just in front an abandoned house that was somewhat hidden in the woods, the two females wanted to ask what was going on but Naruto surprised them when he screamed, "Ake! Come on! It's time to go!"

"Ake?" Hana muttered confused.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Anko added with a confused look.

Their question was answered when a beautiful young girl appeared from inside the house, the girl had long silky black hair tied in a single ponytail and was wearing a common civilian attire, she was quite nervous when she looked at the two females and said, "G-Good e-evening." Akeno bowed politely while hiding a little beside the silverette, still not very used to talking to people.

Both Leaf kunoichi stayed silent for a while before they finally broke themselves out of their stupor and said, "Umm… Naru… who's this?" Hana asked the silverette who had an amused grin on his face.

Naruto just widened his grin when he answered, "Why, she's Akeno…" He gestured the timid girl before he added mischievously, "Or otherwise known as the infamous Raven Witch."

Both Hana and Anko started sputtering nonsense after that, since apparently the silverette had lied to them with the story, so getting angry, Anko demanded between gritted teeth, "Naru. Explain. Now."

Naruto just chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head and said, "Aight, aight, chill fam, you gon get wrinkles on them gorgeous faces…" He then leapt to a tree and added while urging them to follow, "I'll explain it all on the way, come on."

The two kunoichi sighed tiredly in unison but quickly did as told and followed the silverette back to the Leaf, with Akeno surprisingly having no trouble to keep up with the ninja but still feeling really nervous to begin her new life, but a look at the back of the silverette god made her feel a wave of security was over her heart while she thought with a dreamy smile on her face, _'As long as I'm with him, I'll be alright…'_

* * *

"Why does everything turns out so complicated whenever you're involved, Naru?" Anko muttered with a tired sigh after listening to Akeno's real story. They have been on the road for the past 2 hours and they were finally some steps away from the Leaf.

"Yeah Naru, you have such a knack for this…" Hana added with an amused sigh. She then turned to the black-haired girl who was still timidly hiding beside the silverette and said sympathetically, "But don't worry Akeno, we will help you in any way we can."

Akeno smiled and little by little started to gain more confidence. She wasn't usually timid since she was quite the seductive character, but being next to the silver-haired god made her become this way, she knew that dragons are irresistible, so she knew why she acted this way around him, but she was also a little afraid of starting a new life, "Thank you Hana, Anko, it means a lot to me that you're all helping me, I don't how I will repay you." She said while bowing gratefully at the three Leaf-nin.

Anko suddenly appeared beside her and after rounding her arm around the surprised Akeno's shoulders, said with a smile, "Just be happy, that's how you'll repay us."

Akeno didn't mind the sudden touch, though it still felt a little weird to receive a friendly hug, but she just smiled and nodded while saying, "I will, I'm sure of it."

They all smiled and soon, crossed the Leaf's gates and headed straight towards the Hokage Tower. Before they arrived though, Naruto turned to look at Akeno and said, "Ake, put on your cloak and wear the hood, I don't want your dickhead of an uncle to see ya."

Akeno nodded and did as told and soon after wearing her hooded cloak, they continued their trek towards the village. Akeno was a little surprised to see such mixed reactions on the villagers as they walked by, she could see that all their eyes were aimed at the silverette, some were looking at him with awe, love, lust and admiration, while few were sending distasting glances at him, those glances were the ones that confused her the most since she didn't know why would some people dislike the young silverette.

"You should've seen them before Naruto proved them all wrong, he used to be despised by most of the village." Hana then whispered beside Akeno, sensing the confusion in the blackette due to the stares said boy was receiving.

Akeno felt a little startled and confused but before she could say something, Anko added, "Yeah, but that's gone now. Sure, there are still some idiots that dislike him, but that never stopped our lovable knucklehead and now, he's respected by most of the village." She had a dreamy smile while looking at the young man's back who was writing something on a small notebook while flailing his arms around in an extravagant manner.

Akeno decided to stow her questions as to why could he be hated for later, she knew that it was a private matter that only the silverette could answer so for now, she just settled with looking at his back and smile.

"Combine… what rhymes with 'combine'?… boi…" Naruto uttered while looking at his small notebook which contains his rhymes, "Intertwine!…" He then claimed excitedly while writing it down furiously, "Yeah baby! Oooo The Mighty's gon love this shit, booooi!" A little secret of his was that he has actually already contacted his idol. A year ago he sent a fan letter directed to one Killer Bee, he never expected a response since it was just a letter telling him how much of a legend Bee was and how his words have inspired the silverette, but much to his surprise, he had a fangirl moment when he received a reply, telling him thanks and that one day they will meet in person, Killer Bee also invited him to write some of his own rhymes down and send them to the Cloud's jinchūriki so he could use them on his next album, so needless to say, Naruto's been rapping inside his head nonstop, much to his two tenants' despair.

"Naru, we're here." The voice of Hana then broke him out of his artistic pondering. He looked up and saw that they were indeed already in front of his surrogate grandfather's office door, _'The fuck… how did we got here so fast?…'_ He thought, confused since he didn't even realised they were already there.

He then shook his head to the sides and said, "Aight, come on fam…" He then kicked the door and opened it violently while walking inside nonchalantly and claimed, "Team Awesome is here to report, mission success, fool!"

Hana and Anko just sighed tiredly while Akeno was somewhat surprised to see such blatant disrespect towards the Leaf Village's leader. Inside the room, there was only the Third and his ANBU guards, who just chuckled at Naruto's ever-present exuberance, "Ah, Naru my boy, that's good son, come in."

At the Hokage's words, the three Leaf-nin walked in front of their leaders desk, Hiruzen got confused though when a fourth figure suddenly appeared beside the silverette, the figure had a hooded cloak that concealed the identity and it appears as if the figure was trying to hide beside the Uzumaki, "Umm… before you tell me what happened… who's that?" The Sarutobi asked while pointing at the now shuddering cloaked figure.

Naruto smiled and said, "Ah! This is Akeno, come on Ake, show yo beautiful-self…" Akeno then did as told and took her hood down to reveal her angelic face. The silverette turned to look at the old man who was still confused and said, "Otherwise known as the 'Raven Witch'!"

Akeno was expecting the Hokage to get wary of her or to at least narrow his eyes at her in suspicion, but she was surprised to see that the old man just sighed tiredly while he massaged his forehead, _'Naruto must pull this kind of things quite often…'_ She then deduced after seeing the expression of the old Hokage.

"Just explain already…" Hiruzen just said with exasperation, not capable of being surprised by his grandson's exploits anymore. With that, Naruto began to explain everything that happened, including the truth of Akeno, well, what he could really tell them, there was no way he could tell them that she was a Fallen Angel. The explanation took quite a while and finally after the Namikaze finished his report, the Sarutobi blew some smoke from his pipe and said, "I see…" He turned to look at the blackette and asked, "And what do you want to do, my dear?"

Akeno stepped forward a bit but still kept close to the silverette when she answered, "Y-Yes sir, I… I w-would like to s-stay here… in t-the Leaf…"

The old man smiled warmly at her before he replied, "Of course, you may stay if you wish…" He then brought some paper forms and added, "Would you like to be part of the village's military forces?"

Akeno then shook her head in no while explaining, "No sir… I… I w-would like to live a c-civilian life."

The Hokage nodded and with a smile, he said, "Alright then, here, fill these forms and deliver them to my secretary downstairs. After that, you may look for an apartment if you so wish, unless you already have a place in mind."

Akeno then got a little nervous because she had no money, but surprising her, Naruto said, "Nah, she can stay on the apartment next to mine, there's no one there and the landlord has been pestering me to get someone there so the place won't rot…" He looked at the fallen and added, "Unless of course, you wish to look for another place."

Akeno quickly shook her head and said, "N-No!… I… I w-would like that very much." She was wearing a cute blush that revealed her relief to be close to the young silverette, who much to the male ANBU's ire and the strange jealousy of the female ANBU Captain, has already snatched another beauty.

Naruto nodded and then said to Hana and Anko, "Yo, if ya ladies don't mind, can you take her to mah place? I gotta discuss something with the Old Man."

Both Hana and Anko were a little caught off guard by the request, the discussing something with the Hokage part, since they had no trouble in taking the amicable female to her new home. They were also a little annoyed because they wanted to spend more time with the boy but agreed none the less, "Yeah don't worry, we'll take her there." Anko then said.

"Come Akeno, let's go." Hana requested while urging the blackette teenager to follow. Akeno did as told and just before they were about leave the room, Naruto told the three of them.

"Don't worry, I'll see ya Akeno in a bit, and you two, we'll talk later, aight?" Naruto knew they wanted to spend time with him, so wanting to also get on with their marking, he proposed to meet them soon, which Anko and Hana readily agreed to with happy smiles.

"I imagine you want to… warn… Eisuke." The Hokage then said after the females left the room, already having an idea as to what the silverette wanted.

Naruto looked at his grandfather and lost the warm smile on his face, replacing it with a scary smirk when he said, "Yup, just a little… scare… nothing more."

Hiruzen just sighed amusedly before he sent for Eisuke who was waiting in his hotel. It took some minutes but finally, a knock on the Hokage's door was heard and after urging them to enter, Eisuke walked inside, "I see your shinobi is back, were you successful boy?" He then said with his haughty voice.

Naruto managed to contain his anger when he replied, although a little coldly, "Yes, the witch is dead, you may see the proof once you get to Sun Village, Capt. Orimura has it."

Eisuke seemed really pleased and with a smug smile, he replied, "Excellent news boy, I was wrong to doubt you…" He then looked at the Hokage and continued, "You will find that the payment more than makes up for the trouble…" He turned towards the door and said some parting words, "I can finally go back home with my family now that that demon whore is taken care of."

After Eisuke left, Naruto turned to look at the Hokage who just sighed and said, "Alright, just don't overdo it."

Naruto smirked fiercely and quickly left the room to catch up to Eisuke and once done, said, "Mr Eisuke."

Eisuke turned to look at the person who called him but before he could say anything, he was painfully slammed against the wall, leaving a dent in the process. He widened his eyes in fear when he saw the demonic looking eyes of the boy that killed the witch for him, he wanted to ask what the hell is going on but before he even could, the boy said with a strong deep voice while tightening his grip on Eisuke's throat.

"I don't like to be played with, I don't like it when people use me to do their own dirty deeds…" Naruto then closed in on the scared man and added, "I talked to Akeno and I know it all, what you did, what she is and how you scorned her for something that was beyond her reach, something I'm very familiar with…" Eisuke widened his eyes even more when he heard those words but could not speak at all due to the fear and the death grip on his throat, "We can't do a thing to you because officially, Akeno was dead and it fell into your clan's business, know that I only killed her because she was too lost in her own despair, a despair YOU created, I decided to free her from that hell you and your family placed her in, we may not be able to do anything to you legally, but know this…" He then placed his face in front of his and while burning his demonic eyes in Eisuke's mind, he said ominously, "The gods, they don't forget, and you and your family will get what's due, do you understand, Mr Himejima?"

Eisuke Himejima just nodded weakly while gasping desperately for air, he then slumped to the ground when the silverette suddenly released him before the Uzumaki commanded, "Now get the fuck out of my village, I don't ever want to see you nor your family again."

Eisuke did not said a thing and just did as told, quickly running away from the place and heading straight to the gates. Naruto just sighed tiredly before he muttered, "That takes care of that, now Akeno is free…" The Uzumaki walked outside the tower and after he leapt off towards a nearby roof, he uttered, "Now, to tell her about my ambition, hopefully, she'll agree to help me."

 ** _"_** ** _Why would you want her to join? I don't see any significant contribution she can make to your cause."_** The posh voice of one Nine Tailed Fox said inside his mind, making her confusion known as to why would the silverette want the fallen angel to join him.

 _"_ _Two reasons, one, it's obvious she has developed a necessity to follow me around, so why not take care of her in all ways possible?…"_ He replied while wearing a lecherous grin on his face, _"And two, I have a feeling I will be confronting reincarnates in my path, so better get myself some allies in there as well."_ Naruto could picture that the red-headed beauty agreed with him so he continued on with his trek towards his home.

It took him some minutes but once he finally arrived to his apartment, he entered it and saw the gorgeous fallen angel there in his bed, waiting for him with a timid look on her face, "Hey Ake, how ya feeling?" He greeted her while sitting next to her.

Akeno smiled at him and while wearing a cute blush on her face, she replied, "I-I'm really h-happy to be here… w-with y-you…" She then grabbed his hand and wanted to say something else but was interrupted when the silverette said to her in a serious tone.

"Before you say anything else Ake, hear me out, aight?…" Akeno nodded at him and after he breathed in, Naruto began his long explanation of what was he doing and what he wanted to achieve, hoping that Akeno will be on board with him and his growing family.

* * *

 **A/N: There it is! Akeno is finally here! I hope you lads enjoyed her introduction. Anyways, as always, thanks for reading and see ya lads next chapt, cheers!**


	16. Spring Is Coming (Part 1)

**A/N: Oi lads! Waddup? We're back with another chappie, but first, lemme say some stuff.**

 **This is unrelated to this story, but I recently found the first chapter of the very first fanfic I was writing, that fanfic was actually the one that inspired me to write TBE, but I'd thought that I lost it when my last PC broke, turns out I had it saved on the cloud. I read it again and I just don't have to heart to leave it there to die, so I've decided to post it. The other story is set COMPLETELY in the DXD world, no crossovers or the like, but don't worry, TBE will still be the main one, the other story I still haven't decided if I'll continue it or not, only if I see a significant amount of interest, I will. Anyway, for more info, go to my profile and check the story named 'Of Dragons and Devils'.**

 **Returning to this story, I wanted to explained why the girls act they way the act when they first meet Naruto, I know sometimes it seems as if they instantly fall in love with him, and in a way they do, but that is not a miss on my part or anything the like. The reason is quite simple, I'm just following the basics of our animal instincts, we are all animals, whether you believe it or not, it is a fact that we all live by our basic instincts, a little example could be how we react when we see someone dangerous approaching us, that nervousness we feel when we see a gun or any other weapon, it's called survival instincts, I have established in this story that Dragons are the TOP of the food chain, there's nothing above them and hence, their aura is overpowering. The females react like that because their instincts are telling them that Naruto is the strongest male around able to keep her and their offspring safe, which in the end is what all females look for in a man. But don't worry, they won't always act shy and meek around him, only the first time they meet him, as time goes on, they'll regain their composure and true demeanour around him, just like Ayame or Ino.**

 **I forgot what else I was going to say, so let's jump right to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **Spring Is Coming (Part 1)**

It was a cold night in an unknown location where a plant-like figure was making its way through what it looked like an abandoned village. The village was quite big and it had a western design in its structure, many red worn out banners with the image of a black dragon with golden eyes while having its tail surrounding it in a circle were all laying on the walls of the numerous buildings that were close to decay.

The plant-man continued on his walk, not minding the amazing sight of the mysterious village, acting as if it was already used to it. The Zetsu then finally arrived towards a cave in the outskirts of the abandoned place and walking inside, it positioned itself on a strange circle that glowed the moment Zetsu settled on it where after the glow dissipated, revealed that no one was there anymore.

Some meters away from its earlier position, Zetsu reappeared in another cave where it continued walking towards the exit that led to a path directed towards a huge half destroyed castle, the Zetsu then finally arrived at the entrance and soon proceeded to walk inside the amazing building.

"Ah! Zetsu, my dear boy! It's good to see you…" Suddenly, an almost childlike voice said the moment Zetsu walked inside the large hall where the throne was placed, a shadowed figure sitting on the large throne with his two ever present guards by his side, standing stoically looking at the plant-man, "Now, tell me, tell me, tell me!" The man on the throne then added with extreme giddiness, acting really childish but still managing to exude an enormous presence that Zetsu was sure even Madara Uchiha would have trouble standing in it.

Zetsu kept its desire to sweatdrop at the man's behaviour for itself since it knew that any wrong word towards the man would certainly mean its demise, so standing at the feet of the stairs that led to the throne, Zetsu said, "Yes, the boy has certainly grown by leaps in these past months…" The black part of it then added, **"It is unbelievable the feats he has achieved so early in his life."**

The man on the throne move his fingers excitedly while leaning a little closer to the front as if to listen better before he inquired with eagerness, "Do tell me, Zetsu! What has he achieved!?"

Even the guards by his side were surprised to see such eagerness from the man, they have both been with him for some years now and the only time were the powerful man seemed to really enjoy something, was whenever he would go out to the world to cause some trouble or when the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki was mentioned.

Zetsu seeing the eagerness of the man, quickly replied, "Well, he freed Wave Country from a tyrant and thanks to him, the Leaf got itself a lucrative deal with Wave…" The black part then continued, **"It appears that he also did something to put the Leaf on a good relationship with the Land of Noodle's new Feudal Lord…"** The man on the throne then nodded, urging the Zetsu to continue, so the white part spoke, "The boy has also gained a new ally in the Rock, although he's not aware of it, but for what I could gather, the Kamizuru clan head is quite indebted to him…" The black part then finished the boy's already impressive curriculum when it said, **"And just recently, he ended The Wolves' existence, a quite notorious gang, and a supposed 'Raven Witch' that haunted a village, once again, putting the Leaf on a good light."**

The man in the throne just laughed a little maniacally at the news he was just receiving, "Marvellous!… ufufu…" The man then settled down a little to say, "I had no doubt in my mind that he was going to achieve greatness in haste, I am so proud!…" The man then rambled, confusing those present greatly. The strange man stopped his laugh and with his scary gaze locked onto Zetsu, he questioned, "What about my little gift? Did you delivered it to him?"

Zetsu gulped while feeling really confused by the man's demeanour whenever it came to the silver-haired jinchūriki, and now hearing him saying that he was proud of said silverette was confusing it even more, but not wanting to make the powerful being wait, Zetsu replied, "Yes, we left **it at his home"**

The sitting man then claimed with joy, "Ah! Excellent!… ufufu…"

Zetsu then questioned something that it found weird when it said, "Lord…" It was going to say the man's name, but stopped when said man waved his hand to stop it and said.

"Ah, ah, ah… Zetsu boy… you can't go about saying my name aloud…" The man then leaned on at the front a little and whispered while placing his open hand beside his mouth as if telling a secret, "You never know who might be listening." He had a childish pout on his obscured face.

Zetsu just nodded nervously before it continued, "Yes, I understand…" The black part then asked, **"If I may, why would you give the boy that scroll? I know he has the Magnetic Bloodline, but I fail to see how that would matter."**

The man on the throne just laughed haughtily before he replied, "Ah! And that is why, my boy, you'll never be nothing more than a pawn…" The man then sat back on the throne and added, "It shouldn't even matter to you but I'll let you in on this little secret, the scroll will allow him to reach the second level of his bloodline."

Zetsu still felt confused since it could not understand why the man was helping an enemy, but before it could even ask anything else, the powerful man on the throne said, "Enough already Zetsu, you always come in right before my bed time and it ticks me off! So go already!"

Zetsu, not wanting to anger the powerful being, just did as told and left in haste, leaving the man alone in his throne with his two guards beside him.

The male guard decided to question something when he said, "Sir, I don't understand, why does his bloodline matters so much to you? Is just Magnetic Release, it's rare but not as valuable as say, the sharingan." He, like the female guard, were very confused as to why such a regular bloodline would matter so much.

The man laughed a little after listening to his subordinate's words before he stood up and walked behind his throne to look at the beautiful moon that lighted the mountains behind the castle, the man inhaled with a smirk before he said, "Ah, that is because no one has mastered the complete stages of Magnetic Release, since me that is, though, my son was close to achieve it as well but as we already know, he died too soon…" The man then looked down with a heavy sigh before he recovered his eerie face and added, "But, like the rest of the pests that plague this world, you seem to believe that magnetism can only be applied to metal!…" He laughed maniacally while bringing his hands forward and began to pull both arms apart slowly while the whole place and its surroundings started to tremble hard, as if an earthquake was hitting the village. The man stopped both his laugh and movements before he said excitedly, "Ah! I cannot wait for him to reach the third stage! There, I'll be able to tech him personally!" He rubbed his hands while sporting a wide grin, like a giddy kid eager to get his hands on a new toy.

Both of his guards were wide-eyed after what they thought was just revealed. The female was the one that asked while stuttering, "W-Wait… you… y-you mean t-that… M-Magnetic R-Release is the s-source of yo-your special a-ability!?"

The man giggled before he turned to look at the female and replied, "Ah but of course, my dear witchy!"

The male guard then added with nervousness, "B-But, sir, t-then why would you help him achieve such power!? I-Isn't he… o-our enemy?"

The man chuckled again at their stunned faces before he replied, "Yes, he becoming our enemy in the future is the most likely scenario…" He then began to walk towards the stairs before he revealed a shocking truth, "But tell me, my evil minions, what man does not wish to see his grandson succeed in life!" The man then walked down the stairs while loudly laughing maniacally.

The two left on the throne were totally shocked after hearing that, never had they expected to hear such a thing from their leader, but it all made sense now, the reason why he was always so eager to hear from the jinchūriki was because he was his grandson. The two just stayed there, watching the sights behind the castle, where all that was left was the debris of the mountains previously placed beside each other, but now, they were somehow pulled apart violently by an incredible force.

* * *

"Hmm… boooi… what's that smell, son?…" A drowsy silver-haired Namikaze said while slowly opening his eyes, he could see that it was already morning and it was time to wake up, but an incredible smell invaded his nostrils, prompting him to stand up and follow it, "Smells good." He muttered.

The rap-lover then found himself frozen while fighting his already raging morning wood down at seeing such fantastic sight there in his kitchen, where Akeno was happily humming while making breakfast and wearing nothing but an apron, leaving her in all her naked glory for Naruto to see, _'O-Oh Great Red… h-have mercy on this sinful soul of m-mine…'_ He thought while cleaning a little bit of drool that was falling from his mouth.

Not wanting to waste any chance, the silverette walked towards her and suddenly embraced her from behind, making sure that his boner was pressed against her derriere, "Well hello there Raven, I'm seriously starting to get used to this wake up calls of yours…" It has indeed been 5 days since he told Akeno about his plan and at first Naruto was sure she was going to decline, but much to his surprise, she grinned mischievously before she jumped at him and kissed him while saying that as long as he takes care of her, she will always be with him. And to add to his surprise, she revealed that she found the idea of sharing incredibly hot, mostly because she loved the 'cheating' role-play.

Akeno moaned happily while turning to look at her new man, she kissed him lovingly while feeling really contempt with her new life. Before the silverette had found her, she had no goal, no meaning, nothing to move on, she never knew what to do the next day, but now, that was all gone, because she had a new meaning and that was to aid this man in his goal, a goal that she also wanted to achieve because that way what happened to her, will never happen to anyone else again. Plus, the idea of being his mistress and having fun with her Harem sisters made her sadistic side wet at the mere thought, "Mhm… and I'm seriously starting to get used to your boner pressed against my butt…" She replied seductively while wiggling her butt a little to tease the silverette.

Naruto just groaned in delight before he kissed her again and released her gently, he walked towards his table and after taking a seat, he said, "What'cha doing?"

Akeno smiled at him and went back to her cooking while answering, "I'm making the new ramen that Teuchi wanted to put on sell, Aya already got it down but I'm having some problems!" She pouted cutely while continuing with her cooking.

Naruto just chuckled a little, remembering how immediately after he introduced Akeno to Ayame and Hinata, they hastily hugged her and took her away from him on a girl's night out, the three later returned to his home at night and there, Ayame told him that she had extended an invitation to Akeno to work on the ramen stand, which Akeno agreed wholeheartedly since she loved to cook. And immediately after knowing that her new mate had an obsession with ramen, Akeno vowed to reach Ayame's level to compete with her on who's the best ramen cook, a rivalry the Ichiraku youngster happily accepted.

"Relax Ake, you'll get there eventually." The silverette then said, adding his support to her already impressive cooking skills.

The Himejima reject smiled at his words before she turned to look at him and said, "I know, she's got the advantage now, but we got an eternity to settle the score, so I'm not worried…" She then giggled before she remembered something so added, "Ah that's right!…" She reached the front pocket of her apron and took out a scroll that she had kept in there, she walked towards the confused Uzumaki swordsman and then gave it to him while saying, "This was outside the door this morning, I checked it with my magic to see if it was a trap or something, but it's clean."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at that, sure, he receives a lot of gifts from his fangirls, but no one has ever left a scroll at his door, plus, seeing the scroll now, he could see it was really old. The scroll was crimson coloured with a black dragon engraved in it, there was a small note attached to it, so opening it, he read it aloud for Akeno to hear, "Hello young son of the dawn…" Naruto squinted his eyes at the strange nickname, but continued reading, "I know you might be confused as to why this strange scroll has been sent to you, well, let me tell you, this little scroll is an ancient one, one of the oldest you'll find! It contains the second stage of your Magnetic Bloodline! Yes boy, there is another stage, five actually, but I will only reveal to you the one you already mastered and the one you are about to undergo, the first stage is known as 'Magnetic Release', but it's ancient name is 'Mineral Bending', I don't have to explain you what it is as you already know…" Naruto then sipped some of his water before he continued to read, "The second stage is called 'Metal Manipulation', I don't have to tell you how handy that is now, do I? This is particularly effective against nowadays weaponry, so enjoy little one! I'll know when you reach the third stage and then, I'll let you know what's next, ciao, my boy!"

Akeno was really confused after hearing the note, more so when she heard the 'son of the dawn' thingy, something in her head was telling her that she had heard that in a book but she just couldn't remember where, "Well, that is strange." She just uttered while resting her head on her palm.

Naruto nodded at that before he started to open the scroll, he realized that the scroll required his blood, so biting his thumb, he placed it on the coat of arms etched in it and it soon opened, "Do you recognize this coat of arms?…" He asked Akeno while showing the first page of the scroll, where a black dragon with golden eyes was being encircled by its long tail. Akeno just shook her head in no, not really knowing which family, clan or group belonged to, so Naruto just shrugged and took a look at it, while commenting, "Whoa, this is amazing! Mineral Bending was the combination of earth and wind chakra, but Metal Manipulation requires the combination of wind, earth and lightning for it…" He continued reading when he suddenly spitted his drink before he said, "Oh shit, boi! It says here that it requires no hand-seals since it can all be called mentally… and I can apparently manipulate all that has metal in it… fam… this is some overpowering shit, baby!"

Akeno just laughed a little at his childish excitement before she stood up and gave him and chaste kiss, she then went back to the stove to check on the food and said, "Well, you better not do anything in there without your dad, you shouldn't be so trusting with strangers."

Naruto nodded before he said, "True, I'm gon show this to Pa after we get our mission today."

Akeno then served two bowls and placed one before the silverette before she sat across him, "Well, let's see how it tastes!" Akeno then claimed happily and with that, the two began their breakfast, with Naruto already excited of this new power he can apparently achieve.

If Naruto were to have paid more attention to his mindscape though, he would've seen that Ddraig was growling angry after he saw through his successor's eyes what he was reading, Kurama on the other hand was actually very afraid, because just like the mighty dragon god, she knew all too well who was the oldest son of the dawn.

* * *

" _Grr…_ Where is Naruto!? Even Kaka-sensei is here already!" A fuming Sakura said angrily after seeing that her extravagant teammate was nowhere in sight. She, alongside Sasuke and Kakashi, where inside the missions office in the Hokage Tower, they were waiting for their last member so they could receive their new mission now that their break was over, but alas, he was nowhere in sight.

That is until the old Sarutobi sensed his surrogate grandson's presence outside the door and said, "Oh, here comes that boy."

They all then turned to look at the door which was violently opened and there, the silverette in question was standing in all his glory, wearing a goofy grin on his handsome face, "O shit waddup!?…" The Uzumaki just walked to stand beside his team before he added, "Wha!? Am I late!?"

They all sighed tiredly but they all had amused smiles on their faces, the silverette had never once stopped making the village interesting, "Yes Naru, you're late!" Sakura then chided while pinching the silverette's elbow.

"Ow… oi!… hey Sakura!… that hurts!…" The silverette complained while trying to get his arm away from his pinkerette friend.

Kakashi chuckled a little before he said, "Alright, now that we are complete, what is our mission, Lord Hokage?"

The Hokage blew some smoke from his pipe while grabbing a paper before he responded, "Your next mission is a B-rank…" At that, Sakura and Naruto stopped their quarrelling and along with Sasuke, peaked their ears intently. Sarutobi seeing that he now had their utmost attention, continued, "You are to escort actress Yukie Fujikaze to the Land of Snow, apparently, they are to film the next 'Princess Gale' movie there, but since the actress is somewhat unwilling to go, the director had requested us for help to appease the girl."

Sakura at that developed stars in her eyes while claiming, "Oh my god! THE Yukie Fujikaze!? I love her and her movies so much, they are so inspiring!"

Sasuke just grunted in indifference, although those who know him well could see that he was excited to have a big mission once again. The silverette for his part, had a mischievous grin on his face while thinking, _'Oooo boooi… she hot!… amma be her hero, fou shou baby…'_

Seeing his genin already pumped up, Kakashi turned his attention back to the Leaf's leader and asked, "Understood sir, where are we to meet with them?"

The Hokage handed the mission scroll to the silver-haired jōnin before he replied, "They are supposed to arrive here in a couple of hours, so I suggest you get ready so you can leave immediately once they arrive."

Team 7 nodded and with that, left the missions office and headed towards the exit of the tower. Once outside, Sakura said, "Hey! The last 'Princess Gale' movie is showing right now in the theatre! Let's go and see it!"

Both Naruto and Sasuke shrugged and the three genin then turned to look at their leader who said, "Alright, go and see it, I'll come looking for you when our clients arrive."

With that, Sasuke and Sakura began to walk away but Naruto stayed behind, prompting the black-haired Uchiha to say, "Dobe, let's go."

Naruto though, replied, "I'll catch up with ya in a sec, I gotta ask Pa something."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded and shrugged before they continued their walk towards the movie theatre, leaving a confused Kakashi to ask, "What is it, son?"

Naruto then grabbed the strange scroll he received this morning and handed it to his father while explaining, "This was left in my doorstep this morning, I don't know who send it, but it apparently contains the next stage of my Magnetic Bloodline!"

Kakashi narrowed his eye at that, finding it awfully suspicious that somebody would hand something like this so easily, more so when it was about a bloodline that is supposed to belong to the Land of Wind. But then after opening the scroll, he was stunned at seeing the knowledge in it, he was sceptic at first when his son told him that there was another 'stage' on Magnetic Release, but seeing the contents written in the scroll, he could tell that it appears that there is another step, and for what the note left to the silverette said, it had another three stages after this one.

"Pa, do you know what that coat of arms means?" Naruto then asked while looking at his father curiously.

Kakashi inspected said coat of arms but to his disappointment, he could not find any resemblance to anything he knew, "No son, I have never seen this symbol anywhere, it seems to belong to an ancient family…" He then looked at the dragon a little more before he finished, "It looks like the coat of arms that westerners use to represent their families."

Naruto nodded, already having the same thought since that strange coat of arms did not resemble anything he has seen here in the Elemental Nations, "Can I learn from it then?" He then asked with puppy eyes, hoping that his father will allow him to learn from the strange scroll.

Kakashi kept quiet for a while, not really knowing what to do because the fact that the knowledge written on the scroll seemed genuine made it even more suspicious, knowledge is power, and someone handing power so easily was never a good sign. After some seconds of silence, the last Hatake said, "I'm going to take it to the Cryptanalysis Team, see what they can figure out, if there's nothing wrong with it, we'll work on it once we get back from Snow, alright?"

Naruto grinned happily before he nodded and took off to catch up with his teammates to go and see the movie. Kakashi just stood there, looking at the note and the scroll that for some reason, made him feel that teaching this to Naruto was both a necessity and a mistake.

* * *

"That was amazing!" A pink-haired Leaf kunoichi claimed to the winds after walking out of the movie theatre. She, with her two male teammates had just finished watching the last 'Princess Gale' film, and she was ecstatic to meet the actress in person.

"Hn." The last loyal Uchiha grunted while leaning on a wall beside the theatre.

"Wasn't that bad…" Naruto then added while sitting just below a big billboard announcing the film they just saw, he wasn't that hyped by the mission since while he did thought that Yukie was incredibly beautiful and hot, something in his gut was telling him that she was going to be too troublesome, "When is our mission starting anyway? It's already been two hours and I'm bored, fools!" He then claimed with irritation.

Sakura then sat by the silverette's side and replied, "Yeah, they should've already be here."

After those words, the ground suddenly started to tremble as if a small earthquake was attacking the village, the three genin felt confused until the noise of horses running and people screaming came from behind the fence Naruto and Sakura were resting on.

The three turned to look behind them when suddenly, a lone horse with a female rider jumped the fence and continued in her fast pace, followed shortly by a big stampede of more horses. The three were a little startled by the situation until they realized that the girl that was being chased was their client, so quickly getting their shit together, Sakura said, "Naruto, you're the fastest so me and Sasuke should distract the pursuers while you go after Yukie." Sakura had made great leaps in her own confidence, to the point where she no longer stowed her suggestions, even if the official second in command was Naruto, he still always relied on both hers and Sasuke's opinions anyway.

Naruto though, seemed to be against it when he groaned lazily, "Ow man! Cooome on! Do I have tooo!?" He was clearly annoyed at the thought of dealing with the actress himself due to the nagging feeling in his draconic heart telling him that Yukie was too troublesome for her own good.

Sasuke then annoyed, lifted his brother up from the ground by pulling him from the collar of his red shirt before he said, "Just shut it and do it Dobe, you wanted to be the fastest, so now suck it up."

Naruto then jumped at the roof while mumbling something about insensitive pinkettes and pricks with hair that resembled the butt of a duck, making Sakura chuckle and Sasuke snort with amusement, "Alright Sakura, let's go." Sasuke then said before he took off to the nearest roof to begin the chase.

Sakura developed a tint pink on her cheeks due to being acknowledged by her crush and immediately took off behind him, all the while sending glances to her crush and beloved silver-haired friend who was jumping on the opposite roof while giving her and Sasuke the finger, making her chuckle at his antics.

The chase went on for some minutes until finally, Sasuke and Sakura managed to henge as the actress and deviate the attention of the pursuers to somewhere else, leaving the real actress to continue her flee to seemingly anywhere but here.

"Why is she still running, yo!?" Naruto muttered while running through the roofs, he cursed when he saw that she was increasing her pace while going inside tight streets, endangering those around her. Seeing his opportunity, he timed his action and at the right moment, he jumped at her horse and landed perfectly behind her, "Oi! Stop ya fool! Ya gon kill someone!" He then screamed while trying to take the reins of the horse from the black-haired actress.

Yukie screamed a little in fright after feeling a body landing right behind her, she turned around and blushed a little when she saw the unworldly handsomeness of the young man who was looking at her like if she was crazy. She shook her head to the sides and after turning to look back at the front, she said while struggling for the reins, "W-Who are you!? Wh-what do y-you want!?"

Naruto gritted his teeth after feeling the girl starting to fight back for the reins before he replied, "I'm part of your escort! Now stop before we run over someone!"

Yukie then screamed back, "No way! I-I'm not going to Snow!" At that, she urged the horse to speed up and then, they started going at greater and more dangerous speeds.

"Fucking hell…" Naruto muttered after feeling the increase in speed. He widened his eyes when he saw a little girl who was playing on the ground right in the middle of their path, seeing that Yukie was also freaking out because she could not stop, he grabbed her waist and using his weight, he pulled himself to the side, forcing the horse to fall on its side as well. Naruto managed to jump a little to avoid being crushed by the animal and then landed painfully on his back while embracing the actress.

Yukie closed just her eyes, not wanting to see the little girl being run over by her horse, but then she had to open them abruptly when she felt the Leaf ninja's arms embracing her and seconds later, the horse fell. She grunted when she and the silverette landed on the ground with her on top of him, making Yukie blush madly when she felt the hot breath of the handsome youth hitting her neck, but still being her stubborn-self, she stood up and while dusting herself up, said, "Are you crazy!?"

Naruto groaned in pain while massaging his back before he looked at the blackette unbelievingly and said, "Me!? You're the one that was about to run over that girl, ya crazy fool!"

Yukie just frowned and huffed before she turned around and said, "Whatever…" She then began to walk away but was stopped by a little mob of kids who surrounded her, all recognised her and were asking for photos and autographs. She got annoyed and said rudely while pushing the kids aside, "Look, I am not Princess Gale, okay?…" The kids were having none of that though, as they were still pushing for an autograph, so already having enough, she screamed, "Enough already! I don't do autographs! What is the use of them anyway? You'll just keep them on a draw and forget about it tomorrow, they're only good for collecting dust, so leave me alone!" The people around just stopped talking and looked baffled at the actress' outburst while she continued to walk away from the scene.

 _'_ _Troublesome…'_ Naruto just thought tiredly after seeing that his gut was right about her being a spoiled brat, but still, she was his charge and he needed to get her to Snow, so getting up, he followed behind the actress and said, "Just stop already, you're not a child as to be acting like one, so let's go and get a move on to the Land of Snow!"

Yukie closed her eyes and balled her fists before she grabbed a tray with fruits from a stand and threw them at the silverette while saying, "Leave me alone!" She then ran with all her life to try and get rid of the handsome youth.

Naruto just allowed the fruit to hit him before he picked it up and placed it back on the tray, he gave it back to the lady who said her thanks for the help and he continued his trek towards the bratty female who was already getting on his nerves. It took a while for him to find her scent again, but after some hours, he finally traced it back to a bar, "You gotta be kidding me…" He muttered tiredly while waking inside the establishment.

There, inside, was Yukie with a bottle of sake which she was drinking from directly, he could already see the small tint on her cheeks and the smell of alcohol in her scent told him that she was close to be drunk, so wanting to get this over with quick, he walked towards her and while leaning on the bar, said, "Had enough of your little game? Come on, everyone's surely waiting for us."

Yukie then turned to look at him and Naruto was surprised to see, not the bratty look he was expecting, but deep in her eyes, he could detect fear, he didn't know why since he thought she was just too arrogant and spoiled that she just didn't wanted to go to Snow, but seeing her eyes now, he could see that she was afraid of Snow, "I said no already! So leave me alone!" She screamed before she took another long sip of her sake.

Naruto was starting to get annoyed, so he said, "Listen _Princess_ , I don't give a fuck how high and mighty you think you are, but you're causing too many problems, so you either tell me what the fuck is going on or amma drag your perfectly shaped ass to Snow right now!"

Yukie felt a little startled by the outburst before she blushed at the compliment on her ass, which she was very proud of, thank you. She shook her head and with a slight trembling in her voice due to the alcohol, said, "Princess? High and mighty!?…" She started to laugh cynically before she added, "I'm nothing but a goddamn liar, pretending to be someone I'm not just to please people I loathe! I am not going to that dump known as the Lan…" She couldn't continue her rambling though, because she went wide-eyed after feeling the silverette pressing his lips against hers.

Naruto was getting really irked by her attitude, so he decided to use his overpowering pheromones to calm the girl down by kissing her, she put up resistance at first, mostly due to the shock, but she soon placed her hands on his coat and gripped on it as if he was her lifeline. The pair kissed for some minutes before the necessity to breathe forced them to pull apart.

Yukie just kept her light blue eyes locked at his dark blue ones and while enjoying the caressing on her cheek by his hand, she understood, she knew that he had saw through her mask, she knew that he saw that she was afraid and that he wanted her to tell him the truth, so not able to contain her emotions anymore, she whispered while tightening her grip on his coat, "I-I'm… I'm s-scared…"

Naruto just sighed tiredly before he held her close to him, he didn't know why she was afraid of going to Snow, but the blue crystal in her neck gave him an idea as to why, since his father once told him a story of how he aided the Princess of Snow to escape the coup that took place some years ago. But for now, he just stayed there with her, allowing her to shiver in his arms until he saw her fit enough to begin their travel, he was hired for a job, and he was going to be dammed if he didn't finished his job.

* * *

"Hey Pa?" The voice of one silver-haired Namikaze said. It has been some hours since he finally managed to convince Yukie to come with him to Snow, under the promise that he was not going to leave her side, he agreed of course but there was still something that was nagging him, so he wanted to ask the only man who could answer his suspicion, his father.

Kakashi heard the voice of his son, prompting him to avert his attention from the sea he was watching while enjoying the breeze the ocean they were traveling on supplied. Seeing the inquisitive look on his battle-maniac son, he ruffled the young ninja's hair affectionately and said, "What is it, son?" Normally he would've reprimand Naruto on making it known that he was his father, but since they were alone on the ship's side deck, he saw no problems with it.

Naruto huffed indignantly at being treated as a kid, although he secretly enjoyed being a little spoiled by his father, but recovering from the annoyance, he replied, "I was wondering, you saw the blue crystal that Yukie had on her neck?"

Kakashi then knew what his son wanted to know, since he too recognized the unique stone as well as the girl, so he replied, "Yes son, I believe that Yukie is actually Princess Koyuki Kazahana."

Naruto widened his eyes a little after hearing his suspicion being confirmed by his father, he scratched his chin and muttered, "That explains the fear…"

Kakashi looked back at the ocean, in the direction where the Land of Snow is, before he said, "Yes, she might be afraid of her uncle, and rightly so."

Naruto tilted his head a little as he asked, "How so?"

Kakashi looked back at him and explained, "Well, because the one that instigated the coup years ago was her uncle. He killed the Princess' father and took control of the country, if he finds out that the legitimate heiress of the throne is back, he will undoubtedly try to kill her."

Naruto nodded at that, finally understanding the situation. He was then brought back from his pondering when his father added, "Go back to her, she might wake up soon and it appears that she only trusts you, so you need to be _close_ to her."

Naruto just nodded and ignored the teasing tone and the knowing look his father was giving him, he walked towards the inside of the ship and soon, headed towards the ship's cabins. After finally arriving at the Princess' personal cabin, he opened the door silently and was surprised to see Yukie, or Koyuki, sitting there on the bed while looking at the blue crystal in a depressed manner.

He walked towards her and sat by her side, making her yelp a little since she didn't realised someone was there with her, but she relaxed when she saw that it was the silverette that somehow managed to make her feel safe and protected, to say nothing of the longing her heart seem to ache for him, so resting her head on his shoulder, she said, "I… I-I can't sleep…" It was around 4 am but she just couldn't close her eyes and for the last thirty minutes, she has been pondering on whether or not sneak into the silverette's room.

Naruto snaked his right arm around her shoulders and rested his head above hers before he replied, "Bad dreams?…" The distressed actress just nodded on his shoulder, prompting him to continue, "I need you to tell me the truth… Koyuki."

Koyuki immediately leaned back with a surprised look on her face, she never fathomed that her true identity was already known, and less so by the man she felt so attracted to, "H-How?…" She whispered weakly while struggling for breath.

Seeing that the blackette was starting to hyperventilate, he placed both of his hands on her shoulders and gently pulled her into his embrace, he kissed her again so she could relax and was glad to see that she had indeed calmed down a bit, "My father, he was the Leaf ninja that saved you years ago when the coup took place…" He said after releasing the kiss. He then gently grabbed her necklace and added as he looked at it, "I recognized the necklace because he used to tell me the story of his mission when I was a kid, I asked him and he confirmed it to me."

Koyuki didn't know why she felt so at peace whenever he kissed her, this was the third time they had kissed and it has successfully calmed her down, and she strangely didn't mind it at all. She shook her head to rid her mind of troubled thoughts before she replied, "My father… he was a kind man… always looking out for me, mom and our people… but his kindness was his own downfall…" She chuckled bitterly while resting her head on his chest before she continued, "He trusted his brother too much and my uncle was an ambitious man, even mother asked my father to be careful around Dotō, my uncle… but… h-he… he d-didn't listened…" She then started sobbing a little but whispered after, "He w-was a-always telling me… that one day… o-one day spring w-will come to Snow… but he was lying… s-spring will never c-come to that cursed place…"

Naruto just sighed tiredly while he caressed the back of the sobbing Princess, he now understands a little as to why she feels this way. She was sore about her father not listening to those around him, telling him how dangerous this Dotō guy was, he knew the story of what happened after, so Naruto didn't needed to hear the details, but this just reminded him of how much of a double edge sword was to extend your trust blindly, hoping that everyone will eventually turn out to be alright. After some minutes, Koyuki finally stopped sobbing and seemed to have calmed down, so Naruto asked, "This Dotō fool, what does he wants from you?"

Koyuki just closed her eyes and while burying her head a little deeper into his chest, she replied, "Probably my necklace, it is supposed to be the key to my family's treasure."

Naruto nodded and immediately started to think on plans to get ahead of the tyrant, Naruto knew that it was foolish to hope that Dotō won't realize that the Princess was back in Snow, add to the fact that Koyuki's manager, Sandayū Asama, seemed to have something planned regarding the return of the Princess, but he couldn't sense any ill intent from the man, in fact, he seemed to honour her as a follower would his Queen, "I'm not letting him touch you, believe it."

Koyuki just chuckled a little after that, finding his words to be extremely childish yet charming and reassuring, she didn't know why she fell so attracted to him, but she found herself more comfortable in his arms than anywhere else, "It's funny… I used to believe that ever since… that incident… all my tears had dried up… I do always require fake ones for my scenes…" She then looked up to see the young man and finished, "But yet, here I am, buried in your arms after crying like I haven't done in years, what's your secret, oh brave knight?"

Naruto just chuckled at her words, finding it amusing as always to see how fast he could woo a lady, although he would admit, it was a little unnerving how easy women seemed to fall for him, and it seems as if his attractiveness increased the older he gets. It unnerved him because he didn't want every female he meets to fall in love with him, but the only thing that Ddraig explained to him was that it was just basic instincts, those, not even Great Red himself could ignore. Since he was getting stronger, his dragon aura was gaining more strength, this in turn was augmenting his attractiveness since it spoke of a male capable of protecting both the mate and their offspring, which in the end, was what all living creatures sought out for.

Shaking his head out of his musing, he kissed her forehead and replied, "I'm just that irresistible, especially to Princesses." He smirked fiercely at her then.

Koyuki chuckled a little before she once again buried her face in his chest and commented, "Yes… it appears so…" She then sighed and added with a shyer attitude this time, "T-This… f-feeling… whatever it is t-that I''m f-feeling for you… is so… co-confusing…"

Naruto just huffed amused before he said, "Don't worry about that, after this is all over, you and I need to have a long talk."

Koyuki felt a little confused at his words, so tilting her head to the side a little while looking at him, she said after a small yawn, "A-About what?"

Naruto laughed before he kissed her forehead lovingly again and said, "We'll talk about it later, for now…" He let himself fall on the bed and dragged her with him, "Let's just sleep." He finished.

Koyuki chuckled and said with mock indignation, "How daring, forcing a defenceless maiden to sleep with you."

"You want me to go?" The silverette then said with a mock hurt tone.

Koyuki instead of answering right away, brought the covers of the bed and covered them both with them, she then cuddled in his strong grip before she said, "What do you think?"

Naruto just chuckled and closed his eyes while hugging the black-haired Princess, he was about to go to sleep but whispered something to the almost asleep Koyuki, "I will bring your spring Koyu, I promise."

Koyuki managed to hear him before sleep claimed her and thus, a small content smile graced her beautiful face as she drifted into blissful silence, feeling a wave of security wash over her by being inside the silverette's arms and for some strange reason, a feeling that he might actually show her the spring she so longed for.

* * *

"Is this really a good idea?" A baffled Sakura asked the director while looking at Yukie acting some fight scenes while standing on a giant iceberg. Apparently, the director of the film saw it as a perfect opportunity to film a fantastic fight scene while taking advantage of the breath-taking yet dangerous natural terrain, and she, like the rest of her team, thought of this as a stupid idea.

The director just kept his eyes on the scene while replying, "Of course! This is what filmmaking's all about! Sure, special effects are fantastic, but real world scenarios like these are just astonishing! A respectable director like myself, just cannot pass up this opportunity!"

Team 7 just sighed in unison and just opted to stay there on guard in case the giant iceberg breaks, but to their surprise, it was not the iceberg the one that caused a problem, it was actually a group of three armoured figures who suddenly appeared in the middle of the scene, interrupting it when a man with purple hair tied in a long pony tail, a mask similar to that of Tobirama Senju but with snow balls etched on the metal plate, his eyebrows where shaped in a strange manner, almost like dots, he was wearing a strange light grey suit with blue stripes while a metal plate was placed on his right shoulder, many tubes with strange liquid were connected to the strange device, "Ah, Princess Koyuki…" The man said with an arrogant voice while looking at the scared Koyuki. The people around her then gasped after hearing the strange man calling her 'Princess Koyuki', a Princess that was supposed to be dead, "It is good to see you back home, now come, your uncle is eagerly waiting for your arrival." The man then added while extending his hand to Koyuki, who was holding her prop sword while shaking a little.

Koyuki was really afraid now after seeing the three ninjas that tried to kill her the day the coup took place some years ago, this was exactly why she didn't wanted to come back, she knew they would know that she was back in Snow the moment she stepped on the land. She almost instinctively turned to look at Naruto and for a moment there, she panicked when she could not see him anywhere, only then she realized that he was already in front of her, standing between her and the Snow-nin while saying, "Sorry Bean Eyebrows, but Yukie ain't going nowhere, ya feel me?" He sent Koyuki a fierce smirk that made her heart skip some beats.

The man twitched his eyebrow at the nickname but before he could say anything back, a recognizable voice said from behind the silverette ninja protecting Koyuki, "Ah, Nadare Rōga, it's been a long time since I last saw you." A tall silver-haired man said while walking in front of Naruto, he was sending the Snow-nin an eye-smile that he remembered all too well.

The now identified Nadare smirked at seeing the toughest opponent he has ever faced and said with arrogance, "Ah, Kakashi Hatake, how fortunate to see you here, I've been waiting for some time now to return the little… memento… you left me."

Kakashi just continued his friendly tone when he replied, "Ah, how endearing of you, to remember little old me with such love…" He then turned back at his son and was glad to see that both Sakura and Sasuke where already at his sides, with their fighting stances ready at his command, "Naruto, make a clone and take the Princess back to the ship, we're gonna have to fight them off."

Naruto nodded and mentally created two clones, with one of them carrying Koyuki bridal style while the other covered their backs, "Don't worry Koyu, you ain't going anywhere far from me, aight?" The clone said to the distressed Snow Princess, who smiled at him and nodded while clinging herself harder to him.

"Come on already! Let's start kicking each other's butts!" Naruto said excitedly while jumping a little, feeling already eager to fight against some strong looking opponents.

Kakashi just chuckled, Sakura laughed a little and Sasuke just smirked, all sharing the silverette's sentiment. Nadare seeing this, just smirked arrogantly before he turned towards his two companions and said, "Fubuki, Mizore, you two choose whoever you want but Kakashi…" He then turned to the silver-haired jōnin in question and smirked while saying, "He's mine."

Kakashi smirked behind his mask but said to his genin, "Naruto, Sasuke, the big guy is your opponent, he's really strong so it will take the two of you to take him down…" He then turned to his lone female student and added, "Sakura, you take your fellow pinkette…" Sakura did seemed a little nervous at being left alone with an opponent, but Kakashi quickly reassured her, "You're strong Sakura, don't doubt yourself or you'll lose, I know you can do this."

Sakura looked at her sensei and her teammates and felt a wave of confidence wash over her when she saw that they all genuinely believed in her new self, so not wanting to disappoint them, she lit the fire in her heart and said confidently, "I'll deal with her, Kaka-sensei."

They all then suddenly had to jump because a dragon made of ice suddenly hit where they were standing, separating and sending them to different positions where their selected opponents were eagerly waiting for them.

* * *

"Pathetic, sending a stupid girl to fight me." Fubuki sneered while arrogantly smirking at the pinkerette in front of her. Fubuki was a fit woman with short pink hair that was covered by a grey helmet that only let some spikes of her hair out, reminiscing of pigtails, she had green eyes like Sakura and had the same bean shaped eyebrows that Nadare has, as well as a similar armour to that of her purple-haired leader.

Sakura just smirked while readying her stance before she sneered back, " _Huff,_ I might be a girl yes, but I can kick your ass well."

Fubuki just smirked even wider before she suddenly jumped and as a set mechanical wings sprung from her back, she said, "We'll see, you little bitch!" At those words, she crossed her arms and then swung them apart while sending a considerable amount of needles that seemingly formed out of nowhere.

 _'_ _Ice?…'_ Sakura thought while seeing the ice needles coming her way, she was able to recognize them due to her past encounter with Haku, a fight that till this day makes her blood boil at how weak she was. But steeling her resolve, she remembered that she was no longer her old weak self and with impressive skill, she made some hand-seals and said after stomping her hands on the ground, "Water Style: Serpent Current!" At her words, the ice below her suddenly melted and a thick torrent of water was released from the frozen ground. The strange torrent sprung violently in front of her and quickly caught the needles, but surprising the Snow-nin, the torrent then appeared to move by itself when it surrounded the pink-haired Leaf-nin and after taking a 'U' turn, the torrent aimed its tip at her flying form and redirected the needles back at her, with even more speed.

Fubuki cursed a little because her own surprise made her avoid the attack somewhat late, with some of her own needles managing to embed themselves in her left wing. Cursing, the flying ninja brought her short sword out and suddenly glided towards her fellow pinkerette, "You bitch!" She said while trying to cut the younger girl's throat.

Sakura avoided the strike when she swiftly side-stepped the trajectory of her flying enemy. Quickly then, after rolling aside, she moved her hands and directed the torrent of water that was still around her towards the other girl. The torrent then followed the flying pinkette, threatening to hit her with extreme force.

Fubuki wasn't a weakling though, and she quickly put away her wings and let her body fell to the cold ground, successfully avoiding the dangerous water. She then quickly stood up and after making some hand-seals of her own, she said, "Ice Release: Winter Prison!" She clashed her hands against the ground and three big pillars made of ice suddenly sprung from the iceberg, flying at dangerous speeds towards the younger kunoichi.

"Damn." Sakura just cursed while seeing the pillars heading her way, she knew that her water style techniques will not help her stop those damned pillars and since there was no earth around her, her earth style was of no use as well. Fortunately for her, she hadn't been slacking off on her agility training, so in an impressive show of skill, she started to avoid the pillars in an acrobatic manner, all the while reaching for her pouch that kept some kunai with paper bombs attached to them.

Fubuki just gritted her teeth in annoyance while seeing the girl avoiding one of her strongest attacks, sure, the other pinkette was having trouble, but she was still evading her attack and that hurt her pride bad. It was said pride that made her lose focus due to her own anger and almost missed the three flying kunai sent her way. Fubuki managed to recover at the very last moment and swiftly avoided the pointy weapons, but her jumping away meant that she had to cancel her attack and so the pillars fell to the ground lifelessly.

Fubuki then landed some steps away from her last location and was about to say something but the sound of paper burning suddenly caught her attention towards her side, where the kunai imbedded themselves. She then realized too late that there were paper bombs attached to them and once again was forced to jump as far away as possible.

Fubuki couldn't avoid the shockwave of the explosion though and said gust of air sent her painfully to the ground where she landed on her back. She recovered quickly and almost in a second returned to her fighting stance, only to realize that the pink-haired Leaf-nin, was nowhere in sight.

"You. Little. Bitch." Fubuki just said with barely restrained anger while gritting her teeth to the point of almost breaking them. She just stood there while looking at the distancing ship where surely, the pink-haired little bitch was along with her team, already away from them.

* * *

"I'm going to crush you, worms!" A rough voice belonging to Mizore claimed while looking at both Naruto and Sasuke who were crouching before him. He's a large man with a short crop of purple hair and dark eyes with equally bean-shaped eyebrows as the rest of his team, he was wearing what it seemed to be the standard uniform of his team which consisted of the strange armour, although, this one had the strange circular device placed on the belly area of the armour. He then, out of nowhere, took out a snowboard and quickly boarded it, making his way towards the two Leaf genin in haste.

"Oh… that's cool, man…" Naruto muttered while looking at the cool snowboard, he wanted one for sure.

"Focus, Dobe." His annoyed brother then said before he jumped out of the large man's trajectory, action mimicked by his silver-haired brother.

"Oi! Gorilla Man! Where you get that snowboard, boi? That shit's lit!" Naruto screamed at Mizore. One would think that the genin was just taunting, but Sasuke who knew him better than anyone, knew that he was genuinely interested in getting a snowboard.

"Gorilla Man!?…" Mizore muttered while looking at the silverette with untold amounts of hate, "I'll squash you, bug!" He then screamed before he motioned his arm as to punch the silverette, who much to his surprise, had to dodge because his metal arm could apparently separate from him as if it were a kunai, a very big and strong kunai.

"Oh shit…" Naruto just muttered while rolling aside to avoid the hit, which he was glad he avoided since the moment the giant fist touched the ground, a big crater was formed due to the immense strength behind it, "Oi Sasuke! You do not wanna get hit by that, aight?" He added with a straight face.

Sasuke just sighed tiredly at his brother's antics, already used to them at this point, "Let's fight already…" He said before he draw some shuriken from his pouch. He then ran around for a bit and after infusing the pointy weapons with lightning chakra, he toss them at the big man and made some hand-seals while saying, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" What originally was a barrage of 5 shuriken, turned into a barrage of 15.

"That's not enough, you pest!" Mizore screamed while stepping onto the ground with huge force, forcing a huge block of ice to sprout from the ground of the iceberg, successfully creating a shield for him to stop the shocking shuriken.

Mizore didn't noticed though, that the attack was just a ruse to allow the silverette to move behind, where once Naruto positioned himself behind Mizore, he screamed, "Get fire on this mudafaka!" He breathed in heavily and soon after, blew a huge fireball at the distracted Snow-nin.

Mizore turned to look at the source of the sudden heat and then cursed when he saw the huge barrage of fire making its way to him. Seeing that he didn't had enough time to create another barrier, he aimed his mechanical arm towards a cliff nearby and once it embedded itself onto the ice, he pulled the cable to propel himself out of harm's way, just in time to avoid the huge explosion, _'Damn… these brats are no joke…'_ Mizore thought as he stared as the inferno that ensued the silverette's attack.

The large man was about to counterattack, but suddenly had to jump from his position again because his senses warned him of danger, danger he saw came from the black-haired genin who now had his right arm buried in the ground he stood just moments ago, with lightning sparks flowing out of it, _'Damn… that was 'Chidori'… these kids are definitely no joke…'_ He thought as he landed on the ground once again.

"You kids are definitely entertaining, more so than I thought you would…" Mizore started saying before he stood up fully and added with an arrogant smirk plastered on his ugly face, "But all your attacks are made of chakra and my armour is chakra's worst enemy!" He then jumped and aimed his large fist at the blackette who had his arm still stuck in the ground.

But just as Mizore's mechanical fist was about to connect, he was sent flying to the side after he received a hard kick on his left side, courtesy of a flying silver-haired ninja who had no intention of letting him harm his brother, "Seriously Teme, you need to work on this setback of yours." Naruto said to Sasuke while helping him free his arm.

Sasuke just snorted but relented when he said, "Yeah, won't deny that…" He then saw a little flicker of light at the distance and turned to look at his brother who saw it too before he said, "That's our cue then, you go, I'll distract him."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at those words, clearly not so at ease with that, "Ya sure? We can do it together, ya know?"

Sasuke just blew a fireball to the sky, making it darken and roar, before he looked back at his brother and with a smirk, said, "I know, but I'm blowing this place up and I doubt you wanna be here for that."

Naruto just chuckled and said, "Hell no." With that, the silver-haired Uzumaki seized that Mizore was still trapped under some ice due to his crash and leapt off towards the ship carrying the rest of his team and crew, not before taking Mizore's snowboard of course, leaving Sasuke to do as he pleased.

Mizore finally got rid of all the rubble on top of him and after an angry roar, he saw that the black-haired genin was looking at him with a bored look, but he was the only there, the other genin, the silver-haired one, was nowhere in sight, "Arg! I'm going to smash you until you're nothing more than a stain on the ground!" He screamed while charging at the blackette, he saw that he had lightning on his right hand but Mizore thought it was just another Chidori, something his armour could easily deflect.

Big mistake.

Sasuke just aimed his right hand at the sky and after an almost divine roar from the thunders above, he claimed, "Kirin!" At those words, a huge bolt of natural lightning came roaring down towards the iceberg. The bolt was huge, it had the length of a small sized house, and there, Mizore knew he fucked up.

"Shit…" Was all the purple-haired Snow-nin could utter seconds before the bolt touched the ground, immediately creating a huge explosion that shook the whole iceberg down, creating cracks that soon started to crumble while the iceberg was starting to fall apart from the bolt, sinking into the deep frozen waters.

"Time to go." Sasuke just muttered before he quickly made his way back towards his team, with a smug smirk of satisfaction after seeing how truly strong his new move was, an unfinished move at that.

* * *

"I have to admit, I never expected to see you again, Kakashi…" Nadare said while preparing his fighting stance. He was carrying a nasty excited smirk on his smug face with a murderous glint in his eyes, "This time you won't have anywhere to escape, I do have to pay you back for some years ago."

Kakashi was standing some steps away from the purple-haired Snow-nin, he had a calm exterior but his muscles were tense and ready to sprang into action at a moment's notice. The silver-haired jōnin just eye-smiled at the Snow-nin and replied amicably, "Ah, it warms my heart to see you remembering me so fondly Nadare, it was a shame that I had to leave our confrontation some years back so suddenly, but well, you know, I had a Princess to protect."

Nadare just snorted before he mocked, "So you say, but I know the truth, you were afraid to face us."

The Hatake in turn just chuckled while replying, "You say that, yet, I still buried a kunai in your right butt cheek, leaving a pretty nasty scar I presume."

That did it for the purple-haired baddie, the last taunt from the silver-haired Leaf jōnin was enough to rile him up and soon after, Nadare jumped at the copy ninja with kunai in hand, "I'm going to return that scar!" The Snow-nin said between gritted teeth while trying to push the Hatake out of balance.

Kakashi just sent him another one of those insulting eye smiles and in a quick move, the silver-haired man infused his kunai with lightning, sending sparks straight at Nadare who managed to jump and avoid the dangerous bolts.

Kakashi didn't allow him time to breathe though, as he quickly ran towards the purple-haired ninja and after some hand-seals, he said, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" After his claim, Kakashi placed his right hand in front of his covered mouth and after breathing in, he released a powerful ball of fire that managed to melt the frozen ground they were standing on a little.

Nadare cursed but he was no pushover, so quickly calling on his ice manipulation, he aimed his palms to the ground and soon later, a pillar of ice sprouted from the ground, lifting him up and safely taking him out of the fireball's trajectory, "You'll have to do better than that, Copy Ninja!…" Nadare screamed while jumping away from the pillar. He then made some hand-seals of his own and claimed after, "Ice Torment!" At his words, many spikes of ice started to emerge from the ground and the wall at their side, aiming their dangerous pointy ends towards the surprised Leaf elite jōnin.

"Damn… Naruto would've been a better fit in this fight than me…" Kakashi muttered while dodging the deadly spikes. Since his son was a natural fire user, he was the worst enemy an ice user could ever come across with, but he did not remembered Nadare and his techniques very well, so he was now chiding himself for maybe making the wrong choice in opponents.

As he was flying in the air, Kakashi made some hand-seals with almost unnoticeable speed and said, "Lightning Style: Lightning Pulse!…" He then opened his arms to the sides and a wave of electricity was released from all over his body, destroying all the deadly spikes in the process, "You're not the only one with new tricks, Nadare." He said after landing on the ground once again.

"So I see…" Nadare said back while crouching as if ready to pounce on the silver ninja, an action he took when he suddenly jumped and entered in another taijutsu fight with the copy ninja.

The two seasoned warriors danced around in dangerous pace while interchanging punches and kunai slashes, no real damage has been done but one could see that Nadare Rōga was the one with the disadvantage since he was starting to get sloppy, so realising this, Nadare jumped back and said, "You're as good in taijutsu as I remember, Kakashi…" His strange circular device on his left shoulder then glowed a little and Nadare laughed haughtily while saying, "But this chakra armour does not only protects me from chakra enhanced attacks or techniques, it also allows me to store that chakra and I can use it for myself!" Nadare then clashed his hands together and the ground beneath them started to crack, with the crack heading quickly at Kakashi who cursed under his breath.

The Hatake just jumped back at the very last moment and managed to avoid a fall to his death due to the ground where he once stood being destroyed by the powerful burst of chakra from Nadare.

"Hahaha!… you cannot escape me, Kakashi!… I am invincible!…" Nadare said before he made more hand-seals and claimed, "Ice Style: Twin Dragons!" At his words, two huge dragons made of ice sprang from behind him, heading straight at the Hatake who did not had much room to move around.

A normal shinobi would've start to sweat in this kind of situation, being cornered by a powerful technique with no room to manoeuvre, but Kakashi wasn't a normal shinobi, he was one of the elite in the shinobi world and all he saw when the ice dragons made their way towards him, was a bridge leading him straight to Nadare.

Kakashi waited for the right moment were the dragons make contact with the ground, it was until they were at arm's reach that he used one if his wind techniques wordlessly and jumped high to avoid the dragons which as expected, clashed against the ground. Kakashi then quickly landed on top of one and without wasting any time, he ran towards Nadare who could not see what was going on due to the smoke from the crash, but once Nadare saw Kakashi, it was already too late.

"Chidori!" The Hatake claimed after he appeared from the smoke, he was some metres away from Nadare and there was no way for him to escape. Still, Kakashi knew that that cursed armour of his was capable of saving him from his Chidori, so he charged enough lightning in his attack to destroy it.

"Wha…" Nadare was saying with wide eyes and a surprised scream that then turned into a pained one when the Chidori was planted on his left shoulder. Nadare could hear his device being overcharged and soon after, it exploded, sending him painfully towards the wall at their side, crashing.

"No time to waste." Kakashi muttered as he saw this as the perfect opportunity to get out of here, so jumping out of the cliff he was fighting, he quickly made a run towards the ship where the Princess and her entourage were in.

"Start the ship, now!" He screamed as he jumped inside the big ship.

Koyuki then came running and screamed, "W-What!? N-Naruto! What a-about him and h-his team!?"

Kakashi would have teased the girl for the clear signs of protectiveness and worry over his son, but seeing that it was not a good time, he answered, "Don't worry…" He then shot a ball of fire at the air and added, "They're coming."

* * *

"Alright Mr Sandayū, Mrs Fujikaze, care to come clean now?" Kakashi Hatake said once the actress, her manager, the director, his assistant and Team 7, have all gathered inside the dinner room. He already knew what was going on but he needed to hear Sandayū's reasons first.

Yukie just kept her frown and crossed her arms without uttering a word, prompting Sandayū to sigh tiredly before he explained, "T-There is no point in hiding it anymore then, I'm sorry P-Princess…" He looked towards the Princess who didn't even spared him a look, prompting him to look back at the ninja and say, "Yukie's real name is… K-Koyuki Kazahana."

The director and his assistant didn't know what was going on or why it mattered since it was normal for actors to use fake names in order to have some privacy, Naruto and Kakashi didn't react because they already knew, Sasuke was as stoic as ever although he had an excited glint in his eyes that told of his eagerness for an even stronger challenge, it was Sakura the one that gasped and said, "Koyuki Kazahana!?… y-you mean… t-the Princess of the Land of Snow!?"

That got excited reactions from the director, probably thinking it fantastic for his film, but Sandayū said with regret, "Y-Yes, that's her, the P-Princess had to change her name after Mr Hatake here rescued her from the coup some years ago…" He looked at the uncaring girl and continued, "I stayed by her side to watch over her since my family has always served the Kazahana family."

"If she's the Princess of a land currently occupied by a traitor, why bring her here then?" Sasuke then said, in a strange moment of uncharacteristic inquisitiveness, even Naruto looked flabbergasted at that, annoying Sasuke to no end.

"B-Because!…" Sandayū said before he turned to look at Koyuki and continued, "D-Dotō is nothing but a tyrant! He's been driving our country to t-the brink of bankruptcy! We are all tired of his rule, we want change, we want the rightful ruler to come back…" He then shed some tears and finished, "The P-Princess, she is our last hope, the only thing that drives us, the resistance, forward towards our cause, if the people were to see our righteous ruler again in Snow, you don't know how much hope that would bring to our hearts."

Everyone understood that, morale was usually the most important thing in a fight and seeing your leader standing right there beside you, always creates untameable courage. But Koyuki didn't seemed so moved by her manager's speech, in fact, she was laughing cynically, " _Pfft…_ Righteous? Rightful ruler? Please Sandayū, spare me the sob story, I don't care about Snow at all, there's nothing there for me, so why should I care about that frozen cemetery?"

Everyone was stunned at her cruel words, no one, save for Naruto and Kakashi, expected her to spoke so badly about her own country, "P-Princess…" Sandayū just whispered sadly while looking at the blackette royalty with stunned eyes.

Koyuki slammed her hands on the table and said, "Shut up! Stop calling me 'Princess'! This is not my home, this is not my fight! If you're fighting for my family, then I'm sorry to tell you that you're fighting for nothing but lies!"

"Koyuki!" A commanding voice then shouted, stopping the girl from continuing her rambling.

Koyuki then looked at the man that she was apparently enamoured with and for the first time in years, she actually felt like trash. He was looking at her with such disappointed eyes that it made it hard for her to stay in the room anymore, so she ran away towards her room, all the while hiding her disappointment in herself.

Naruto just sighed tiredly before he said to his father, "I'll deal with her, but for the record, I think we should help these people, we already freed one country…" He then walked towards the exit but turned to look at them before he left and said with a fierce smirk, "Why not two?"

Team 7 just chuckled at his words, but they too felt the same way, so Kakashi claimed, "Don't worry Sandayū, we are going to help you out with this, with Koyuki's help or not."

Sandayū just nodded gratefully while allowing his tears to fall from his wrinkled face, feeling hopeful for the first time in god knows how long.

"Yes! Get everything ready, my boy! This is going to be the greatest 'Princess Gale' film of all time!" Makino, the film's director, said to his assistant who nodded eagerly, both very excited.

Team 7 and Sandayū just chuckled a little, with the ninja feeling confident but still knowing that things were not going to be easy, they already went through a similar situation before, back in Wave Country, and it took a lot to get out of it alive.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya have it! Hope you enjoyed it, cheers!**


	17. Spring Is Coming (Part 2)

**A/N: Oi, wazzup! We're back bitches, now as usual, lemme say some stuff.**

 **This chapter contains the corniest shit I have ever written in my young life, the thing is, NarutoxKoyuki is apparently my gf's favourite pairing, so, she held our sex life hostage, demanding that I made this chapter fluffy enough for her, I hope I didn't took it too far since I think it actually fits well to Naruto and Koyuki's relationship in this story, but sorry if the fluffiness bothers you, I was just not willing to pay the price of not doing this way.**

 **I think that's it for now, so let's get to it.**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **Spring Is Coming (Part 2)**

"M-Mr Hatake!…" A distressed voice said to the team of ninja currently enjoying a break from the mission. The voice belonged to a panting Sandayū Asama, the bespectacled man came running and was clearly distressed about something, "T-The Princess!… s-she… _uff_ … she's g-gone!"

At those words, the members of Team 7 groaned loudly, feeling already somewhat tired of the black-haired actress' charades, but still, she was their charge and they had a mission to complete, "Alright Mr Asama, we'll deal with this…" The silver-haired leader of Team 7 then replied before he turned to look at his son, who was sitting on the snow while eating some meat, "Naruto?" The Hatake said with an eye smile.

Said silver-haired Uzumaki just sighed tiredly as he finished his meat with one bite, he then stood up and dusted himself up while saying, "I fucking hate y'all."

They all chuckled a little with Sasuke teasing, "She's your girlfriend Dobe, you need to take care of her."

Naruto just flipped the bird at his brother before he turned around and jumped to the nearest tree, heading straight towards the last place where he saw Koyuki, _'Dammit Koyu what are you doing?…'_

* * *

A black-haired female could be currently seen running through the snowy woods of the Land of Snow, she was panting hard and was heading towards seemingly nowhere, _'I-I'm sorry Naruto… I… I c-can't do this…'_ Koyuki thought while drying her tears with her sleeve. She would laugh at how much she was crying nowadays, if she weren't trying to escape her home country, leaving and disappointing the man she longed for behind.

"Ow!" The Kazahana princess then cried out in pain after twisting her ankle on a hole in the ground she had apparently missed, forcing her to fall face first on the snow covered ground.

"Had enough?" A voice Koyuki recognised then said from behind her. She knew well who it belonged and due to the shame her own attitude was bringing to her, she did not wanted to look up and face him.

Naruto just sighed after seeing that Koyuki did not wanted to look up to him, so walking towards the downed girl, he snaked his arm below the blackette's waist and lifted her up from the ground, placing the yelping female on his lap, "Let me see your foot." He said right next to her ear, making Koyuki blush madly.

"W-Why do you always come f-for me?" The black-haired Princess questioned while watching the silverette examining her foot. Koyuki was really conflicted with herself right now because she wanted to run far away from Snow, but she did not wanted to get out of her Naruto's strong grip, she felt protected, she felt secure, she felt at home inside these arms.

Naruto just sighed tiredly before he replied, "I promised ya, didn't I? I told ya that I was not going to leave you alone, I'm a man of my word Koyu and more when it comes to those I care for." He started to massage the girl's hurt ankle while resting his chin on her shoulder.

Koyuki didn't know whether to cry of happiness or regret, hearing the silverette say those words made her heart almost stop completely, she didn't know why she was feeling such a strong attachment to a man she just met five days ago, but in just those five days, he had made her cry, he had made her smile, he had made her sleep without nightmares, he had made her dream again, she didn't know why, but she didn't cared, "Y-You shouldn't… I… I-I don't d-deserve someone like you…" Still, she couldn't help but feel sad at knowing that she just kept disappointing him over and over again, she didn't wanted to let go of him, but he deserved better, that's why she said that with her gaze casted down while trying hard not to break down, gathering her strength for when he decided to leave her for good.

The Namikaze jinchūriki just sighed at that and after finishing his massage on her ankle, he gently grabbed the face of Koyuki and brought the surprised Princess' lips straight to his, kissing her with such passion that he was sure the snow below them was melting, just like Koyuki's resolve to leave him melted in his arms and kiss, "It's not about whether we deserve each other or not, it's about what we want and I want you, just like you want me, that's why we'll see through this till the very end, and I will be by your side every minute of it." He declared after breaking their kiss and as he caressed her blushed cheek tenderly while smiling warmly at her.

Koyuki couldn't help but feel completely overwhelmed by her feelings for the silverette, she has had past relationships and was not new to this things, but no one, ever, had made her feel complete, at home, safe, like this young man was making her feel. Those deep blue eyes with that divine golden slit delivered such security to her heart that she couldn't stop her lips from crashing on his again, to once more feel connected to the man she had apparently, fallen in love with.

 ** _"You do know that this is going to make it difficult for you once you tell her the truth, right?"_** The haughty voice of the Nine Tailed Fox then commented inside his mind. The beautiful red-headed woman was obviously jealous about him kissing the girl, but Naruto has not said a thing about it though, because he wanted her to come forth with her feelings on her own.

Naruto just continued kissing Koyuki while he mentally replied, _"Yes, but I'll have to deal with it once we get there…"_ He knew that he had made the mistake of taking it too far before telling Koyuki the truth, so he knew that Koyuki will most likely feel betrayed once he tells her of his ambition and his plan, he just hoped that Koyuki could see that he genuinely cares and was falling in love with her as well, just as much as he loved his other women.

"Let's go then." The silver-haired Uzumaki then said after ending the passionate kiss.

Koyuki just smiled at him warmly before she replied, "Yes, my knight." She hoped on his back and Naruto began their trek back towards their entourage.

After some minutes of walking through the woods, Naruto finally managed to find the rails that he knew where beside the road the rest of his team and Koyuki's entourage were traveling on, so heading towards them, he walked inside the tunnel and started to go towards his team, with the Princess tightly embracing him from behind.

Everything was quiet for some moments, that is until a loud sound was heard from behind them. The sound was trumpet-like and the rails below the silverette were starting to shake, as if something big was traveling on them, "O shit, don't tell me that's a…" He muttered before Koyuki confirmed it for him.

"Train!" The blackette screamed while clinging herself harder to the silverette who started running at insane speeds, speeds that while being incredibly fast, were not enough to outrun the machine behind them, "N-Naruto!?" Koyuki screamed while burying her face on his shoulder.

"What!?" Naruto replied while applying more chakra to his feet so he could run faster, he knew he could call on his divine essence to get out of this, but Koyuki was on her back and she was not mated to him, so his divine energy was still corrosive for her.

"I… if w-we don't m-make it!… I-I just wa-want you to know that… I… I h-hate you!…" Koyuki screamed while closing her eyes tightly. Naruto felt confused by her words but she then finished her declaration, "I h-hate you because… I t-think I love y-you!"

 _'That's gotta be the weirdest confession of love I have ever heard in my young life…'_ Naruto thought while chuckling a little at her weird confession, it was weird yes, but it was sweet as well.

 ** _"Women."_** The ever helpful voice of the mighty Red Dragon Emperor supplied his divine insight on the subject, always showing his delight at choosing such an amusing lad as his successor.

Naruto just chuckled at that and made the fastest run he has ever done, noticing that the train was almost on Koyuki's butt, a butt he's not going to allow anyone but him to touch it. His strange and perverted motivation seemed to have worked though, because just as the train was about to hit them, the silverette had already reached the exit of the tunnel and quickly jumped at the side of the rails, landing face first on the snow to avoid any harm to Koyuki.

Koyuki just kept her eyes close, she didn't wanted to see how they will die, the only thing that mattered was that she at least died alongside her love, so imagine her surprise when she felt the snow hitting her forehead and heard the silverette in question chuckling. Opening her eyes to see why the silverette was laughing, she was surprised to see that they were actually in the snow, already out of the tunnel with the train stopping some metres away from them, "N-Naruto?… Naru!…" She whispered first before she screamed with joy, getting herself out of his back and quickly flipping him over to kiss him once again with all her life, he just won't stop surprising her.

Naruto just chuckled and happily accepted the kiss while hugging the excited Princess by her waist. But just as things were about to get hot, a haughty laugh was heard coming from the train and soon after, the sound of someone's voice reverberated throughout the whole place.

* * *

"What the hell is that!?" The film's director said while watching the strange train that had just stopped some metres away from them. Sure, they all knew what a train was and how advanced the Land of Snow was in terms of technology, but this machine seemed more like a bunker with metal wheels, the machine had such thick armour that it seemed almost impossible to move, it had four wagons and an overall ominous look.

"You need to get out here! Make sure they don't follow you!" Sandayū then screamed as he was making his way towards a cliff beside them, with his hand placed on his sheathed sword and sweating for some reason.

"What are you doing!?" Sakura questioned while looking completely confused, but not once taking her eyes away from the machine some distance away from them.

"Sakura, forget about him for now, we've got bigger problems." Kakashi ordered as he was watching a large man appearing from the front wagon of the train. The man had a white robe and had a smug smile on his face that made Kakashi lose his cool for a second.

"It's been a long time, Koyuki." The robed man then said while speaking through the train's megaphone, making his voice reverberate throughout the whole place.

Koyuki at that familiar voice stopped kissing the silverette and turned to look at the train that was just chasing them some seconds ago, and once she saw who spoke, she instinctively tightened her grip on Naruto's coat and said with fright, "I-I knew it… it's… i-it's Dotō…"

The silver-haired Namikaze heard that and turned to look at the train, where he saw the man that Koyuki was so afraid of, "It's been ten years now, come my dear niece, let's get a look at that beautiful face." Dotō then added while widening his smug smirk, causing Naruto to almost lose control of himself and lunge at the arrogant fool without a care, had it not been for Kurama chiding him for thinking recklessly.

Koyuki just stayed there in the ground, looking straight at her uncle with clear fear in her eyes. That is until she felt the body below her move and soon later, her beloved silver-haired knight was standing fearlessly between her and her uncle, "Naru…" She whispered while a small smile adorned her fine face.

Dotō did lost his smirk when he saw the young ninja standing without a trace of fear in his eyes, something that he hated to admit, made him nervous, the traitor was about to say something more but had to turn to his side when a loud sound was heard. Said sound turned out to be a large barrage of tree trunks that were falling rapidly from the hill just beside the rails. Normally, Dotō would've feel threatened by the sight, but he trusted his engineers and as it turned out, his trust was well rewarded because the train barely moved an inch after receiving the hit from the trunks, as if it had been nothing more than a mere gush of wind.

Naruto and Koyuki turned to look at the top of the hill, where at least 80 men were standing at the top, with determined faces and led by none other than Sandayū who screamed, "There you have it men! Our beloved Princess Koyuki is here to watch over us!"

"What are these fools doing?…" Naruto muttered while gritting his teeth in frustration, something in his draconic gut was telling him that something bad was about to happen, a sentiment that Koyuki seem to share with him, because she stood up and placed herself behind the silverette, gripping his coat tightly as to not let go of him.

Sandayū just looked at his Princess and among the cheers of his fellow countrymen, he roared, "Let's go men! Let's free our country for our Princess!" At those words, the gathered resistance warriors roared in unison and began their descent from the hill, unsheathing their weapons and with an untameable fire lit in their eyes.

"Idiots." Naruto just muttered while going through everything he could do to help them, but there just wasn't a thing he could do in time.

Dotō just smirked back at seeing the charge coming their way, he just stared at the rebels and said to his subordinate, who turned out to be none other than Nadare wearing a new chakra armour but the evidence of his fight with Kakashi was still clear due to the charred skin that could be seen at the left underside of his face, "Let's test our little toy, Nadare."

After those words, the previously armoured windows on the right side of the train suddenly lifted and Naruto, to his horror, could see hundreds of kunai launchers placed there instead of seats or windows. The silverette then just watched helplessly how the train shot an incredible amount of kunai flying straight at the unprotected soldiers, who didn't seemed to care for their fated demise.

At least, that's what the silverette had thought, but life seemed to have another plan because just before the kunai got close to the rebels, two voices said in unison at the distance, "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" The voices were revealed to belong to Sakura and Kakashi, with the latter managing to send a silent command to Sakura just before the kunai were launched, successfully creating a huge wall of mud that somehow managed to stop the thousands of sharp weapons shot at them.

Dotō saw that and immediately felt that things were not going to go his way, so almost unnoticed, he went back inside the train and disappeared somehow. Just in time as it turns out, because Kakashi saw an opportunity and screamed at his son, hoping he would understand, "Metal!"

As if the gods were smiling at Kakashi at that moment, Naruto immediately caught up with what his father wanted him to do. Seeing that only metal could defeat metal at this point, he gathered almost insane amounts of divine essence in him and after finishing, he screamed the name of his brand new technique, the most powerful he had at the moment, "Doomsday!" At his word, he smashed his hands on the ground and it soon started to tremble.

For some seconds, everyone was confused as to what was happening, that is until something they thought they would never see happened right before their eyes. Spikes, dozens of them sprouted from the ground, sharp and sturdy, with the cold nature of the land adding even more strength to their hardness, they all went through the train as if it was made of nothing but butter.

The sight was so scary that it made the rebels thank the gods that the silverette was on their side, because seconds after the mineral spikes went through the death machine, it began to burn and was clearly at the brink of exploiting, an explosion that occurred seconds later.

Naruto immediately turned back and hugged Koyuki to protect her from the blast, but as if luck was against him at that very moment, a piece of the metal carcass of the train suddenly embedded itself in his back, making him cough a considerable amount of blood.

"Naruto!" Koyuki screamed with worry etched in her eyes, she had some of the blood the ex-blond spitted on her face but she didn't cared at all about that, all she cared about right now is that her love was hurt, badly.

The Uzumaki coughed a little more but smirked fiercely at the distressed Princess while saying, "Hehe… don't worry, my P-Princess… i-it's just a… _cough_ … it's ju-just a flesh wound…"

"Son!" The voice of Kakashi then was heard just behind him, with Sakura, Sasuke and Sandayū running in tow, all wearing surprised looks at seeing their teammate and comrade with a big piece of metal buried in his back.

Naruto just fell to the floor, coughing more blood, he was about to speak but Sakura quickly ran to him and shut him up saying, "Stop! D-Don't talk, Naruto…" She then turned him on his belly and green light started to emanate from her hands, "This is gonna hurt…" She said before Sasuke abruptly took the piece of metal out of his skin, making the silverette grunt with a lot of pain, "Shh… i-it's alright… i-it's alright…" She whispered while healing his big wound, trying to sooth her teammate's pain a little.

"Princess Koyuki!" The voice of Sandayū then draw everyone's attention, making them all look up to the sky where Koyuki was being taking away by a cable attached to her waist, she was screaming Naruto's name as she was being distanced from her entourage, being dragged by another strange looking machine that looked like a big wooden ship but had a gigantic air balloon attached to it, making it float away with no way to reach it.

"Dammit." Kakashi just muttered while balling his fists with frustration, his son was severely wounded and just now they had lost the Princess, things were not looking up for them right now.

"T-The Princess!… w-we… we need to g-go after her!" Sandayū then said after seeing that the ninja were not moving an inch, urging them to help him do something.

It was the black-haired boy from the Leaf ninja team the one that answered him when he said, "There's no point, she's already out of our reach, the best thing we can do right now is to regroup and heal those that need healing."

The distressed Snow man was about to retort but Kakashi cut him off when he agreed, "Sasuke is right, once we're all back to our best, we'll launch an assault on the castle where Dotō will surely hold the Princess."

Sandayū did seemed to calm himself after that, seeing the truth in the silver-haired ninja's words. But then, the voice of a certain pink-haired medic-nin hopeful said, "Umm… g-guys…" They all turned to look at her as she asked, "W-Where's Naruto?"

The three men immediately turned to look at where the silverette was supposed to be but all there was left, was the huge stain of blood where he laid just moments ago. Kakashi just sighed tiredly while looking back at the flying machine which at this point was nothing more than a speck in the sky, _'Just do your thing, son… we're coming for you soon…'_

* * *

"Ah, it is so good to see you, my beloved niece…" Dotō said to his niece who was sitting in front of him. She was wearing an uncaring look but the Land of Snow's traitor could see that the girl was really worried, probably for that boy she was kissing before he took her away, "You've certainly grown quite beautiful, Koyuki." The arrogant man the added while walking a little closer to her.

"Now, I am really sorry for taking you away from your… beloved…" The black-haired man said with a smirk, trying to rile the girl up a little by using something he believes was important to her. His guess was then proved right as Koyuki did winced almost unnoticeably after mentioning that cursed silver-haired Leaf-nin who somehow destroyed his most powerful machine, "But let's get right to it so you may come back to him, if he's alive of course." The man then chuckled cruelly.

Koyuki did gulped at the mere thought of Naruto dying, she didn't cared about being in her uncle's clutches anymore, she only wanted to know if the silverette was alive or not. But stowing her worry somewhat, she looked at the window by her side and said, "Cut the crap and tell me what you want."

Dotō just laughed a little cynically at her words, finding it amusing to see his niece growing a backbone all of sudden, probably trying to act tough to hide her fear and worry, but relenting her wish, he said, "It's not that hard to guess, the hex crystal, do you have it?"

"Yes." Koyuki responded hollowly.

"Good, it is the last heirloom of the Kazahana family…" The man said before he took a sip of the wine placed before him, "And the key to open its treasure." He then added after a delighted moan.

"Key?" Koyuki then said, feigning ignorance. She knew about her families treasure thanks to some parting words her mother had left her before she sacrificed herself to allow Koyuki an escape, she just didn't know what said treasure was.

The Kazahana traitor looked at her and replied, "Yes, you see, when I… rested… this land from your father's hands, all of the Kazahana resources were gone, no trace of our riches were left…" Dotō walked towards the window beside them and while looking at the Land of Snow, he added, "I knew Sōsetsu must have hidden the treasures on the family's secret vault…" He looked back at her and finished, "A vault that requires the necklace to open."

"I searched for a long time but finally, I found it…" He continued as he made his way closer to the Princess, "It is hidden deep within the Rainbow Glacier, there's a keyhole there which can only be open by the hex crystal…" He then looked far away as if trying to see a glorious future and concluded, "Once I've possession of the family's treasure, our country, the Land of Snow, can attain military superiority over the Five Great Nations, no one will bully us ever again."

Koyuki just stared at him emotionlessly, not seemingly caring about whatever her uncle wanted to do and in a way, she really didn't cared, not when the man she has apparently fallen in love with was probably dead, "Then here, take it, do as you wish." She replied as she grabbed the crystal in her neck and after violently ripping it off her neck, she gave it to the eager man.

The big man laughed cynically while saying, "Love does tend to both give one hope and take it away just as easily…" He was obviously referring to the silverette who could not have possibly survived such wound, "What!? What is this!?" He then said as she grabbed Koyuki's jacket forcefully.

Koyuki was a little taken aback by her uncle's sudden reaction, so confused, she said, "W-What are you t-talking about?"

Dotō then brought the crystal close to her face and after releasing her violently, he said, "This is not the hex crystal…" He threw to the ground and smashed it with his foot while adding, "This is a fucking fake!"

Koyuki just looked confused for a while until she said, "T-The ninja that got me out of Snow years ago, h-he knew who I t-truly was all this time, h-he probably changed the necklace with a fake one."

Dotō just gritted his teeth angrily before he said, "Then we're gonna have to lure him to us…" He walked towards Koyuki and backhanded her on the face, sending the actress into unconsciousness, "Let's go!" He roared to his men to get a move on, action they took immediately.

Unbeknownst to him, a silver-haired wounded ninja was trying with all his might not to go and kill everyone inside this ship after seeing what that bastard did to Koyuki, but he knew that it was a bad idea, Koyuki was here and a wrong move from his part could end up costing her life, so not willing to pay such a price, he decided to just close his eyes and wait for the right moment to act, knowing that in the end, Dotō will still die by his hands.

* * *

 _"Tell me, Koyuki…" A middle-aged bespectacled man said to a small little girl. The man was wearing noble robes and was sitting just beside a circle made of mirrors, "What do you see on these mirrors?"_

 _The small black-haired girl who was wearing similar robes placed her finger on her lips and looked all around her, curious for the multiple mirrors. The cute little girl then turned to look at her father and replied, "Mmm… I can't see anything but my reflection…"_

 _The man just smiled tenderly at his daughter before he said, "These mirrors Koyuki, they show the future, where all your dreams have come true."_

 _Little Koyuki tilted her head and replied, "Dreams?"_

 _The man then stood up and walked towards her, he gently placed his hands on her shoulders and made her face the mirrors while saying, "Yes my princess, what is your dream?"_

 _"My dream?…" The girl said as she looked at the mirror intently, she placed her finger on her lips again and said with a small smile, "Ah! I want to be an actress!" She looked up towards her father._

 _The man chuckled a little before he said, "Is that all?"_

 _Koyuki just hummed in thought before she looked back at her reflection and added, "No, I… I want to be a Queen!... I want to lead our people and be someone they can respect!..." She then looked up and finished, "Like you, father."_

 _The man smiled and chuckled at her cute words, "That is a very beautiful dream, my love."_

 _Koyuki smiled at her father's words before she turned once again at the mirror and said, "Father?…" His father then hummed in acknowledgment, prompting her to continue, "Why can't I see the future?"_

 _Sōsetsu smiled at the girl and then crouched to be at her level to say, "Because you'll only be able to see once your dreams have come true."_

 _Koyuki looked at his eyes through the reflection and asked cutely, "And when will that be?"_

 _The man smiled at her and answered, "When spring comes to Snow."_

 _Koyuki smiled at that and said while looking at her eyes through the mirror, "Spring…"_

Spring.

Liar.

"Ah!" A panting blackette suddenly screamed after waking up so abruptly. Koyuki was feeling like crap right now and add to the fact the she had another one of her nightmares, she was feeling hopeless.

The Princess then looked around to see where she was and was surprised to see a recognisable location, her family's castle dungeons. She was placed there in a corner with nothing but her robes, not capable of warming her in the coldness of the place, so having already lost all will to fight, she just hugged her legs and whispered her beloved's name, "Naruto…"

"Yes, my princess?" Suddenly, a voice she recognised all too well was heard coming from outside her cell, making her snap at the direction to see her silver-haired knight looking at her with love and worry for her state.

Koyuki immediately got on her feet and ran towards the damned bars that separated her from the silverette, "Naruto!… Y-You… y-you're alive!" She said with some tears in her eyes as she tried with all her might to hold him in her arms.

The silverette just smiled at her and claimed, "Well, o-of course Koyu, I told ya that I would be by your side through it all didn't I?…" Koyuki smiled at that and was about to at least give him a chaste kiss but the silverette said, "Now, step away, amma get ya out of here."

The Kazahana heiress did as told and stepped away from the bars to see how the hands of Naruto started to be coated with a strange pitch black energy with an eerie crimson hue to it, the strange energy felt malevolent since it was making her skin chill a little. The silverette then placed his hands on the bars and to her surprise, the strange energy began to devour the bars around the silverette, making a perfect hole for her to escape.

An escape she did the moment the silverette stopped because she suddenly ran towards him and immediately captured his lips while hugging him as if her life depended on it, "Naru… I… thought… I… had… lost… you…" She said in between kisses.

The silverette just chuckled while kissing her back and after ending the kiss, he replied, "Hehe… it ain't gon be that easy luv…" The silverette then lost his smile and replaced it with a pained expression as he fell on his knees, coughing a little bit of blood on the floor.

"Naruto!" Koyuki screamed with fear at seeing him still injured by his earlier wound. She then immediately went onto her knees and grabbed the boy by his cheeks and said, "Naru, y-you're still injured!… we… w-we shouldn't go o-on with our plan… not w-with you l-like this!"

The silverette just chuckled bitterly before he said, "Come on Koyu… I'll be fine… and I promise ya… it'll work."

Koyuki wasn't convinced at all though, because she countered, "How do expect to fight against my uncle in this condition!? You… y-you'll die!…" She then pressed her forehead against his and added, "I… I d-don't wanna lose you… n-not now that I-I've… found love…"

The silverette just sighed tiredly before he stood up and brought the girl up with him, holding her close to him while saying, "You won't lose me Koyu…" He grabbed the girl's face gently by her cheeks and as he stared right at her eyes, he said, "I need you to believe in me, Koyu, please?"

The girl just sighed in defeat while looking at those eyes she could just not get out of her head, so already losing her will to argue against her love, she just looked down at the ground and nodded in acceptance. When the silverette saw this, he brought the real hex crystal from his pocket and gave it back to Koyuki while saying, "Come on then, I have a feeling our backup is about to get here."

The blackette nodded and then allowed the silverette to drag her out of the dungeons, all the while looking at the back of his coat were a big stain of blood was starting to show, making her see that his wound was once again open.

Her worried thoughts were cut short though, when as they walked by a bridge, the whole castle shook violently, prompting the Princess to ask, "W-What was that!?"

The silverette stopped and replied, "I guess that's the rebels mounting an attack."

"You're right about that." A sudden voice then draw the attention of both Naruto and Koyuki, forcing them to turn towards the other side of the bridge where Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura were making their way towards them.

"Looks like the cavalry is here." The silverette said to his team as he smirked fiercely.

Kakashi eye-smiled at his son while Sasuke just grunted in acknowledge, it was Sakura the one that chided him when she said, "Geez Naruto, you're too damn reckless, I can tell your wound is not healed yet."

The silverette just chuckled sheepishly before he replied, "Hehe… yeah… umm… I'm okay really!…" He then looked towards them and added, "But now is not the time, we need to get out of here." He turned to look at Koyuki who nodded and soon after, led them towards the exit.

Or so they thought, because after some moments of running, Koyuki led them towards a big room where the throne of the castle was settled, a room that was being currently occupied by four figures, three below the throne altar and a large man known as Dotō standing at the top, "Ah perfect, Koyuki, I knew you would do good."

Team 7 were a little confused by his words, but their questions were answered when suddenly, Koyuki began to make her way towards the top of the stairs, where her uncle stood, "What the hell!?" Sakura screamed as she looked with a shocked gaze.

Koyuki then gave Dotō the crystal and turned to look at Team 7 to say cynically, "This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you, I mean, I'm an actress, aren't I?"

Team 7 just gritted their teeth in unison while the large man laughed smugly and said, "There you have it, another brilliant performance by the great actress, Yukie Fujikaze."

At those words, Koyuki stared at Naruto's blue eyes and thought with sadness, _'I know we had a plan in mind… but… you'll die with your wound… I… I won't let you die… I won't let my love die…'_ Koyuki then grabbed a hidden knife she had kept in her coat and whispered, "Yes, is just another act!…" She ran towards her uncle and stabbed him with the knife, "I told you, didn't I!? I'm an actress!" She said with gritted teeth as she dug the knife deeper into her uncle's gut.

Dotō just grunted with pain and then grabbed Koyuki by the neck while cursing, "You… w-wretched… bitch!"

"Koyuki!" Naruto screamed while thinking desperately, _'What the fuck is she doing!? This wasn't our plan, dammit!…'_

Koyuki just looked at the silverette through the corner of her eye and whispered, "I-I'm… s-sorry… Na-Naruto…" She managed to land her feet on the ground and with all the strength she could muster, managed to push her and her uncle towards the edge of the throne pyramid.

"Koyu!" Naruto just screamed again as he made his way towards the falling pair of Koyuki and Dotō with incredible speed, but alas, it was not enough because he just got close to see how Dotō and Koyuki crashed in the ground, making him widen his eyes thinking that Koyuki might be dead.

He breathed out a little in relief though, when the haughty chuckle of Dotō was heard and soon after, he stood up while holding an almost unconscious Koyuki by her waist. The robe he was wearing then fell off and it was revealed that he also had one of those strange chakra armours, but this one seemed way tougher.

"Hahaha! Stupid girl! Did you honestly believed that that was going to kill me!?…" Dotō said while the explosions on the castle began to get louder, signalling that Dotō's army was probably losing the fight. He didn't seemed to care though, because he just laughed while pointing his fist towards the roof and said, "Come Koyuki, let us go, over the rainbow." After those words, he shot a kunai with a cable attached to it at the roof and once it hit, he pulled the cable and was immediately propelled towards the falling roof, carrying Koyuki on the way.

"Na… ru…" She just whispered as she tried to remain conscious, not taking her eyes away from the distancing form of her knight.

Naruto just gritted his teeth hard as he crouched a little and suddenly, his whole body was covered in crimson flames as two flamed wings appeared on his back. The silverette then roar and jumped towards the sky, immediately taking after the fool who dared to harm his princess.

The rest of Team 7 just cursed, knowing that all they could do now was deal with the rest of Dotō's three group men who had also escaped the collapsing castle using the same means as their leader, action immediately mimicked by the Leaf-nin who successfully escaped, not wasting time to do their part.

* * *

"It's time for a second round Kakashi." Nadare said to the silver-haired Leaf-nin standing in front of him. He had just allowed Fubuki and Mizore to drive the genin away so he could focus on Kakashi, to once and for all end him.

Kakashi just eye-smiled at him as he said, "Don't you think you're getting a little too hung up on me, Nadare? I like women, you know?"

Nadare just gritted his teeth angrily and screamed, "I'll fucking kill you, Hatake!" Nadare then made a run towards Kakashi as he made some hand-seals.

Kakashi just prepared his stance and saw how Nadare's hands were being covered by blades made of ice, blades he could see were too sharp for his liking, "You're too stubborn, Nadare." Kakashi said calmly as he parried the hand-blades of the purple-haired Snow-nin.

"Shut up!" Nadare screamed back, with a face that seemed to belong to someone who was rapidly losing his mind, as he had a crazed glint in his eyes and a murderous grin plastered on his face.

The purple-haired ninja jumped back a little and aimed his hands towards the Hatake, who felt confused a little until he cursed when he saw Nadare's hand-blades being shot at him with great speeds.

The Hatake managed to jump just in time though, thanks to his wind techniques that helped him increase the speeds of his moves without even needing hand-seals. Kakashi then landed and silently created two shadow clones that immediately pounced at his opponent, who had to quickly parry the strikes of the two clones slashing him with kunai.

Seizing the distraction from Nadare, Kakashi created another clone unnoticed and in seconds, the clone went underground using the 'Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu' and silently made his way towards Nadare.

"Annoyance!" Nadare screamed as he finally landed one of his kunai on the clone's gut, forcing it to dispel. The purple-haired ninja had no time to rest though, because the other clone was just behind him trying to land a hit of its own, but Nadare was alert enough to dodge and with great speed, he delivered a fatal stab on the clone's gut, forcing it to dispel as well.

Nadare didn't took any time to ponder on his victory, as he immediately turned to look at the original and after making a set of hand-seals, he screamed, "Ice Torment!" Just like in their fight back at the iceberg, Nadare was expecting to see dozens of ice spikes sprouting from the ground, but to his surprise, nothing happened, _'Dammit! There's no ice around here!…'_ The Rōga thought after he realized that there was only earth and snow, nothing more. The problem of his was that he could not create ice, he could only manipulate it, he could call on his ice blades because they didn't required much ice to make, the snow was sufficient to provide him with enough, but since there was no solid ice around, his stronger ice techniques were useless.

"Ah, I see you cannot create ice on your own, and here I thought you were a real threat." Kakashi then said as he mocked with an insulting eye-smile, he wanted the purple-haired Snow-nin to allow his anger to consume him, making him sloppier and easier to deal with.

Hatake was glad to see that his insult worked, because Nadare got so mad that his face was red in anger, "Shut up! I don't need ice to kill you, you son of a bitch!" Nadare then made a reckless run towards Kakashi while cocking his kunai back, readying it to slash the silver-haired man. But much to Nadare's horror, his anger and reckless action had made him incapable to notice the slight movements below the ground, only to figure out the Hatake's plan when it was already too late.

"The hell!?" Nadare screamed after his run was stopped abruptly. He looked down and saw that a clone of Kakashi was firmly grabbing his feet, leaving him frozen and open to an attack.

An attack Kakashi was not going to waste as he already had the most powerful Chidori he has made yet ready in his hand, "This is it Nadare, see you." He said to the crazy purple-haired Snow-nin who was cursing him at the top of his lungs. Kakashi just ignored the insults and made a fast run towards the frozen Nadare, who at the last minute tried to parry the Chidori with his kunai, but it was futile, as the kunai almost instantly broke as the Chidori passed through it, landing straight at Nadare's armour's core.

"Ah!" Nadare just screamed in pain after Kakashi had released his hand from his torso.

The silver-haired jōnin then cursed as he saw that the strange circular machine acting as core was starting to overheat badly, so having an inkling as to what was going to happen next, he jumped back as further as he could just in time to avoid a big explosion cause by the armour overheating.

Kakashi just looked towards the place where Nadare previously stood and winced a little at seeing Nadare's dismembered body splattered all over the place. He just sighed and muttered, "Thank god he was being clouded by his anger, otherwise I would had to use my sharingan and I'm still not a hundred percent back to use it fully."

The Hatake then jumped towards where his blackette and pinkette students were separated to and said to himself, "Let's see how my cute little genin are doing."

* * *

"I'm going to get you for what you did to me last time, you bug!" Mizore claimed with anger as he launched a punch towards the black-haired genin. He had just separated him and the girl from their sensei and now, here he was facing him again while Fubuki deals with the girl.

Sasuke just avoided the punch swiftly and as he drew some shuriken, he shot back with a smirk, "That's what you said last time and tell me _Gorilla Man_ , who lost?" He infused his shuriken with lightning chakra and threw them straight at the giant's robot arm.

Mizore just gritted his teeth with anger at the nickname before he positioned his arm in front of him to stop the pointy shits the blackette pest threw at him. He succeeded, but he underestimated how much lightning they had and felt a slight shock that for a moment left him paralyzed.

It was merely a second, but that second was well seized by Sakura who out of nowhere, directed her most powerful water technique towards the big man, "Water Style: Serpent Current!" As she finished her words, a powerful jet of water shot with huge speeds towards the frozen Mizore who could only grunt in pain as the attack landed straight at his side, sending him flying away some metres.

"You bitch!" Fubuki screamed as she saw the attack. She glided towards Sakura with great speeds and just as she was about to land a slash on her fellow pinkette, Sasuke appeared right in front of her and with his katana infused with lightning, managed to cut clean through Fubuki's short sword, landing a deep cut on her right arm.

"Thanks." Sakura said to her crush as she stood beside him ready.

"Same." Sasuke replied dryly while looking at the two Snow-nin who were recovering just now.

Fubuki just gritted her teeth in frustration at seeing those two brats managing to handle both her and her comrade, she thought that this would be an easy win but to her frustration, it was not going that way, "Mizore, let's attack them together." Fubuki said to her teammate who nodded.

The older pinkerette then made some hand-seals and after smashing her hands on the floor, claimed, "Snow Release: Bombardment!" Fubuki knew that there was no ice to use for her techniques, but thankfully, she was as good with snow jutsus as she was with ice jutsus, so after claiming her technique, the snow surrounding them began to shoot balls of snow towards the two genin.

Mizore for his part just smashed the ground with his foot and punched the rock that flew from the ground, sending them straight at the two genin, "Die worms!" He screamed as he increased his own bombardment.

Sasuke and Sakura both gritted their teeth at the sight of the incoming bombardment, they could both tell that those snow balls were hard as rock, and the damned giant man was sending real rocks their way, "Sakura…" Sasuke said as he activated his two tomoe sharingan.

"Yes?" Sakura replied while readying her stance.

"I'm going to take care of the bombardment, once I've cleared the field, hit them with your most powerful earth technique." Sasuke said and without waiting for an answer, he jumped straight at the bombardment with sword in hand.

The black-haired Uchiha then in an impressive show of speed and technique, began to cut and parry every single snow ball and rock sent his way, he was doing it with such accuracy that the two Snow-nin started to sweat due to the strain of holding their bombardment for much longer that they expected, "Dammit! That damn brat is an Uchiha!" Fubuki said between gritted teeth as she struggled more and more to hold her attack.

Mizore was seating as well, trying to keep up with the blackette's speed, "He's meat and bones! It doesn't matter what the fuck he's name is!" He roared as he forced more strength into his bombardment.

The whole thing went on for some more moments but Sasuke finally saw that the two Snow-nin were starting to slow down, so quickly channelling a lot of electricity in his sword, he used one his brother's techniques and spun like a tornado while letting his sword send bolts of lightning all over the place. The Uchiha's attack was successful and seeing an opportunity, he quickly locked his eyes to the Snow-nins and said, "Bringer of Darkness!"

Fubuki and Mizore just screamed confused as their vision was suddenly blacked by the strange attack from the Uchiha. It was for mere three seconds, but once they recovered their view, they were horrified to see a huge mud dragon heading their way, an attack they could not avoid.

Sasuke landed beside his pink-haired teammate and saw how the amazing dragon managed to devour both Snow-nin. It then suddenly blew up though, much to the surprise of both Sasuke and Sakura, "What the hell happened!?" Sakura said as she looked at the blast zone, where there was no trace of the Snow-nins.

"The chakra armour they use is highly volatile, after your dragon sucked them in they must have hit each other strong and their armour's reacted violently against each other." The voice of their sensei then resounded from behind them, making them both turn to see Kakashi making his way towards them.

"S-So… they're… dead?…" Sakura whispered, with a little bit of fear slipping through her words.

Sasuke replied, "See for yourself." He sheathed his mother's katana back and pointed towards the blast zone, where they now could see, it was stained with blood and dismembered limbs.

Sakura just looked with wide eyes before she threw up, this was the first time she had kill someone and while she was strong and had a fierce will, she wasn't as cold as her teammates, so this was a hard thing to face for her.

Kakashi just sighed before he placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder, the pinkerette turned to look at him with a remorseful expression, forcing him to ruffle her pink locks and say, "Sakura, it's hard I know, and you should feel regret, taking a life is a crude thing to do…" He then wiped the girl's tears with a handkerchief and finished, "But remember, in our profession, is either kill or be killed."

Sakura just looked at her sensei and then at her crush, she was glad to see that even Sasuke was sending a sympathetic look her way, so taking a deep breath, she looked down for a while and after bringing her gaze back up, she said, "I-It's alright Sensei, I… I un-understand."

Kakashi just eye-smiled at her, knowing how hard it was to deal with your first kill, but seeing that his son was probably already facing off against Dotō, he commanded, "Let's go then, Naruto surely needs us."

Both Sakura and Sasuke nodded and quickly, Team 7 made their way towards their last member.

It took them some minutes, but they finally arrived to a huge clearing where five giant black pillars stood, surrounding a frozen lake with an island in the middle, where a strange altar-like stone was placed.

"Hopefully, he'll see this coming." Sasuke muttered as he unsheathed his katana and infused it with lightning. He saw that Naruto was having a hard time, probably due to his injury, and seeing that Dotō's armour was definitely tougher than the rest, he knew his brother needed a hand. So once he finished charging his sword, he threw it with insane speeds, straight at Dotō.

* * *

"Fucking dammit!…" Naruto muttered with anger as he crashed in the snow. He has been chasing Dotō who was flying with a strange machine while still carrying Koyuki, but due to his injury, he was forced to crash after he could no longer sustain his cloak of essence, "Why the fuck am I not h-healing!?" He uttered between gritted teeth

It was his divine predecessor who answered, when Ddraig said inside his mind, **_"Your 'Doomsday' technique, it uses divine essence, and lots of it, since you're still not used to using your own essence, your body is taking longer to recover, your wound was serious enough to instantly kill any mortal, so it's gonna take some days for you to fully recover."_**

Naruto just growled angrily and punched the ground at that, finding it extremely frustrating that just when one of his girls was needing him, he could not be fully fit for the fight, "It doesn't fucking matter…" Naruto said as he painfully made his way up, he grabbed the small metal pillar he had tied on his belt and then threw it to the ground, the pillar then made a sound and suddenly, Mizore's snowboard appeared in its place, "I'm going to get Koyu back, fucking believe it!"

With that, he used a wind technique to impulse him towards the direction Dotō took off. It took him some moments to get there, but finally, he arrived just in time to see the Kazahana traitor placing the hex crystal on the altar-like stone. The stone then shot a beam of light from where the crystal was placed and soon later, some kind of energy lighted the whole place up. The energy looked like the pattern of a snow flake and was making its way towards the five giant pillars surrounding the place, which once the energy reached them, turned on with a bright blue light.

It lasted for only seconds though, as the light that surrounded the place and lit the pillars suddenly faded, leaving everything as it was before, "What!? I don't see it… the treasure…" Dotō said as he looked around with gritted teeth, "Where is the fucking treasure!?" He then screamed.

After he said that, a sudden burst of vapour was then released from the pillars, warming the place and slowly melting the ice and snow that covered the lake, "I-It's so warm… what is this?…" Koyuki muttered as she watched and felt the place getting warmer by the second.

"What!? A heat generator!?…" Dotō uttered enraged before he screamed angrily, "This is the treasure of the Kazahana clan!?"

"Koyu!" The voice of one silverette then was heard as he made his way towards Koyuki. Naruto in a burst of speed immediately rushed towards the kneeling Koyuki and held her close to him.

"Naruto!" Koyuki screamed with joy as she buried herself into his embrace.

Naruto just stared at Dotō and after silently making a shadow clone and replacing himself with it, he stood up and said, "Take Koyuki away from here." The clone nodded and immediately made its way with Koyuki in its arms.

"You annoying pest!…" Dotō screamed as he started making hand-seals, "Ice Style: Black Dragon Blizzard!" As he said those words, the black-haired man cocked his fist back and then punched towards Naruto's direction, sending a roaring black dragon with red eyes his way.

Naruto gritted his teeth because he could feel that if the dragon hits him, he was going to get a nasty case of frostbite, so quickly unsheathing Gloria, he threw it away and silently substituted himself with it, avoiding the attack successfully.

Naruto then made some hand-seals of his own and after finishing, he declared, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" He jumped high and started shooting fast bullets of fire, hiding some shuriken inside the fire balls to add to his attack.

Dotō didn't know this so he relied on his armour to stop the attack, which he soon later realised was a mistake as a set of three shuriken suddenly imbedded themselves in his armour, with one on his right arm, "Ah! Fucking brat!" He screamed before he rushed towards Naruto.

The silverette landed on the ground but had to immediately parry the powerful punches of the large man, _'Fuck… he's good…'_ Naruto thought as he was forced into the defence, he knew that if he were at 100% right now he would have no trouble dealing with him, but his wound was making it almost unbearable to fight.

"No… I promised Koyu…" Naruto muttered as he growled like a dragon enraged, "And I'm a man of my word!" He then screamed as he poured all of his strength in one crunching punch.

Dotō couldn't avoid the punch and was send back some metres away due to the incredible strength the punch carried, "Impressive… you're a lot stronger than I thought you were…" The man said as he cleaned the blood from his mouth, "But it's not enough!…" He then made more hand-seals and soon later, claimed, "Ice Style: Twin Black Dragons!" After those words, he swung his arms forward and two black dragons made of ice sprung from the frozen lake behind him, heading straight towards Naruto.

Naruto just gritted his teeth and stowing his pain, he breathed in a huge chunk of air and then blew it in the form of dragon's fire.

The resulting explosion was huge, as it filled the whole place with smoke the moment the two attacks clashed against each other, "Naruto!" Koyuki screamed after the clone that was with her suddenly puffed out of existence, a sign she knew was not a good one.

The smoke later receded and after the lake was clear of it, the kneeling and panting figure of Naruto was seeing struggling for breath, while Dotō was panting and harmed as well, but not as much as Naruto, "You're good kid, I'll give you that…" Dotō then started walking towards Naruto and after standing right in front of him, he said with a victorious smirk as he prepared one last punch, "But you lose even so."

Naruto just looked at him fiercely and much to the bigger man's confusion, he smirked and said, "Not today, fool." Dotō thought that the kid was crazy but suddenly, Naruto tilted his head to the side and allowed a flying sword to pierce right through Dotō's chest, damaging the core of his armour in the process.

"Grrah!" Dotō screamed in pain as he was sent skidding back from the hit he just received, the lightning was coursing through his body and the only thing he could do right now is throw the sword away and kneel over in pain.

Naruto just silently thanked his brother and then looked at Koyuki who was looking at him with tears in her eyes, _'I-I'm not… f-failing her…'_ He shakily stood up, ignoring the immense pain in his back and formed a rasengan in his hand, "I'm not… failing Koyu!" He screamed as he made a run towards Dotō.

Those present in the clearing stared in awe as Naruto's rasengan did not only shined in rainbow colours due to the light reflecting on the pillars, lighting up the whole lake as if a beautiful rainbow was above them, the most spectacular thing was that the rasengan started covering Naruto's whole frame, encasing him in the rasengan itself.

"A rainbow rasengan!?" Sasuke muttered as he watched his brother roaring towards Dotō.

"Just like in the 'Princess Gale' movie!" Sakura claimed with an awed smile, finding it fantastic to see her favourite scene playing in real life, right in front of her.

"Naruto…" Koyuki just muttered with wide eyes, she could not believe the beauty she was seeing, something she only thought possible in a movie, was playing out right before her eyes and she couldn't help but fall even deeper for the silverette.

"Grr…" Naruto growled as he got in close to the kneeling Dotō who could only watch in fear as he neared him, "Take this, ya fool!…" Naruto said before he cocked his fist back and screamed, "Rasengan!" He then punched the man straight and his body rasengan was transferred completely to Dotō, who could only do a silent scream as he was sent spinning rapidly towards one of the pillars. Dotō then crashed painfully against the pillar and immediately fell off towards the ground, completely out of it.

Naruto looked at the blackette man before he fell down towards the ground, not able to ignore his pain any longer, "Naruto!" Koyuki screamed as she made her way towards her beloved knight.

Once she reached him, she placed his head on her lap and was about to say something but the pillars around them started to make noises. Koyuki looked at the pillars and saw how the ice encasing them started to fall down and soon after they were free of ice, the whole place was rid of ice and snow and it revealed a beautiful scenery, a lake with a breath-taking clearing as the pillars lighted the place up as if they were the sun itself, just like spring.

Koyuki felt her breath taken away but she was surprised when a scene started to play out right in the middle of the clearing, with the pillars acting as projectors. The scene was the exact same dream she always had about her father, how he asked her what was her dream and how she would be able to see them once spring comes.

"Hehe… I… _cough_ … I t-told you didn't I?…" The pained voice of her beloved silverette then drew her attention towards her lap, where Naruto was looking at her with half-lidded eyes and a pained smile before he added, "I s-said… t-that I w-was gonna b-bring… y-your spring…" He then finally closed his eyes, not able to stay conscious anymore.

Koyuki just stared at him wide eyes as she finally realized what her father meant, _'My dreams… when the spring comes…'_ She looked around and then looked at the man that had stolen her heart and finally saw, her dreams had just come true, "Yes you did, my knight." She whispered with tears in her eyes and a loving smile while caressing the unconscious boy's head tenderly.

"Absolutely… fantastic!" The excited voice of the film's director was then heard screaming, revealing him standing with his film crew just some steps away from Koyuki and Naruto. The whole crew was crying in awe after such fantastic scene, something that not even in their wildest dreams could have come up with.

Kakashi just chuckled and said, "Well, let's go and take our reckless hero to the hospital, he certainly needs a good rest."

Sakura and Sasuke just chuckled as they made their way towards their teammate and the Princess, feeling relieved to see that it was all over and once again, they had freed another country.

* * *

"Oh… fuck… it hurts fool!…" A young handsome silver-haired male uttered as he slowly opened his eyes to see what was going on. Naruto just groaned in discomfort as he finally got a clear view of where he was at, "White ceiling… smell of alcohol… yup… I'm in a hospital…" He said as he finally regained full conscious.

That is also when he noticed a slight weight on his left side and something holding his left hand, "Hehe… she looks gorgeous…" Naruto muttered as he watched the sleeping form of Koyuki who had her head resting on the left side of his bed as she was holding his hand.

The Uzumaki then moved his right hand and began clearing some locks of the Princess' hair that were covering her beautiful face, this slight movement however, made the girl stir a little and slowly open her eyes.

"Hello, my princess." Naruto said with a loving smile as the Kazahana heiress awoke.

Koyuki just heard the voice of her beloved and turned to look at those beautiful blue eyes of his, "Wha…" She was still a little drowsy but finally after some seconds, she widened her eyes and jumped at the bed and hugged him while saying, "Naruto!… oh Naru… I… I w-was so worried!"

Naruto just hugged the sobbing girl, ignoring the small pain her movements caused, "Don't worry Koyu, I told ya, you ain't losing me, luv." He said as he caressed her back and legs tenderly.

Koyuki just smiled and placed her forehead against his, she focused her eyes on his and a moment later, she leaned forward and claimed his lips in a passionate kiss, "You… were… amazing… back… at… the… glacier…" She said in between kisses.

Naruto just chuckled in her mouth as he continued to touch the girl relentlessly. Koyuki started to moan and soon later, placed herself atop of Naruto, using her thighs to straddle his waist. She continued kissing him as he started to squeeze her firm butt, making Koyuki grind her hips against her knight's limp member.

Koyuki saw a problem with that and while continuing the make out session, she started bringing her hand down his body until she reached the bulge in his pants and started stroking him as she kissed him and grinded her hips whit much more speed, " _Ah_ … Naru… baby… I… I _ah…_ w-want you…" Koyuki whispered between her kisses, not able to hold her lust for the young man anymore.

Naruto just groaned in pleasure as Koyuki began increasing her stroking on his clothed penis, but knowing that he had to stop to tell Koyuki the whole truth, he stopped massaging her butt, much to Koyuki's displeasure, and brought his hands towards her shoulders where he pushed her off of him slightly.

Koyuki was surprised at the rejection and quickly developed sad eyes, thinking that the silverette might not want her, "N-Naru?" She whispered with a little bit of fear slipping into her voice, gripping tightly the hospital gown Naruto was wearing as if to not let go.

Naruto managed to subdue his raging lust for now and said as he caressed her cheek, "Koyu, is not that I don't want you, I've fallen for you too…" The Princess smiled hopefully at that, but Naruto continued, "But there is something important about me that you must know, something that might change your opinion of me."

Koyuki felt really confused at that, she didn't know what could make her stop falling for this young man, but she said, "I d-don't think that c-can happen but… speak."

The silver-haired Namikaze nodded and after a long and heavy sigh, he began to tell Koyuki all about him, his burdens, the truth about him, his ambition and how he wanted to achieve it, an explanation that took him a little bit over 30 minutes, but finally after finishing, he asked a little bit nervously, "Well?…"

Koyuki was just sitting there on his lap, with wide eyes and slightly agape, Naruto winced because he could see that she felt betrayed as he could see the sadness and anger in her eyes, something that she made obvious when instead of answering him with words, she slapped him hard and jumped out of the bed, with tears in her eyes as she ran towards the door of the room and left.

Naruto just sighed tiredly as he leaned back on his bed, he saw this coming, but even so, it was not easy.

 ** _"Told you so."_** A slight snide was then heard from inside his mind, it was obvious that the one that spoke was the haughty Nine Tailed Fox, but she carried a worried tone in her voice as well, probably worried for her host.

Naruto for his part just kept quiet and closed his eyes, he knew that one day he was going to encounter a situation like this, he just wished it wouldn't have happened so soon in the game. But now the only thing he could do is hope that Koyuki could see that he genuinely loved her, and if she wasn't happy with sharing, that at least she'll keep his secret safe, as he did not wanted to harm her mind just to make her forget everything.

* * *

It has been 3 days since the battle against Dotō and the Land of Snow was now blooming, the cold infinite winter that the land seemed to be subjected to was now changed for spring as the heaters that Sōsetsu left were making wonders for the country, so much so that the land has now been renamed to 'The Land of Spring'.

Koyuki was also named the country's new Queen, a title she took on with a happy smile. She no longer denied her heritage and what she was born to do, she wanted to make her people happy and being their Queen was just the first step. She hadn't given up on acting though, as she made it clear that she will continue her career as a successful actress, but will respect her position as Queen above all, hence why she declined the opportunity to play the main role in the new 'Make-Out Paradise' film, based off on the books that one Jiraiya of the Sannin writes, simply because said role would taint the respect a real Queen should have.

All in all, the people in the Land of Spring were happy and hopeful of their future. All but one silver-haired Namikaze who was currently looking at the moon as he leaned on one of the pillars that supported the second floor of the Kazahana castle, it has been 3 days since he spoke to Koyuki and ever since he revealed the truth, the two hadn't even spared a look at each other. He knew that Koyuki was hurt and sad and the people around could tell as well, although they kept it to themselves, so he decided to let her go and just be thankful that she had no apparent will to tell his secret, probably because even if she felt betrayed, she knew that the silverette just meant well.

"Good thing I'm one day left to be back at mah best, I honestly don't think I can stand being here like this anymore." Naruto muttered as he sighed. Team 7 had to stay due to the injuries the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki carried, much to their surprise, Naruto actually needed 4 days to recover so they were forced to stay, but now that the last day of his recovery was arriving, they could leave Spring in one more day.

"N-Naruto." Suddenly, a voice he never thought he would hear again was heard from his side, forcing the silverette to turn and look at Koyuki, who was only wearing a sleeping gown that traced her figure quite well.

"Queen Kazahana." Naruto said while bowing politely, he was not going to talk to her in a personal level, simply because he didn't thought he could anymore, so opted for being respectful towards the ruler of the country he was in. He was confused though, as to what was she doing here at this hour, it was around 3 am and he could see that Koyuki winced a little at his way of greeting her.

Koyuki just looked down a little before she brought her eyes back to him and said, "Could you come with me?"

The Uzumaki just raised his eyebrow slightly but nodded none the less, as he didn't saw any problem with it. Naruto then began to follow the Queen as she walked towards the back of the castle where she then led him towards the woods behind her home and continued walking without looking back at him.

 ** _"Clever, they won't be able to find your body so easily here."_** The clearly amused voice of the Absolute God of End then said inside his mind, making Naruto twitch his eyebrow and Kurama to gasp in surprise, as she had never seen the mighty god being so friendly towards someone other than her father.

 _"Fuck off, fool…"_ Naruto just replied to the chuckling dragon.

Naruto then realised that Koyuki was leading him towards the lake where the heat generators are placed, he was confused, but he kept quiet as he did not wanted to make the black-haired royalty angry.

It was when they reached the altar placed in the small island right at the middle of the lake, that Koyuki breathed in heavily and turned to look at him as she said, "I… I-I've been trying…"

Naruto was confused, so he tilted his head a little and inquired, "What?"

The Kazahana ruler just looked at him and explained, "To forget you…" Naruto just raised an eyebrow but kept quiet since she added, "To forget your lips… t-to forget your arms… to f-forget your eyes… to forget y-your warmth…" She then looked down for a bit before she looked up at his eyes again and spoke, "To forget my love for you…" She saw that Naruto was not going to say anything, so she continued, "B-But… I… I c-can't…" Koyuki then walked towards the edge of the island and as she looked up at the moon, kept saying, "I miss you… so much… I just c-can't get you out of my head."

Naruto just sighed as he looked at her, he wish he could say that she should go back to him then, but he couldn't, he didn't wanted her to be with him out of the need that his presence has left in her, he wanted her to be with him because she wanted to, "You'll be able to, eventually…" Koyuki just turned to look at him wide-eyed, probably surprised to see him not even trying, so wanting to clear himself out, he walked closer to her and said, "Don't get me wrong Koyuki, I love you, I really do, as much as I love Tsunami, Ayame, Hinata, Akeno and Haku, but once I'm gone, my presence will no longer affect you and you'll be able to move on." He just sent a sad smile at her as he looked at the beautiful moon.

Koyuki was startled at first, thinking that he was just ditching her easily, but she could see it right there, in those beautiful blue eyes of his, he really loved her, and it really hurt him to let her go, "You d-don't want me to b-be in your family anymore?" She just whispered, not able to hide her sadness.

Naruto just sighed and turned to lock his eyes at hers before he responded, "Of course I do, but I want you to be with me because you want to, even knowing that I'll have many more women, I want you to be happy with me and the rest of the family, but I know you're not comfortable with it and in the end, all that matters to me is that the women I love be happy, I don't care about my goal if even one of you are not happy with it, that's why I'm letting you go."

Koyuki just stared at him for some seconds before she brought her gaze down to say, "It's not that…" Naruto just hummed as if questioning what she meant, so she explained, "It's not that I'm not comfortable w-with sharing…" She looked up at the silverette and confessed, "I'm just… a-afraid…"

Naruto tilted his head a little as he questioned, "Afraid? Of what?"

Koyuki sighed and answered, "That… y-you'll forget about me…"

Naruto just sighed before he said, "Why would I do that, Koyuki? I told ya, didn't I? My only duty is to you and the rest of the family, nobody else, plus, I'm a dragon and I'm obligated to keep my word. How could I forget anything about those that make my life worth it?"

Koyuki just looked at his eyes for some moments, seemingly trying to come up with a decision. Finally after almost 5 minutes, she surprised Naruto when she brought her hand towards his pouch and took a kunai out. Naruto was puzzled by her actions until he raised an eyebrow as she cut her palm with the kunai, making a large cut that was bleeding a lot.

Koyuki just ignored the pain and brought her bleeding palm forward, she kept it right in front of Naruto's stomach and said with her eyes locked onto to his, "Then p-promise me, right here where you made my dreams come true…" She breathed in and finished, "Promise m-me that… you'll l-love me… you'll cherish me… and y-you'll protect me… forever."

Naruto just smiled a little after realising what she was doing, she wanted him to place his mark on her palm by using his blood, right here where she realised what she really wanted. So taking the kunai away from her, he made a large cut on his right palm and declared, "I promise you, Koyu, forever." He then locked his palm with hers and brought her close for a deep kiss.

He began to channel his divine essence through his blood as it merged with Koyuki's, who could only moan in pleasure as the intense sensations the marking caused coursed throughout her whole body, she brought her free arm around the silverette's neck and gently pulled him down on the ground, with him on top of her.

For the rest of the night, all that was heard in the clearing was the moans of Koyuki as she and Naruto made out and touched each other intimately, she wanted him to claim her fully, but she knew of his promise to his now Harem sister Ayame and she was really happy to see him keeping his word, even having the temptation of having her willing to spread her legs and allow him easy entrance, he still valued his word to his beloveds above all, that just made her understand that her heart was right about him and now, all she wanted was to help him in his quest for global understanding, for all she dreams now, is a happy eternity with her new family and her knight, the knight that won her heart through blood and valour.

* * *

"I… I don't even know what to say…" A really, really, really tired voice said to Team 7, the voice belonged to an exasperated old man known as Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. He had just finished listening to Kakashi telling his report of their mission in the Land of Snow and as luck would have it, they were once again dragged into a major conflict, "Freeing one country wasn't enough for you?" The Sarutobi then muttered with an amused smile.

Team 7 just smirked fiercely in unison with Naruto claiming, "Oi! We were made for greatness! Just let'em all know, we gon be their deadness!"

Sakura just pinched the bridge of her nose as she said, "Deadness? Is that even a word, Naru?"

Said Uzumaki just turned to his pinkerette teammate and answered, "Well if it ain't, I just made it!…" He then turned to Sasuke and added, not able to stop his eternal rivalry with his brother, "I just created a word, fool! What'cha gon do 'bout that, huh!?"

"Stop with your stupid games, Dobe…" Sasuke said while crossing his arms before he turned to look at his brother and added with a teasing smirk, "If someone's going to create a cool word, that's me."

"You. Bitch!" Naruto said indignantly as he pounced on the Uchiha and soon later, the two started another one of their typical brother-spats.

Kakashi, Sakura and the Hokage just chuckled at the brawling teens rolling around the floor while cursing each other, it was really a relief to see that those two had each other, "Alright now younglings, that's enough…" The old Sarutobi said with a small smile, making the squabbling teenagers stop their brawl, "I wish you didn't got involved in so many high profile conflicts, but is good to see that all of you are capable of dealing with such things, I just want you to know, that you are the pride of this village, as it is thanks to you four, that we are gathering so many allies."

Team 7 just smiled at those words, they all knew that their knack for attracting huge conflicts was off the charts, but they didn't cared, Team 7 was now like a family and as long as they had each other, they were confident that there was nothing that could take them down.

With that, Team 7 was dismissed, although Kakashi stayed with the Hokage, and soon later, Sakura and Sasuke both made their way to their homes, feeling really tired for the whole ordeal and wanting nothing more than to lay on their beds for a while.

Naruto for his part, just made his way towards his apartment, "Oh… G-Great Red… thank you, my lord… thank you…" He whispered as he thanked the one above all.

The reason for his sudden prayer was because there, inside his house, in his bed, three completely naked goddesses were waiting for him with huge seductive smiles, "Hello Naru." Ayame said as she puffed her chest a little, showing him her perfectly shaped breasts.

"Mmm… you look tired… come here and we'll help you… _relax…_ " Akeno said as she laid on her back and looked at him upside down, lifting her luscious legs seductively to entice him.

"Y-Yes… come and t-tell us about our newest… _member_ …" Hinata then added her words, resting her head on her palms as she extended her body and showed Naruto her beautiful naked butt.

Naruto just gulped before he showed a feral smirk that made the three girls shiver in excitement, _'What a life…'_ He just thought as he jumped to the bed and hugged the three giggling girls, feeling really happy to have all the support and love his girls gave him and at the same time, strengthening his resolve to make this a better world, just for his girls to enjoy.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya lads have it, hope it was to your liking, thanks for continuing reading my story, it's really cool to see how popular this story is becoming, see ya on next chapter, cheers!**


	18. The Exams (Part 1)

**A/N: Yo waddup! We're back with another chapter but as always, let me answer some stuff.**

 **There are some fellas complaining about the fact that Naruto had trouble dealing with the Snow-nin in the past chapter, to those cursing me saying that it makes no sense, I'm not going to even bother explaining you why, it is implied in the chapter why he was having trouble, if even then you have trouble believing it, then I invite you to fight a baby while having your spine fatally severed and both lungs pierced along with some other organs.**

 **To those wondering why he didn't used Kurama's chakra, there are two reasons for that. One, I cannot say it right now because it's part of the plot and will be revealed later. But the other one is quite simple, you need to remember that in this story, Chakra comes from the Essence, it is basically a weaker and less toxic version of the divine energy, so if using his Essence to heal his wound was going to take days, imagine how much more it will take by using the weaker version of it. Don't underestimate the wounds he sustained, as I said earlier, he should've be dead the moment he was pierced, or at least crippled for life, even in cannon, Naruto takes time to heal fatal wounds. Also, don't overestimate Naruto, he's but a mere infant God at this point, don't think of him as an all mighty being, in this story, there is only one being that cannot die and that is Great Red, no one else.**

 **With that said, I don't think there's anything else for now, so enjoy the chap!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **The Exams (Part 1)**

"Ah, Kakashi, what can I do for you?" A black-haired bespectacled male with a small ponytail said to Kakashi. The male was wearing a white lab coat and was sitting on a chair behind a desk, with a small plaque on it that said 'Chief Analyst'.

The silver-haired jōnin in question eye-smiled at the man as he replied, "Hello Mitoku…" He greeted the Cryptanalysis Department's head before the Hatake took a crimson coloured scroll from his pocket and handed it to the blackette male while saying, "I wanted you to check on this scroll, it was left on my son's apartment's door and it supposedly contains instructions on his Magnetic bloodline."

The bespectacled man took the scroll and looked at it intently, the red scroll was quite old as it seems, but the scroll itself felt so well carved, so royal. The scroll also had a fantastic black dragon symbol, probably a blood seal that required the user to pour some blood to open it, "Kakashi… this scroll… is magnificent…" Mitoku said as he opened the scroll to read its contents, apparently Naruto had not locked it back to allow the analyst to look at it.

"Why you say so?" Kakashi said back, feeling a little confused.

Mitoku looked at him again and explained, "This scroll has to be the oldest one I've ever seen…" He then looked at the first page and added, "And this coat of arms… it's so magnificent… probably from Europa…"

Kakashi tilted his head a little and commented, "Europa? You're saying that the bloodline might actually come from Europa and not from the Land of Wind?"

Mitoku continued reading the intriguing scroll while saying, "It might be so, the Land of Wind is the closest country to Europa's borders, so it might not be too much of a stretch to think that the original users of the bloodline might have come to settle in the Land of Wind, probably to flee from the warring continent."

Kakashi nodded and added, "That sounds logical, but how would you know that it comes from there? You just looked at it now."

The bespectacled blackette unfolded the scroll and explained, "First of all, this coat of arms, as you can see, is a black dragon, but the dragon is a western-type dragon, here in the Elemental Nations we used to picture dragons as huge serpent-like beings, that is until the Twelve-Wings appeared, which in itself, is a western-type dragon…" The man the pointed towards the writings in it and added, "But more importantly, the words, you had difficulty reading it, right?"

"Yes, some words there, I have never heard or read them in my life." Kakashi answered.

Mitoku nodded and continued, "That is because this is our mother language. As you know, long ago, before the times of the Sage of Six Paths, the Elemental Nations used to have another name, Asia, the continent's original language used to be quite complicated…" He then took a book from the shell behind him and showed Kakashi a book with kanji symbols, the symbols he knew were the continent's original language, "But after the Sage appeared, the continents around the world got closer to each other, according to the legend, due to the Sage's fight with the Apocalypse Beast…" The man then sat back and said, "But long story short, due to the newfound closeness, the inhabitants of Europa moved to Asia, they eventually conquered the continent and renamed it. Nowadays, the original inhabitants of this continent are really scarce, mostly nomads, roaming aimlessly throughout the land."

Kakashi nodded and said, "I see, I have read that the original 'Asians' were quite different from us, so I would deduce that nowadays, the majority of the Elemental Nations' inhabitants are of Western descent."

"Correct, most of us are descendants of westerners, we only retained some of the old ways, like our names and some of our traditions and culture…" Mitoku then got back on track when he said, "Now, with that said, this language you see written here, is called Ænglisc, our new language, derives from this one."

Kakashi hummed in understanding as he said, "I see…" He then got his perverted book from his pocket and added, "Well, I just want to know if it's dangerous and from where it might come, I don't want to teach my son something that will harm him."

Mitoku nodded and replied, "Of course Kakashi, I will have both Yurika and Shiho look at this, Yurika is an expert in western culture, so she should be able to figure this out soon."

Kakashi nodded and with that, he waved at the man and turned towards the door and soon later, he left the room.

The bespectacled man then called, "Yurika! Shiho!"

At his word, two young females came running towards him. The first girl seemed to be older than the other, in her late teens at least, she had short brown hair and matching honey eyes, wearing a black turtle neck shirt and dark brown pants. The other one was a light blonde girl, she was a little short but looked like she was in her early teens, the girl was wearing circular shaped glasses and her hair was a mess.

"Yeah?" The brunette girl said to her boss.

"I have a gift for you, Yurika." The man smiled as she gave the brunette the scroll.

The brunette looked a little confused at first, until she held the scroll and looked at it closely, she went wide-eyed when she immediately recognized the design, so she opened it frantically and when she saw the writing in it, she claimed with joy, "O-Oh god!… t-this… this is!…"

The man chuckled while saying, "Yes dear, is a western scroll, I need you to investigate it, see what you can find about it."

Yurika just held the scroll as if it was some kind of Holy Grail as she said, "Y-Yes o-of course but… who b-brought this!?"

Mitoku then answered, "Kakashi Hatake, the scroll was left in Naruto's front door and it supposedly contains instructions on how to achieve his bloodline's next stage. Since we all know that there is no such thing as free knowledge, especially when it comes to bloodlines, we need to be sure that it is not a trap."

The brunette nodded and eagerly turned on her heel to walk towards their immense library, with the blonde girl known as Shiho in tow. Both were feeling really excited as this was about their favourite subject, but Shiho had the hunch that she had seen that coat of arms somewhere before.

* * *

"Oh shit!" Naruto claimed as he jumped to avoid a blast of magic energy that Akeno sent at him. He with Akeno, Hinata and Ayame were having a match to see how far each and every one of them have come, with Naruto facing off against his three mates.

"Gigigi… come on baby… suffer a little!" Akeno said with a sadistic giggle as she pointed her hands towards her mate, with bolts of blue lighting roaring down towards Naruto while she flew around him.

 _'Fool… she's a total S &M Queen, boi… fuck mah life…' _Naruto thought as he avoided the dangerous lighting, with a little bit of sweet on his forehead, but not due the lightning, "Oi! You gon kill me one of these days, woman!" He screamed at the flying Fallen Angel with indignation.

Akeno just giggled at that, making Naruto twitch his eyebrow before he wordlessly called on one of his wind techniques to glide away from two roaring purple lions that crashed where he previously stood, making him turn to look at Hinata who said, "Didn't you said you'd die for us?" The bluenette had a sweet smile that made Naruto shiver a little bit in fright.

 _'Oh no… don't tell me Hina is beginning to take after Ake… fuck mah life…'_ He thought before he shook his head and developed an excited smirk before he said, "Oh I will, but before I do…" He crouched and smashed his hands on the ground before he screamed, "Amma spank those sweet asses of y'all!"

At his words, at least a dozen pointless spikes of mineral sprung from the ground, chasing the three girls who could do naught but dodge. There was no real danger from them, as their Uzumaki mate made sure to make the spikes harmless, but still, a hit by those things will surely hurt regardless.

Surprisingly, it was the rookie Ayame the one that landed first and after some hand signs, she claimed, "Water Style: Liquid Bullet!" Her mouth was then suddenly filled with water and after some seconds, she shot a water bullet towards the silverette, the bullet might be small, but it could do considerable amount of damage.

As expected, Naruto easily avoided the projectile, but was caught off guard when more bullets of water were shot at him, "Damn…" He muttered as he danced around the bullets. After some moments, the barrage of water bullets finally stopped, forcing Naruto to look at Ayame who was panting and was sitting on the ground, "Well, look at ya Aya! You were amazing!" He praised his beloved waitress with a warm smile.

Ayame smiled happily at the praise, she knew she had come a long way now, she was no longer useless in combat thanks to the extensive training she had been going with Hinata, and now that Akeno joined them a month or so ago, her training was intensified even more.

"Protecting Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!" Hinata then screamed from behind him, forcing Naruto to curse as he had not realized that he jumped into her technique's zone.

Naruto then quickly called on his essence cloak and after his whole body was covered in crimson flames, he crossed his arms in front of him and hid his face behind them, pouring essence into his cloak to endure the bluenette's onslaught of hits.

Hinata cursed when she saw that her beloved had successfully blocked her attack, it was a little discouraging to see because she worked so hard on that technique and currently, it was the strongest she had, but she quickly got rid of troubled thoughts when she remembered that Naruto was a dragon and a god, a feat like this, should be easy for someone like him.

The Hyūga Princess then was about to jump but she widened her eyes when the silverette disappeared from her view. She cursed as she couldn't sense him but seconds later, she grunted in pain as a kick landed on her butt, sending her flying towards Ayame who squealed before they clashed against one another.

Naruto just chuckled as he said, "Hina, you really need to come up with another name, that long ass name just gives your opponent time to counter."

"Hey baby…" The sweet voice of one sadomasochistic winged beauty was heard from above him, forcing him to look up to see Akeno holding her hands at the front with many magic circles aiming straight at him, "Show me a pained face!" She claimed with a huge aroused smile as she released a huge bombardment on her mate.

"Well… shit…" Naruto muttered as he stood there frozen, no able to jump away or stop the bombardment because it was too much, but he was known as the 'Leaf's Number One Unpredictable Ninja', so wanting to own his title, he crouched and with an excited smirk, he jumped right towards the bombardment.

Akeno widened her eyes in fright as she saw her mate flying towards her attack, she, alongside Ayame and Hinata, screamed at him to be careful, but just as the attack was going to hit him, the silverette suddenly disappeared from view.

"W-What the… _mmmm_ …" Akeno claimed confused before she moaned in pleasure when she felt the silverette's teeth sunk into her delicate neck, "B-Baby… _ow…_ s-so not f-fair…" She complained as she leaned back into his body and closed her eyes to enjoy his essence coursing through her.

Naruto just smirked as he continued pouring some of his essence into her, he has long find out that Akeno was a sadist, she loved to inflict pain to others as it turned her on, but with him, she was a complete masochist lover. While they haven't done the deed yet, Naruto has kept all his mates satisfied with foreplay and Akeno loved to be treated harshly by him, that made him find a way to subdue her in a fight, which was to just turn it into a sexual play, as she could not stop herself from becoming a pet in his hands.

Naruto then just flew down while holding the moaning blackette close to him, he touched grown and after releasing her, Ayame said, "Not fair! I want you to put me down like that too!" She had a pout that Hinata shared.

Naruto just chuckled and said, "Come on now luvs, you now that this is the only way to subdue Ake."

The two girls just giggled at the still dazed Fallen Angel who after some moments, finally regained her wits before she said, "Mmm… I loved t-that soooo much…" She hugged his arm as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Naruto just chuckled and said, "Well then, let's see…" He looked at Ayame and commented, "Aya, you have certainly improved a lot, I would say that right now you could even challenge most genin without trouble, is water your only affinity?"

Ayame beamed at her beloved's praise before she replied, "Yes, I checked with Hinata and I only have water affinity, but I'm happy with that!"

The Namikaze heir laughed a little as he said, "That's good Aya, you keep on going like this and I'm sure you'll be chūnin level in no time…" He then leaned on the brunette and gave her a chaste kiss as reward, which she happily accepted, "Now, Hina…" He turned towards the bluenette and said, "Your techniques have become stronger than before…" He saw that Hinata was confused at that, probably thinking that she hadn't grown much, so he explained, "Hina, don't think that you haven't grown, you forced me to call on my cloak, that's something only Pa, the Old Man and Teme had done, hadn't I activated my cloak, I would have been knocked unconscious, fou shou."

"T-Thank you, N-Naru." She said with a small blush on her cheek before she smiled widely as she accepted a chaste kiss.

The silverette then turned towards the blackette holding his arm and said, "And Ake, there's really not much I can say about ya, you're definitely the strongest and when it comes to aerial combat, you actually have me beaten for now."

Akeno smiled at the praise as she accepted her kiss, she was happy that her mate acknowledged her advantage in the air as she knew that many men would be reluctant to admit weaknesses, but her Naruto was not most, and she knew that all he cared for is that she and her Harem sisters were safe.

"Naruto, what about the Chūnin Exams?" Ayame then said after she remembered that the exams were near.

Hinata nodded at that as she added, "Oh yes! I wonder if Kurenai-sensei's going to postulate Team 8 for the Exams?"

Naruto just hummed as he said, "She's gonna, Pa told me that the 'Rookie Nine' are all going to be in the Exams."

"Really?" Hinata said with surprise, she did not thought that they would all be put forth as chūnin hopefuls so soon.

Naruto just nodded and as he started to lead the girls out of the Forest of Death, he said, "Yup, he said that he, Asuma-sensei and Kure-sensei had agreed on it, heck, even Bushier Brows-sensei nominated Team 9."

The girls chuckled at their beloved's nickname for Might Guy as it fitted perfectly. They all then leaned closer to him and walked towards the village, "I'm sure things are going to be exciting." Akeno muttered with an eager smile on her face, action mimicked by the other three who could not help but feel excited at the coming events.

* * *

"Seems that everyone's here…" Hiruzen Sarutobi said as he watched his ninja standing before him. It was time to prepare for the Chūnin Exams, so he called on all his ninja who have a team so he could know which genin will participate on the test, "Now, those who have genin teams and wish to postulate them for the Chūnin Exams, please, step forward."

After the Hokage's words, three jōnin stepped forward. The first one was a beautiful black-haired woman with haunting red eyes, "I, Kurenai Yuhi, leader of Team Eight, would like to postulate Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyūga and Shino Aburame." Kurenai said with conviction, fully believing in her team to match up to the occasion.

Beside her, a tanned dark-haired man who had a cigarette in his mouth stepped forward and said, "I, Asuma Sarutobi, leader of Team Ten, would like to postulate Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Chōji Akimichi." He had full confidence in his team.

Beside the young Sarutobi, an exotic black-haired man with bushy brows and wearing a horrific green spandex full body suit that hugged his figure way too much, stepped forward and said with excitement, "Yosh! Me, the Leaf's Sublime Green Beast of Prey, Might Guy, nominate my most youthful Team Nine, Neji Hyūga, Tenten Hattori and Lee! I trust that my three little pupils will show the strength of youth!" He flashed them all a grin, showing his unnatural white teeth and stroking a good guy pose, making everyone around him to sweatdrop at his usual antics.

Everyone in the room then looked at Kakashi expectantly, but much to their confusion, he didn't stepped forward, even the Hokage was confused, "Kakashi, you do not think Team Seven is ready?"

Kakashi just sighed as he replied, "It's not that, Lord Hokage, we all know that they are already above chūnin level, is just…" Kakashi stopped there because he simply didn't know how to continue.

After seeing the man's reluctance, all the people present in the room hummed in understanding, they now remembered who the members of Team 7 are and they all knew that the Hatake was worried that the kids were growing too much in such a short period of time, it didn't help that they have already achieved feats that most of them could only dream about, Team 7 going officially chūnin, will just make them even bigger targets. Plus, everybody knew that Team 7 had always meant glory and tragedy at the same time.

The old man Sarutobi just sighed, sharing the silver-haired copy-nin's worry, but sadly, they could not shield Naruto and Sasuke forever, if they tried, the two boys will surely make a huge fuss about it, "I understand your reluctance Kakashi, I share it as well, but sadly, there is nothing we can do, Naruto and Sasuke are already placed in the Bingo Books as B-rank threats while Sakura has a C-rank, we can only hope that the Exams serves as experience for them to deal with the pressure."

Kakashi just sighed tiredly at that, he knew that he really couldn't deny his leader's words and if he tried to stop Team 7 from participating in the Exams, they'll surely have his ass for it. So he just nodded reluctantly as he said, "Yes, Lord Third… I, Kakashi Hatake, Team Seven's leader, nominate Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno."

"Very well…" Hiruzen said as he blew some tobacco from his pipe, "Then, adding those four teams with the ones previously nominated, the Leaf will have twenty eight teams participating in the Exams, along with three teams from the Mist, eight from Sand, two from Rain, five from Waterfall, five from Grass, three from Cloud and two from the new village Sound."

The ninja in the room raised their eyebrows at that, with Kurenai saying, "Cloud? Are the Hyūga okay with that?"

"Maybe yes, maybe not, the Hyūga are not the leaders of this village… I understand your concern Kurenai…" Hiruzen then leaned back on his seat and continued, "But the village has a new Raikage and while he is the son of the Third, the one responsible for the kidnapping attempt on young Hinata Hyūga, the Fourth Raikage has no obsession with getting bloodlines, he seems to be more, passive."

Kurenai just nodded with the rest, not really clear of worry for the girl she saw as a little sister, but she could do naught but watch over her and tell her to be wary for the time being.

"Now, I want to tackle the subject of this Sound village, the place is new and its leadership is so far unknown, I don't know if they represent a threat or not, but I want you all to be aware of your surroundings, for I have a bad feeling about these Exams." The Sarutobi then said with complete seriousness, reminding them all that despise being a kind old man, he was still the strongest one around.

They all nodded and with that, left the room to go about their business, leaving a tired old man who could only think, _'Danzō has been awfully quiet for some time now, I don't know what he's planning, but he's not going to catch me off guard…'_

* * *

"Lord Raikage?" A feminine voice that belonged to a beautiful curvy white-haired woman said once she walked into a big office. The woman had the distinctive dark skin of the people from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, she had her white hair pulled back into a bun with two bangs left falling freely in front of her beautiful face, she was wearing a formal dark green attire that showed a little bit of cleavage and her eyes were a haunting deep blue.

The Raikage in question was sitting behind a giant desk as he signed some paperwork, he was a hugely buffed man, with his light blond hair slicked back, he had dark skin as well and was wearing the traditional Raikage cloak with nothing underneath it, showing his strong build. The buffed man was also wearing large weights on his right arm as he was exercising at the same time that he was working, "What is it, Mabui?" He replied with a gruff voice.

The now identified Mabui responded, "Team Bee is here, except for Lord Bee himself that is."

The Raikage just grunted annoyed before he said, "He'll surely make an entrance soon, let his genin come in."

Mabui nodded and then opened the door behind to say, "Come on in." Prompting four figures to walk inside the room. The first figure was a dark skinned female with long vibrant spiky red hair, she had piercing amber eyes and was wearing the standard Cloud-nin gear and a long sword strapped on her back. The figure next to her was the only male of the group, he had short spiky white hair and dark eyes accentuated with dark lines curving upwards on the corners of his eyes, he was wearing the standard Cloud-nin outfit as well as a long sword strapped in his back, all the while sucking a lollipop with religious glee. Next to him, a beautiful buxom blonde stood with an uncaring look in her gorgeous face, she had fair skin and her blond hair was shoulder-length, she was tall, the tallest of the group and was wearing Cloud's standard ninja gear, with only the top being modified to allow her large breasts some room. And lastly, next to the blonde, another blonde stood, with her long hair tied in a single ponytail, she had dark eyes and had a fine face, her figure was slim but it was still quite sexy as she had the body of a kunoichi, she was wearing a short-sleeved purple blouse and black pants, both with cloud designs etched on them, she also looked to be the older one of the group.

"Lord Raikage." The four ninja bowed and said with respect.

The Raikage nodded as he said, "Karui…" He looked at the redhead, "Omoi…" He said as he looked at the white-haired male, "Samui…" He then looked at the buxom blonde who nodded slightly, "And Yugito, what are you doing here?" The muscular man finished as he questioned the older blonde, not knowing what she was doing here as she was not part of the team.

Yugito just shrugged as she replied with a small smile, "Dunno… I was sparring with them and since I had nothing else to do, I came to see what's going on."

The Raikage just chuckled at that. The girl in question was someone he saw as his little sister since she, like Bee, were orphans, hence why both were forced to become jinchūriki, Bee holding the Eight-Tails and Yugito holding the Two-Tails. The difference between them though, was that Bee was revered in their village, while Yugito was still being looked down upon a little, for what reason? The Raikage has never figure it out and it pissed him off, "Well, it doesn't matter, I will send you with them anyway."

Yugito looked at her friends who looked confused as well, so said, "Send us? Where?"

"I'll tell you whe…" The Raikage was saying before he stopped abruptly as the wall on the far side of his office was suddenly destroyed, " _Sigh…_ When Bee comes…" He finished as he massaged his temples, not able to retort his brother because he did learned it from him.

"Weeeeee…" An eccentric scream was then heard coming from the smoke that appeared from the crushed wall, where a dark skinned man with light blond hair, wearing black shades and the regular Cloud-nin outfit, although he was not wearing the grey shirt underneath it, showing his muscular chest, appeared as he claimed "Yo fools! Hold onto yo panties, bitches! The Mighty's here! Yeah!" The man said as he flared his hands around in extravagant motions, making the people in the room groan in annoyance.

The Raikage just sighed tiredly before he said, "Bee… Stop. Walking. Through. My FUCKING WALL!" The man screamed as he was getting tired of his younger brother's shit.

The now identified Bee just crossed his arms, undeterred by the Raikage's words, before he rapped back, "And who ya to talk fool! I remember well, how you used to make them fell! So y'all ninjas ain't got the beats, to demean this hunk's feats! Yeah!"

"God dammit Bee! Shut the hell up!" A greatly irritated Yugito screamed as she delivered a harsh punch on the rapper's head, making the rapper mutter sadly at how nobody appreciates his art.

The Raikage just sighed before he said, "Now, let's focus on the matter at hand…" The ninja then stood in attention, well, most of them, because Bee was still writing something on his small notebook. Ignoring his brother for now, the Raikage spoke, "The reason for why I called you here is because I want you to go to the Leaf and participate in the Chūnin Exams, I have already sent word to the Hokage, so your arrival should be expected."

That got the ninja's full attention, even Bee's as he stopped writing, "You want us to go to the village that almost declared war on us with false accusations!?" Karui then said, referring to the incident that took place years ago, where the Leaf Village had wrongfully accused the Raikage of an attempted kidnap on a Leaf child.

The Raikage just sighed a little after seeing that the resentment was present in the rest of the ninja, except for Bee, which surprised him. So not wanting his ninja to cause a scene, he decided to trust them with the truth of the incident, simply because they were his most promising ninja and because he did wanted to make truce with the Leaf, "They weren't false accusations."

Team Bee and even Mabui widened their eyes at that, all of them had always thought that they were mere lies to go to war against the Cloud, that was what was told to them after the incident, they had always believed that their village would never do such a thing, "W-What?…" Yugito whispered a question.

The Raikage just sighed again as he explained, "Unfortunately, those were not false accusations. My father foolishly tried to kidnap the Hyūga heiress so that the Cloud could get the Byakugan, it backfired and the people he sent were killed, the Hyūga were obviously not happy and wanted retribution, but my father was smart and managed to fool his way out of it, but he still tried to get the Byakugan, so as a compensation for the 'false' accusations, he requested the head of the Hyūga's patriarch…" The man then stood up and looked behind him, where a large window was placed, "The Leaf did sent a Hyūga, but it was a man that belonged to the Branch house, so his Byakugan was destroyed the moment he died…" He turned to look at his ninja and finished, "I don't want you to show distaste for a village that did nothing to harm us, as I'm ashamed to admit that if my father had gotten away with the kidnapping, the girl would've probably become a breeding machine."

It took Team Bee a while to grasp on everything that their leader had said, they were all shocked to hear such thing, the girls were disgusted as well at the mere thought of forcing someone to live a life of breeding. The only one who was undeterred was Bee, who seemed to already know about it all.

"W-Why keep the t-truth hidden?" Samui then asked as she regained her cool composure.

The Raikage just walked in front of his desk and leaned on it as he replied, "At the time, simply because my father didn't wanted to look bad in front of his people, so he put the blame on the Leaf. And now, because I need to find the right time to reveal the truth, because I have no intention of allowing this blind hate to continue, we're approaching dangerous times and I am not a fool who thinks we can make it on our own."

They all nodded at those words, knowing that they could not ask or say more, they were still shell shocked though, it was not easy to learn that something you have been taught to hate, turned out to have been based on lies, "Anyways, I want you three to participate along with two other teams, Yugito will act as you sensei for the first and second stage of the Exams. Bee, Yugito and Mabui will be my bodyguards for the trip once the final stage of the exams begin."

They all nodded at that, with Bee saying excitedly, "Yeah baby! Yo, amma gon see mah boi Lil Twelve, yeah!"

His team was cofnsued at his words though, so Karui asked, "Who the hell is 'Lil Twelve'?"

Bee looked at her and replied with his ever-present extravagance, "Mah collaborator, mah co-conspirator! Amma meet his ass and amma make that ninja mah protégé! Hit it B.I.G!" After those horrific words, a music beat was then heard, coming seemingly from nowhere.

Everyone had their eyebrows twitching as Killer Bee started to rap without restraint, making them all think in unison, _'Another one like him? It's going to be a long ride…'_

* * *

"What do you think Kaka-sensei called us for?" A pink-haired teenage girl asked the two boys standing by her sides.

"Hn." Sasuke just grunted as he shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing either.

It was Naruto the one that had an inkling, so said, "Ooo! Probably 'bout the Chūnin Exams!…" He then developed an excited glint in his eyes as he rubbed his palms eagerly before he added, "Dis gon be our year, fools!"

Sakura and Sasuke widened their eyes a little at that, before they shared their eccentric teammate's excitement. They knew about the Exams but both had thought that since they had only been out of the Academy for a little over 10 months, they found it hard to believe that they would be nominated.

That is when the voice of their silver-haired sensei was heard saying, "And you would be correct Naruto…" The three genin turned their attention towards Kakashi who was casually walking towards them, with some papers on his hands, "I called you here to let you guys know that I have nominated you for the upcoming Chūnin Exams…" The three genin beamed excitedly at that as they grabbed the sheets that Kakashi handed to them, they looked over them and saw that it was an inscription form, "I need you to fill those forms so I can take them to the Hokage Tower and have you enrolled." The Hatake then added.

The genin did as told and quickly filled their respective sheets, handing them to the Hatake once they were done. The silverette Uzumaki then claimed, "Yea boi! We gon wreck them modafakas!"

They all sighed in unison at his words, already somewhat used to his annoying eccentricity, though, they would certainly admit that said eccentricity made him more endearing for sure. Kakashi though, needed to warn them of something, so said, "Now, now son, don't get too cocky…" He urged their attention and as soon as he got it, he added, "I need you guys to be extremely careful with this event, the Exams are not only means to promote a genin, they are also viewed as a way to measure both an ally or an enemy's strength, so not only the Feudal Lords and the Kages that choose to come will be there to watch your every move, this is also a perfect opportunity for enemies to try a kidnap, an assassination or even a full on invasion, so be wary of everything and everyone, trust no one."

The elite jōnin was glad to see that his students took his words to heart, as they all nodded together with serious faces, letting him know that they all saw the danger that this kind of events brought with them. With that cleared, Kakashi signalled the start of their training session, he wanted to have them ready for the start of the Exams, in just 7 days.

* * *

"Just two more days…" Naruto Uzumaki muttered to himself as he strode through the Leaf's streets, barely capable to hold his excitement. It has been 5 days since Team 7 was officially enrolled in the Exams and the three genin were eager to begin.

 ** _"If you do earn the promotion, you shouldn't accept it."_** Suddenly, the voice of his divine predecessor said inside his mind.

Naruto was confused at those words, but just when he was about to ask why, a sudden yell attracted his attention, "You stupid brat!" Naruto followed the sound to its origin, to see a weird looking boy wearing some kind of full body baggy suit with a red and yellow circle on the front, he had a black hood with cat-like ears and had a forehead protector with the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Sand, the boy was tall and was wearing purple make up on his face and was currently holding none other than Naruto's protégé by the throat.

Konohamaru just struggled for breath as he said, "H-Hey!… I… I s-said I was so-sorry… ow!…"

"Kankurō, let the brat go, you'll cause us problems or worse, she'll get mad." Another boy then said to the hooded Sand-nin. This boy had blond hair tied in a short and spiky ponytail, like Shikamaru's, he was wearing a black robe-like top that showed a little of his toned chest, black pants with matching black sandals and a red sash tied around his waist acting as a belt. He also had a huge metal fan tied on his back and had his green eyes locked onto the hooded ninja's frame.

The now identified Kankurō did shivered a little at the mention of 'she', but he still said back, "Don't be such a pussy Tetsu, she's not around and someone needs to teach this brat some manners." The one named Tetsu just sighed bored but did nothing to intervene none the less, allowing Kankurō to draw his fist back and soon later, sent it straight at Konohamaru's face.

The young Sarutobi just closed his eyes in fear, not wanting to see the punch coming his way, but then had to open his eyes when he heard the boy holding him by the throat gasping, "B-Boss!?…" Konohamaru and his two loyal companions who were behind him not able to help said in unison at seeing the familiar silver-haired youth holding Kankurō's punch as if it was nothing.

Both Kankurō and Tetsu were surprised to see a handsome young silver-haired male that appeared out of nowhere, he was holding Kankurō's fist and as he spoke, he started to crunch the fist in his palm, "It's not a good idea to pick fights in a foreign land, ya know?"

Kankurō gritted his teeth in pain when he started to feel his hand threatening to break due to the strength the silverette was crushing his hand with, so he quickly let go of the small boy and brought his fist back, jumping along with the blond some steps away, "W-Who the hell a-are you!?" Kankurō asked as he readied his stance.

Before Naruto could answer, a rock passed by flying just beside his head, hitting straight at Kankurō's forehead who could only grunt in pain, "It's not polite to ask someone's name without providing yours first." A bored masculine voice was heard coming from a tree beside the street they were in, revealing a black-haired teenager leaning against the trunk of the tree uncaringly.

"W-Why you…" Kankurō was saying but stopped abruptly, as a voice that sent shivers down his spine was heard.

"That's enough Kankurō…" A cloud of sand suddenly appeared in front of Kankurō and Tetsu and soon after, a female form appeared from the cloud of sand. The female in question was certainly beautiful, in a dangerous kind of way, she had crimson red hair that reached just below her shoulders, she was wearing a Victorian styled dress with a maroon skirt that reached her shins, a dark brown corset-like armour that covered her stomach but left her breast and collarbone area covered by a light brown shirt that had a brown bow tied with a green emerald. What caught Naruto's eyes though, was the darkness he could see in her dazzling green eyes, her eyes were surrounded by black lines that the silverette knew were not make up, but probably naturally formed due to a lack of sleep, she also had a red tattoo above her left eye with letters he knew belonged to the old kanji alphabet and was exuding a recognizable presence that Naruto immediately knew belonged to a jinchūriki, "You've embarrassed our village enough."

Both Kankurō and Tetsu paled at her words, with Kankurō quickly apologizing. The girl though, ignored the two Sand males in order to lock her eyes on Naruto to say, "I apologize for my brothers' behaviour, they are stupid and don't know how to be polite in a foreign land…" She bowed a little before she asked, with the same cold dead tone in her otherwise melodic voice, "My name is Gaara and I would like to know your names."

Naruto just smirked a little while seeing that the girl was probably close to going completely insane, Kurama had just informed him that this redhead was the host of the One-Tails, a beast known to drive his hosts mad, "Don't worry about it, idiots abound in this world…" He smirked smugly when he saw the two males in question seethe in anger before he added, "And my name is Naruto Uzumaki…" At that, Sasuke appeared next to him and Naruto finished, "And this is Sasuke Uchiha, nice meeting you."

The girl looked at them both before she developed a small insane smile, she turned around towards her siblings but said, "Then I hope to see you in the Exams, mother's telling me that your blood is precious, precious enough to perhaps, finally prove my existence…" She then walked towards her brothers and after passing them, she ordered, "Let's go." Her two siblings just nodded dumbly and did as told, disappearing from sight some moments later.

"That girl is dangerous." Sasuke said as he watched the Sand people go, feeling something foul oozing off from the redhead.

Naruto nodded as he said, "Yeah, and I know why…" His brother turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, prompting the silverette to add, "I'll explain you all once we get to the training field."

"Training field?" Sasuke asked dryly.

Naruto instead of answering, turned to look at Konohamaru who was looking at his mentor with awe, but when he saw the predatory gaze of Naruto, the brunette kid shivered before Naruto grabbed him by the pants and while dragging the scared boy away, he said, "Kono! You're my protégé, mah legacy, and you're dragging mah name down boi! So amma up your training…" He turned to lock his blue eyes to Konohamaru and added with a sadistic glance, "Starting right now!"

Konohamaru just cried out in fear as he was being dragged through the dirt, with his two companions reluctantly following behind, leaving Sasuke to chuckle at his brother's antics before he too fell into step, wondering what Naruto meant with the girl.

* * *

"Oooo shit, boi!…" Naruto said excitedly as he sat on his bed. Finally the first day of the Exams has arrived and he could barely hold his excitement, "Amma ace that bitch, son! Fucking believe it!"

"Mm… Naru?… what's with a-all the noise?… _yawn_ …" An angelic voice was heard coming from his bed, belonging to a naked Akeno who had taken on sleeping in his room instead of her own apartment, not that he minded of course. He has already started the reconstruction of Minato's apartment complex down on the Market District so his girls could be close to him anyways, something that he knew triggered Danzō, as he has seen some of his Root agents watching over the reconstruction led by none other than Tazuna himself.

The silverette just stood up and walked towards her, he leaned down on her and gave her a chaste morning kiss which she happily accepted before he replied, "Sorry for waking ya up Ake, but today's the start of the Exams and I'm just so fucking lit right now!"

Akeno looked at him and chuckled a little at his words, finding him adorable whenever he gets too excited for something, "Oh okay…" She rubbed her still sleepy eyes and asked, "You want me to make you some breakfast?"

Naruto just kissed her forehead and responded, "Nah, it's aight, I'll just go to the ramen stand for a quick bowl, you go back to sleep."

The Fallen Angel just smiled and closed her eyes again while saying, "Okay then, I'll be cheering you and Hina on, so do your best, baby."

The Uzumaki just chuckled and answered, "You got it, fool!" He then walked towards his window and after checking that he had everything he needed, he jumped through it and headed towards the nearest roof, with Ichiraku's set as his destination.

"We're still not open…" Ayame said while having her back turned towards whoever just walked into the stand. She then felt startled when she felt a familiar body pressing against her back, making her moan when the person started to kiss her neck, "Naru… _ah…_ m-my dad's on t-the back…" She said in between moans, she was really turned on right now and more so when she thought of the little surprise she had for her beloved soon.

Naruto just stopped his ministrations and with a disappointed sigh, he said, "Fine…" He kissed her cheek lovingly and walked towards the stool at the other side of the cooking bar. Sitting on it, he said, "Can ya make me a quick bowl? The Exams are about to begin and I wanna be ready!"

"Oh that's right!…" Ayame said as she remembered that the Exams were beginning today, so she quickly made a bowl for her beloved and once he started eating, the pair just chatted idly. It took the silverette some minutes to finish the bowl and before he left, Ayame cheered, "Do your best and make us all proud, honey!" She had a happy smile as she gave her mate a good luck kiss.

The silverette just kissed her back and after waving her off, he took off towards where he was supposed to meet with his team. After 5 minutes of running, he finally arrived to the swing outside the Academy to see his teammates there already waiting for him, "Ya guys ready to kick some ninja's sorry ass!?"

Sasuke and Sakura chuckled at their extravagant teammate's words, but nodded with equal enthusiasm, as they were as pumped as him for this. So with that set, the three walked inside the Academy where the first part of the Exams was supposed to take place.

"Wow, there a lot of participants." Sakura uttered as she walk beside her team, looking around at the dozens of genin walking towards the same direction as them.

Team 7 had to stop though, when the genin walking in front of them started shouting at two taller teenagers standing guard on a door, "Hey! Move already! We're gonna be late!" A genin shouted at the two teens who refused to move.

The tall teenager who had spiky black hair replied while wearing a smug smirk, "Make me, kiddy."

"That's a genjutsu, right?" Sakura whispered a question to her two teammates, feeling the area surrounded by chakra.

"Yes." Sasuke replied dryly, being the best of the three when it came to genjutsu.

"Let's just move on, let these fools here, less competence." The silverette then said as he began to lead his team towards the stairs leading to the third floor.

"Naruto!..." A sudden excited voice attracted his attention, forcing him to turn behind to see the ever smiling face or Rock Lee, "I challenge you to a fight!" Lee said as he made his horrific good guy pose.

Naruto just sighed tiredly before he said, "No Lee, not now, after the Exams I promise ya, we'll fight." He then smirked, genuinely excited for a real fight against the second best taijutsu user he knew.

Lee beamed happily at that, "Yosh!…" He then jumped at Sakura and after holding her hands in a revering manner, he added, "I must prove that I'm worthy of my beloved Sakura!"

Sakura just chocked a little and then punched the blackette weirdo harshly on his face, saying, "Dammit Lee! I already told you! I'm not interested!" He was just too weird.

"When will you ever learn, Lee?…" A tired feminine voice then said as she made her presence known.

Team 7 looked at her, with Naruto saying, "Oh, waddup Ten!?"

Tenten just turned to look at Naruto and smiled happily as she replied, "Nothing much Naruto, just here, trying to withstand my two weird teammates." She pointed towards a stoic male that was standing behind her, who was looking with disinterest at the whole ordeal. She and Naruto were really good friends, since the silverette usually went to be trained by her sensei in taijutsu and once in a while, she would spar against him with his sword.

"I know how you feel." Sakura said dryly as she nodded slightly, making her two teammates twitch their eyebrows in irritation.

"Well, let's go then…" Naruto then urged them to continue their trek, but stopped when he saw that Team 9 were not following, "Y'all not coming?"

Tenten replied, "In a second, I have to bring Lee back to the world of the living first." She then chuckled as she kneeled beside her unconscious teammate.

Sakura did have the decency to develop an embarrassed blush at that, stating, "S-Sorry… didn't meant to h-hit him so hard…"

Tenten just chuckled before she answered, "Don't worry, he deserved it."

With that, Team 7 resumed their walk towards the room they were supposed to be and once they got to the door, they were surprised to see none other than Kakashi Hatake there, seemingly waiting for them, "Hello, my cute little genin." The silver-haired sensei said with his characteristic eye smile.

"Kaka-sensei? What'cha doing here?" Naruto asked his father.

"Well, I came to see you off and to wish you good luck…" Kakashi closed his book and looked at the three when he added, "I am very proud of you three, you have come a very long way and I'm sure you will not disappoint in there, so do your best and remember, these Exams are all about teamwork."

They all smiled at his words, even Sasuke, as their sensei's praise was something the three of them always looked for. With that, Team 7 nodded at their leader and walked towards the door in front of them, which Naruto opened and the trio were immediately greeted by a tense sight, a room filled with foreign ninja that were looking at the new arrivals with critical eyes.

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice then greeted Team 7, making them turn their heads to their side to see Kiba Inuzuka walking with Hinata and Shino in tow, along with Team 10.

"Hey Kiba." Sakura greeted the dog-boy.

" _~Hey babe.~_ " Ino then whispered to Naruto's ear as she hugged him from behind. It has been a while since they saw each other due to Naruto's missions, but he was happy to see that Ino was apparently still in love with him.

The silverette just smirked as he said back, "Hey sexy, how you've been?"

"Missing you…" The blonde said with a pout, not lying at all, "But otherwise, I've been fine, we haven't had many difficult missions, but I've certainly had my share of adventures…" She then developed a really shy attitude and declared as she buried her face on his back, "N-Naruto… I… umm… I n-need to speak to y-you once w-we're out of here…"

The silverette just smirked because he could tell that she was going to accept his proposal, so said, "Fou shou babe, once we're out of here…" He turned to look at her and whispered seductively, "I'll give you all the _attention_ you want."

Ino just fawned while melting in his beloved's arms, she will never be able to explain how and why was she so weak against his touch, but she didn't cared, she loved him and she was damn sure that he will love her back, that was all that mattered to her.

"You guys should keep it down…" A sudden masculine voice then interrupted the chattering genin. The voice belonged to a young bespectacled man who had onyx eyes and ash-grey hair tied in a single short ponytail, he was wearing a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt and dark purple pants with a white cloth waistband. The mysterious youngster fixed his glasses a little and finished, "You're attracting too much attention."

The Rookie 9 then turned to look around and saw that they had indeed caught everyone's attention. Kiba being Kiba, he immediately turned to look at the bespectacled man and declared without shame, "Doesn't matter, we're gonna kick their asses!"

The rest of the Rookies just sighed tiredly before Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the young man and asked with a little bit of edge in his voice, "Who are you anyway? You're wearing a Leaf headband, but I have never seen you around the village."

The young lad chuckled a little too sweetly as he responded, "Where are my manners, my name is Kabuto Yakushi, you probably haven't seen me because I'm a simple genin, like you."

Both Naruto and Sasuke narrowed his eyes at this guy, they could feel something suspicious coming from him, and Naruto being a god and the successor of the god that oversees darkness, he had gotten pretty good with detecting malicious intent.

"Aren't you a little old to be a genin?" Kiba asked while crossing his arms.

Kabuto just chuckled and replied, "Well, yes, this is actually my seventh time in the Exams, I haven't had the best of luck, but now…" He brought a deck of cards out of his pocket and added, "I think my luck's about to change."

"How so?" Naruto inquired with his head slightly tilted to the side.

"Well, because of my multiple times in these Exams, I have gotten a lot of info on the tests, as well as getting info on the participants themselves…" Kabuto started shuffling his deck a little as he added, "I have all the stats from the participants, right here in these cards…" That caught everyone's attention, to Naruto and Sasuke though, it didn't sound good, "Especially the outstanding candidates." The ash-haired male finished.

"Outstanding candidates?" Ino asked while resting her head on Naruto's shoulder.

"Yes…" Kabuto replied before he took 5 cards, "In this year's Exams, there are five participants that are already placed in the Bingo Book, making them high profile targets for everyone here."

Kiba then questioned, "Who are they?" He already knew at least three of those candidates, but he wanted to know who the other two are.

"Well, the first one is the pinkerette here, Sakura Haruno…" Sakura narrowed her eyes at that, sharing the wariness of her teammates, "She's listed as a C-rank kunoichi in the Bingo Book and she's rapidly growing…" The card that so far was blank suddenly showed some kind of stats, prompting Kabuto to say, "She's part of the Leaf's new generation of the legendary Team Seven, high level water and earth techniques, beginner in the arts of medical ninjutsu and she's said to be the team's intellectual member. Her mission record is twenty four D-ranks, twelve C-ranks and two A-ranks, she's hailed as a hero in both Wave Country and the Land of Spring alongside her teammates, for freeing said countries."

The Yakushi then grabbed another card and said, "Ah, next up we have Samui of the Cloud…" At those words, a beautiful buxom blonde female narrowed her eyes at Kabuto, she was leaning coolly against a wall some metres away from them, "She's one of the Cloud's most exciting prospects. She's listed as a C-rank threat in the Bingo Book, she's got high level lightning and water techniques, high-chūnin level in kenjutsu and one of the Raikage's personal protégés. Her mission record is thirty D-ranks, twenty six C-ranks and five B-ranks, oh, and she's a student of the Cloud's second most powerful ninja, Killer Bee."

At those words, the Rookie 9 immediately widened their eyes and turned to look at Naruto who was agape while staring at the beautiful Samui who felt somewhat uneasy. Sure, he was extremely handsome, probably the most handsome man she has ever seen, but he was looking at her with eyes of awe instead of lust, which confused her greatly.

Before Naruto could start to hyperventilate, Sakura quickly said, "Please keep going!" She, Hinata and Ino quickly grabbed Naruto to stop him from doing something stupid out of impulse.

Kabuto was a little confused but complied when he said, "O-Okay…" The man then fixed his glasses and continued, "Next we have, ah, Sasuke Uchiha…" The Uchiha narrowed his eyes dangerously, "Quite impressive young man we have here, listed as a B-rank ninja in the Bingo Book, user of the legendary Sharingan, his proficiency with lightning and fire techniques are almost perfect, he's mid-chūnin level in kenjutsu and is extremely skilled with genjutsu, he's also known for being the most technical of his team and like his teammates of Team Seven, is hailed as a hero in both Wave and Spring. His mission record is twenty four D-ranks, twenty C-ranks, one B-rank and two A-ranks."

 _'This guy knows too much…'_ Naruto thought while keeping his eyes narrowed at the strange man.

Kabuto then grabbed another card and commented, "Now, who's next… ah… Gaara of the Sand…" At that, both Naruto and Sasuke perked their heads a little, this one's someone they were interested in, "Wow, she's the daughter of the Third Kazekage himself, she along with her two siblings form Team One. She's listed in the Bingo Book as a B-rank threat, the only known abilities she seems to possess is the ability to wield sand, an extremely powerful sand that gives her an apparent perfect defence, a defence that has apparently kept her from getting a single injury in her whole ninja career…" The Rookies gasped at that, feeling a little uneasy at the news and the gaze of the girl in question, "Her mission record is twenty D-ranks, thirty two C-ranks, fifteen B-ranks and one A-rank, impressive."

The Rookie 9 who were now joined by Team 9 were shocked at that, the girl genuinely seemed like a threat at the level of Naruto and Sasuke, and that was not good for them.

"Now, the last one…" Kabuto said as he looked at the final card in his hand. Naruto knew it was his turn, but he wanted to be sure that Kabuto knew too much for a simple genin, if he was what the silverette thought he was, Naruto was going to warn his father about him, "Wow, now, this one's the real threat. Naruto Uzumaki, listed in the Bingo Book as a B-rank threat, although he's already considered by some as an A-rank. He's elite level in dual wielding swordsmanship, high proficiency with water, earth, wind and lightning techniques, but his fire proficiency, wow, he's said to be capable of using natural fire…" There were several quiet gasps at those words, people who are capable of wield natural elements are extremely rare, and extremely powerful, "He's part of Team Seven and he's said to be the fastest and physically strongest of the team. He's also considered as the main hero of the Wave and Spring liberation, as he is known as… the Dark Swordsman… and the cherry on the top… he's the jinchūriki of the Twelve Winged Dragon… his mission record stands with twenty four D-ranks, twenty C-ranks, one B-rank and three A-ranks."

Everyone went quiet at that, all those present in the room have definitely heard that nickname before and they were all surprised to see that it was the handsome silverette standing there in the room, but the knowledge of him being the jinchūriki of the strongest of the Tailed Beasts was downright frightening.

 _'Wow… h-he's the Dark Swordsman?… and he's like Bee and Yugito... cool…'_ Samui thought as she eyed the silverette. She was one of his many fans gained by the songs and stories written about him throughout the lands, simply because she admired swordsmanship and one with feats such as his, made it more impressive in her eyes.

 _'J-Jinchūriki… h-he's… l-like me…'_ Gaara thought as she widened her green eyes while staring at the silverette. She has never met anyone like her and for the first time in her life, she was genuinely excited to fight someone, he was not only worthy of proving her existence, he may even actually know her pain as well. But strangely, her mother was telling her not to mess with the silverette, something she found extremely confusing since her mother has never warned her about anyone.

"Well, that is quite the resume…" Kabuto said after finishing reading Naruto's card, "You are certainly the one to beat here and I would bet on you winning this whole thing, especially when there are so many weak candidates like the ninja from Sound."

Naruto just kept quiet, with Hinata getting a little worried because she could feel the silverette's uneasiness with the bespectacled youngster, but just before Naruto could do or say anything, someone beat him to it when a raspy voice said, "Who are you calling weak, pest!?" After those words, a strange boy who had his face wrapped in bandages, leaving only his left eye uncovered and was wearing a large poncho with long sleeves and a snake patterned scarf wrapped around his neck, threw a punch at Kabuto who swiftly dodged it, but strangely, Kabuto was still sent crashing against the wall by an invisible force.

"Ow!" Kabuto grunted in pain after crashing in the wall.

Everyone was confused as to what happened, they all saw Kabuto dodging the punch, so seeing him still getting hit was weird. Sasuke and Naruto though, managed to catch what happened, as they saw that the strange boy had a weird looking machine attached to his arm, the machine sent either compressed air or sound waves, since neither Naruto nor Sasuke could really tell, but it was enough to deliver internal damage.

Kabuto just lifted himself up and then said, "I apologize, t-that was rude of me." He just cleaned the blood coming from his mouth and sent the Sound-nin a creepy smile.

The boy was about to say something, but an even raspier voice resounded from behind them, "Alright you good for nothing brats, stop your stupid games right now!…" Everybody stopped immediately at those words, only able to look at the owner who was a large man with imposing figure, his face was rugged and was covered in scars, he had dark scary eyes, a bandana-styled Leaf forehead protector and was wearing the standard ANBU gear with a black leather coat over it, "Now kiddies, is time to begin with your hell…" He said with a scary smirk before he added, "There is a number on each of those desks…" He pointed towards the desks scattered around the room, "Look at your inscription forms and search for the number that corresponds you." He ordered as he increased the pressure of his aura.

Everybody did as told and began searching for their numbers. It took them some minutes, but after finally everyone was in their place, Ibiki said while handing out sheets to the genin, "The written exam you see in front of you, is the first part of your test…" He walked in front of the room and said as he looked at the candidates, "As you can see, there are nine questions written there, now let me tell you the rules, I'll keep it simple so you better pay attention because I will not repeat myself…" Ibiki turned to the board behind him and wrote, "Rule number one, you will all begin with ten points each, each question you get wrong, will deduct one point. If you get caught trying to copy somebody by the people watching you…" The Leaf's most renowned torturer gestured the Leaf-nin sitting around the room, "You'll get two points deducted each time you get caught, and at the third time, you'll get kicked out and disqualified immediately…" He then looked back at the board and continued, "Rule number two, this is a team test, so if you thought that you only have to worry about yourself, well, you were wrong. If anyone from your team gets a cero on their test or gets kicked out, his or her teammates will be disqualified as well…" There were several protests at those words, but Ibiki ignored them to add, "Rule number three, there is a final question, but it will be given to you after an hour has passed."

 _'Mmm… this is test is way too difficult… I trust that Naruto and Sasuke will be able to at least score a five… so that leaves the rest to me…'_ Sakura thought as she eyed her test and then her teammates, she knew that there was something fishy about the test because it was too damn hard, even for her. Thankfully, she was the brains of her team, so she knew most of the answers, but she was going to have to find a way to pass them to her teammates in case they need the help.

 _'Damn boi… this shit's tough!…'_ Naruto thought as he eyed his test. Sure, he knew some of the answers, but most of it was totally not knowledge a genin could have, _'There's gotta be a hidden meaning to this shit, yo…'_ He thought as he unnoticedly glanced around to see that most of the genin were nervous, save for some who the silverette could tell were scheming something.

Hinata looked through the corner of her eye at her beloved who was sitting right next to her, she didn't know if Naruto was going to have problems with the exam because she knew the questions written there were at least jōnin level, but knowing that he will refuse the help to avoid getting her in trouble, she just decided to believe in her mate and step in just in case she saw that he was having too much trouble.

 _'Mmm… the test is too difficult… is almost like they're urging us to cheat…'_ The black-haired Uchiha thought as he crossed his hands before his face. He had his onyx eyes narrowed at the back of his brother who was sitting some desks away from him, as if trying to silently tell him his suspicion.

"Alright then, seems like everyone is set…" Ibiki then said once he saw that everybody had their paper. The scarred man then looked at the clock and after it reached the 8 am mark, he said, "You have one hour, begin!"

At those words, the chūnin hopefuls did as told and began with their test, with most of them sweating at the hardness of the exam, but a few managed to caught on the hidden meaning of the test as the moments went by.

* * *

"Mm… an information gathering test, huh?…" A beautiful blond-haired female with a Cloud forehead protector said inside a room, where all of the genin teams' senseis were watching the exam through some monitors connected to cameras inside the exam room, "Quite impressive." Yugito finished as she focused on her fellow jinchūriki. She was not going to lie, she liked him, he was really handsome and had something so attracting about him that was even making her perverted tenant purr with excitement.

"Yeah, Ibiki is quite smart and savage…" A buxom purple-haired female responded while she watched the genin doing their best on the test. Anko had a dango stick in her mouth and couldn't stop her eyes from wandering towards her beloved silverette, who seemed too damn calm, "Wonder what the brat is going to do?"

Yugito looked at her in confusion, not knowing who she was referring too, but it was another female with black hair that said, "Well, knowing our beloved ball of mischief, he's probably going to pull something so stupid that it will actually work." Kurenai giggled a little, always expectant to see Naruto's exploits.

"Umm… excuse me…" Yugito said to the two Leaf kunoichi, who turned to look at her, prompting her to ask, "Who are you talking about?" She had an inkling about whom they were talking about, because the handsome silverette had an aura that reminded her of Bee, much to her horror.

The two Leaf-nin just giggled before Anko replied, "We're talking about Naruto of course, he's the only one capable to pull such things."

"The Dark Swordsman?" Yugito then said with a raised eyebrow and an incredulous look, finding hard to believe that such famed ninja would be as mischievous as they were painting him out to be.

Kurenai laughed a little as she replied, "Oh trust me, out in the battlefield, Naruto is as dangerous and brutal as the stories tell, maybe even more…" She then locked her ruby eyes on the monitor's screen and while looking at said silverette, she added, "But when he's out and relaxed, he's always doing something to keep him occupied and that usually means pranks."

"What do you think, Kakashi? How do you think your genin will fare?" Anko then asked to the silver-haired jōnin who so far was sitting in the couch reading his perverted book, not even caring to look at the monitors or the irked glances of the females in the room.

"Well…" Kakashi said as he turned the page, "Sakura will probably answer most, if not all the questions right, she's the smart one of course. Sasuke will probably use his sharingan to get the answers and Naruto…" He then looked at the kunoichi and with an eye-smile, he finished, "Well, I'm sure he'll just do something stupid."

Kurenai and Anko just chuckled as they nodded at their peer's words, with Yugito being the only one left confused as to what they meant with that. But with nothing more to say, they just turned to look at the monitors again and awaited for the results.

* * *

"Yo! Mr Proctor!…" Naruto said as he raised his hand. He has already figured out the true meaning of this test, which was information gathering, he could see that most of those who got the true meaning were already doing something to copy the answers from three conveniently placed genin who seemed to know them, making him believe that they were jōnin in disguise. But the silverette Uzumaki was someone with style and he knew that sometimes, the best way to get something you want, is to simply ask, "Can I have the answers?" He said with a stupid blank face that most could not believe he could hold it so seriously after such stupid question.

Everyone in the room looked completely baffled at such stupidity, the foreign jōnin in the observation room just looked at the silverette as if he was absolutely crazy while the Leaf-nin were all laughing at their favourite shinobi once again doing something amusing. Sakura actually groaned aloud while cursing her eccentric teammate, although she did had an amused smile in her face, a smile that Ino and Hinata shared, they probably already saw it coming. Sasuke on the other hand, just placed his forehead on his desk while releasing a tired sigh, he knew this was coming, his brother lived off of stupid moves, it was his thing, and as luck would have it, it seems that as usual, it worked.

"Sure." Ibiki just said blankly, making everyone in the room look completely stupefied by this turn of events.

"Thanks… fool…" Naruto said as he took the answers sheet and started writing them down on his test as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"Hey! What the hell was that!?" A fuming genin screamed, they have been stuck in this test for more than 30 minutes and almost half of the participants were already disqualified, but the silverette over there had just asked for the answers and were given to him without retort, not fair at all.

Ibiki just shrugged as he replied, "I never said that one of you couldn't ask for the answers, too bad you weren't the one who thought about it." He just smirked evilly at the genin, letting them know that such thing will not be accepted again.

The rest of the genin just continued on with the test, with the smartest ones already finding a way to copy the answers from the three boys who seemed to know them all. This went by for another half an hour until Ibiki said, "Alright brats, time's up."

Almost all of the participants cursed in unison, not able to answer all of the questions, but Ibiki didn't cared as he said, "Now, as you might remember, at the beginning of this test, I told you that there was a tenth question…" The chūnin hopefuls all nodded at that, prompting him to continue, "Well, before we get to it, there's a fourth rule you need to know…" The genin paled at the tone he used, making Ibiki smirk sadistically as he said, "Rule number four, if you get this question wrong, you will be automatically failed."

The genin predictably protested loudly at that, with Kiba roaring, "Hey! What the hell is this shit!? What was the meaning of the other questions then if in the end they won't even matter!?"

Ibiki just smirked and replied, "To keep you kiddies on edge."

The genin just stared at the scarred man blankly and agape, they could not believe how passive aggressive this guy was, "Ya sick bastard." Naruto said to Ibiki while wearing a small smirk. The silverette was friends with Ibiki since the scarred man was usually the one that always tried to pin the pranks on him, although to this date, he hasn't achieved such goal.

Ibiki just smirked at Naruto before he added, "That's not all, if a person from your team decides to not take the question, the team as a whole will be disqualified…" There were even more protests at that, making Ibiki's smirk widen when he finished, "And those who fail now, will be banned from ever entering these exams as well."

That dropped like a bucket filled with lava on the teens, it was completely unfair, "You have to be crazy! I've been on these exams before and I have never heard of such rule!" A Leaf genin screamed as he pointed accusingly at Ibiki.

Ibiki just shrugged as he replied, "That's too bad, I was not in charge of those exams…" He then narrowed his eyes threatenly and said, "But now I am…" The genin wisely shut his trap and sat back on his seat after seeing the frightening gaze the scarred man was sending him, "You want to avoid that? Simply lift your hand and you will be able to leave with your team without repercussions, meaning you will still be eligible for the next exams." The Morino added as he shrugged.

Out of all of the teams that were left, at least a half of them left after those words, they were obviously not feeling confident about their odds and no one really could blame them, "Are they all?…" Ibiki questioned after the teams left, he was glancing around the room to look at the remaining candidates, more specifically, at Naruto, who was leaning back on his chair with both hands behind his head, "Feeling confident, brat?" Ibiki leered at the silverette with a smug smirk.

Naruto just looked at the scary man uncaringly and replied, "Shut it, fool! I ain't no puss!…" He then opened his arms wide as if inviting Ibiki to attack while saying, "So come at me, bro!"

The occupants in the room that did not know Naruto, were a little startled by the boy's lack of care at threatening a larger and scarier man. The Cloud-nin including their sensei though, were feeling their eyebrows twitching at the familiar speech of the silverette, reminding them of an annoying colleague of theirs.

Ibiki just chuckled at his words, Naruto will never stop making his days entertaining, "Alright then, if no one else is going to leave, let's move onto the tenth question…" The temperature in the room suddenly fell as the genin started to sweat, some of them were even starting to rethink their decision, but Ibiki saw that Naruto's little act of defiance instilled some guts in the rest of the genin, so they stayed put, "You all pass." The scarred man then said dryly.

The genin then looked at the proctor with stupefied expressions, not able to grasp what he meant with that, "W-What?…" Sakura asked weakly, completely confused.

"You heard me, you all pass the first test." Ibiki replied dryly as he leaned against his desk, enjoying the disbelieving looks the genin had on their faces.

"What the fuck was that!?" Kiba then shouted in outrage.

"That was the tenth question…" Ibiki said calmly before he explained, "The question itself was to see which of you were willing to risk it, the life of a chūnin is filled with risks and decisions that need to be made in haste, sometimes, even sacrificing someone in your team, because information is the most important thing in any kind of conflict…" The head of the T&I department then walked a little to stand before the baffled teenagers and continued, "If you haven't figured it out yet, this test was not about your knowledge on things, this test was about information gathering…" The genin quickly developed understanding looks at that, "The test itself was way beyond anything a genin should know, the point was to force you to cheat."

Kiba then asked, "But why place sentinels then?"

Ibiki looked at the dog-boy as he answered, "Do you think that the enemy will just simply allow you to take the information without being watched? The objective of this test was to see if you were capable of cheating without getting caught, this was basically a stealing information simulator, those who are caught, do not have what it takes to be chūnin."

"B-But what about the silver-haired boy over there!…" A Waterfall genin said as he pointed towards Naruto, "You gave him the answers the moment he asked for them! He's a Leaf-nin, so who's to say you're not favouring him!?"

Ibiki sighed and said, "Asking for the information itself is pretty stupid, we all agree on that, right?…" The genin nodded, prompting Ibiki to add, "And that is exactly why it could work. We are humans and as such, we tend to overthink everything, we come up with complex plots that end up becoming too complicated to carry out perfectly, what Naruto did was incredibly stupid and unthinkable, and that is exactly why it could work, because no one in his right mind would think that a spy would simply ask for the info politely…" He then went back to his desk and continued, "As chūnin, you will come across different kinds of situations that will require you to adapt, sometimes you need a complex plot to achieve your objective, but you will be surprised at how most of the time, you only need to ask."

The genin were stunned at those words, it made them look into Naruto's action more deeply and found it that it actually made sense. When it comes to information, every country, village, faction, group or whatever, they all became paranoid to the point of obsession, so someone coming and casually asking for the information to the right person at the right time, could probably work, simply because it was unthinkable. It also made the genin more wary of the silverette, because they could see that he was unpredictable and those kind of enemies, were the deadliest.

Ibiki saw that the chūnin hopefuls finally understood what Naruto did, he was about to add something else, but was rudely interrupted when the window beside him suddenly broke due to a kunai flying through it. The kunai embedded itself on the wall opposite to the window and once it stuck, a puff of smoke filled the front of the room were a banner with the words 'The sexy and possibly taken Anko Mitarashi' written on it appeared, followed by a beautiful purple-haired female who was wearing mesh suit that hugged her amazing figure tightly, making the males in the room drool at her killer body. On top of the suit, she had a tan coat and an orange mini skirt, "Sup brats!…" She said cheerfully with a scary smirk that sent shivers running down the genin's spines. Her grin fell though, when she saw her beloved Naruto holding a small sheet with a 9 written on it, "Just a nine!?" She asked with a pout.

The silverette nodded and replied, "Yup, ya need fire, fool!"

Before Anko could reply, Ibiki said annoyed, "You're early, Anko."

Anko looked at the scarred man and said, "Yeah well, shit happens…" Ibiki just grunted irked but before he could say anything, Anko complained, "Wow, you're really getting soft in your old age Ibiki, sixteen teams…" Anko then developed a sadistic smirk before she said, "Doesn't matter! When I'm done with them, at least half will be _gone…_ " She laughed maniacally and finished, "Now, follow me!" She then jumped through the other window, breaking it in the process, and disappeared at the distance.

Ibiki just sighed and said, "Well, you heard her, you better run now because she'll get angry if you don't get there in time and I doubt you want to get her angry." Ibiki chuckled when the genin immediately ran to catch up with the eccentric proctor, leaving Ibiki alone in the room to collect the sheets left by the genin.

Ibiki chuckled when he grabbed Naruto's sheet, because instead of finding answers, he saw a draw of a mini Naruto showing Ibiki his ass while flipping him the bird. Ibiki narrowed his eyes when he saw the bottom part of the sheet though, because Naruto wrote 'Be careful with the guy named Kabuto Yakushi, he has information he shouldn't have and he smells like snake'

Ibiki just hummed in thought, he did not liked the snake part, he could feel an ominous feeling starting to creep up his body, prompting him to mutter, "Better take this to Lord Hokage, he warned us that something might happen in these Exams and seeing this, it probably has to do with Orochimaru." With that, Ibiki left the room and headed directly towards his leader, hoping that his hunch was wrong and that it was just Naruto imagining things, although deep inside, he knew something big was about to happen.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya have it, he have reached the beginning of the end of the second arc in this story, I'm very excited for the next arc but for now, enjoy the Exams, cheers and see ya lads later!**


	19. The Exams (Part 2)

**A/N: Waddup lads, we got another chappie here but let me say something first.**

 **I'm going to go on a little rant here, simply because I'm seriously getting a little annoyed. I would like to make a little request to you fellas, even though I know you are going to grab my request and rub it on your crotches, but even so, let me ask some things. One, stop commenting that you are going to stop reading this story, there are a lot of people who comment and say that are going to stop reading either because the story is not going the way they want, because of Naruto's speech, because someone they liked is not portrayed or even alive as they want, or because apparently, I'm a fool, since some of you seem to be able to see the future and claim that I will not finish this story due to being a mass harem, you claimed it with such balls that I almost believed it myself, but to tell you the truth, I couldn't care less if you stop reading or not, this story is as much for me as it is for you, so even if you comment such things in a way that makes it sound as if you actually expect me to go to bed, think about what you said, cry a little and wake up the next day to fix the story to your liking, it's not going to happen, you want to stop reading the story? Then just do so and stop wasting your time. Two, again with Naruto's speech, this is the last time I address this, I already told you guys that it's not permanent, he's still a teen with annoying traits, like we all used to have, and just like we did, he will grow out of it, as he grows up, his way of talking will become more mature, he's not going to lose all of his eccentric behaviour but he will mature, so either bear with it for now or don't. Three, stop with the beta or grammar thing, I know I make mistakes, that is why whenever I can I read the past chapters and fix the grammar, to those who are saying that the slang is written wrong, mates, it's fucking slang, it literally is a deconstruction of the language, so I don't give a damn if the bloody Snoop Dog specified how to write it, I will write it as I want, simple as that. In conclusion, just please stop using the comment section for such things, I use that section to read your honest and civilised thoughts, suggestions and questions, so it gets frustrating when I have to go through lame comments like the ones mentioned above. You hate me? Then curse me in your private time.**

 **With that done, I want to apologise, I completely forgot to explain the change with Gaara and Temari on the last chapter, as you all might have already figure out, Temari was gender-bent for this story, the same applied for Gaara. I know there are many people who wanted to see Temari with Naruto and so did I, but I just couldn't find a way for her to work in this story the way I needed the first Sand girl to work, I tried, I really did, I even considered making her the One-Tails, but it just wouldn't fit and in the end, it would just be a female version of Gaara, so I ended up settling for making Gaara female and Temari male, I'm sorry for those who felt disappointed with this, but as I said earlier, I'm not going to add girls just for the sake of it, each girl has and needs to have a purpose, otherwise, there's no reason for me to add them.**

 **I think that's it for now, so enjoy the chapter!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **The Exams (Part 2)**

"Aaawww!… you look so cute when you do your stupid moves, Naru!" Anko squealed as she squeezed the life out of said silverette who had his head smashed between her bountiful breasts, much to his delight and plight, because he was having trouble breathing, though, he didn't really seemed to mind that much.

"Ah!… K-Ko… I… I c-can't breathe…" Naruto said as he struggled a little, not sure whether he wanted to get out of her grip or not, although, his stupid happy grin could tell which one he preferred.

"U-Umm… P-Proctor?" A tender voice that Naruto knew belonged to his beloved Hyūga was heard, making her presence known along with the rest of the participants who were looking at the mushy scene with both jealousy and mirth.

Naruto smiled a little, thinking that either she or Ino were going to save him from the snake user's grip, but much to his irritation, he saw from the corner of his eyes that both girls were giggling at his plight, silently telling him that they are not going to get involved.

Anko just smiled nonchalantly and began, without releasing Naruto, "Right, well, now that you're all here, let me explain the next test…" She pointed behind her towards the forest and said, "Welcome to the Forest of Death, the deadliest place in all of the Land of Fire. Creatures that you thought were but mere nightmares usually have their nests here…" She then looked at the frightened genin and finished with a sadistic smirk that sent shivers down their spines, "And you are going to be in there for quite a while."

The genin gulped at that because they could feel the ominous vibe the forest exuded, almost as if inviting them to walk in and die, "W-What?…" Sakura whispered, she knows what horrors abound in that forest, she had no idea why her silver-haired teammate spends so much time in it, but the very few times she had come here with him, she had seen horrendous and dangerous creatures.

Anko just chuckled and then brought a hand to her pocket, where she took out two scrolls. She showed the genin the scrolls and they could see that one was white and had a note attached to it that said 'Heaven', the other one was brown and the note attached to it had the words 'Earth' written on it, "You see these two scrolls?…" The genin nodded, so she continued, "There are eight pairs of these inside the forest, hidden of course, your job is to find a pair per team and go to the tower in the middle of the forest, those who do not get the two scrolls, will be disqualified."

The genin widened their eyes and immediately turned to look at each other, Anko saw this and said, "I see you understand what that means…" She kept the scrolls back and continued, "There are thirty-one teams here, but only eight will advance…" She delighted herself on the scared glances of the genin before she continued, "Inside the forest, everything goes, you may do what you have to do to get the scrolls, even killing is allowed although not encouraged. Inside the forest, you have everything you need to survive, I trust that you already know that this is a survival test."

"Damn… this is going to be tough…" Sasuke muttered to Sakura who nodded, both were looking around at the other teams, some looked quite strong, not to mention, that their fellow Leaf-nin were a considerable threat as well.

"Now, there are some rules. One, once you get the two scrolls, your whole team must be present at the tower, if even one of your teammates is missing, you will be disqualified, whether you have the two scrolls or not, that rule also applies to the rest of the test, the moment one of your teammates is incapacitated, you're out…" Anko then smirked as she continued, "Two, you cannot read the contents of the scroll, under any circumstances, if you do, I will know, and you will be _punished_ severely…" She said with a scary smile that made everyone gulp, "And finally, you have five days to complete the test, it won't matter if you have the two scrolls, if you do not make it to the tower in those five days, you will be disqualified and we will proceed with the teams who made it in time. Am I understood!?" She then roared.

"Yes!" The genin replied.

"U-Umm… A-Anko-sensei…" Sakura said with a shy voice.

"What is it, pinkie?" Anko replied.

"C-Can I have my teammate back?… I umm… I think h-he's dead…" Sakura said as she pointed at Naruto who was still buried in Anko's breasts, though, he was not moving, nor breathing.

Anko then widened her eyes and looked down to see Naruto almost unconscious while wearing a stupid grin on his face, "Hehe… you love 'em… you lovable perv…" She whispered as she gave the silverette to Sakura, "Now, everyone, sign these forms, they simply relinquish me and the Leaf from all responsibility for your deaths or fatal accidents." She finished with a sadistic smirk as she gave the forms to the genin.

"Yo… w-what happened?…" A dazed Naruto said as he laid on Sakura's lap who was filling both her and Naruto's forms, "I… I w-was so warm… a-and… happy…" He then said with a stupid grin on his face.

Sakura just chuckled before she answered, "Yeah, yeah, just get up already, we're about to begin the next test…" She looked down and after pinching the silverette's cheek hard, she said, "You heard everything so let's go."

The silverette just complained as he lifted himself up, he scratched his head as he eyed the rest of the teams, _'Hehe… got two possible targets right there…'_ He thought mischievously as he looked at a redhead and a blonde, who were both wearing a Cloud Village forehead protectors, _'Plus, they're THE Mighty's students, fool…'_ He then added as his eyes started to shine and he started to squeal like a fangirl, not caring for the slightest of the weird looks everyone was sending him, he just couldn't help it whenever his idol was mentioned.

The silverette then felt the gaze of someone and turned to his right, where at the distance, the Sand's jinchūriki girl was looking at him intently, not even trying to hide her excited stare, although, he didn't felt as much bloodlust as he felt before, _'And the other one I have in mind…'_ He thought as he locked his eyes to hers.

 ** _"She?"_** The voice of the Nine-Tailed Fox then said inside his mind, confused as to why would he want to come close to the host of her youngest sibling.

 _"Of course… I'm not targeting her for my ambition though, I just want to help her… her eyes… I know those eyes very well…"_ He looked straight at the girl's green eyes, eyes he could see carried way more than just lunacy and bloodlust, _"Plus, I have to free the One-Tails too."_ He then finished.

Kurama was incredibly startled at that, she could not believe what she just heard, **_"W-What?…"_** She just whispered a question.

Naruto just smiled at both Gaara and Kurama, with the former feeling confused at the strange reaction she got, before he replied, _"I told ya that I was going to build a peaceful world for everyone… that includes you and your siblings, Kurama."_

Kurama was actually feeling her heart throbbing incredibly fast, she knew she was developing feelings for the silverette and she was trying hard against it, but now hearing him saying that and knowing that he was not lying, her walls were starting to crumble little by little.

Taking the silence of the mighty fox as the end of their conversation, the silverette focused back on Anko as she said, "Alright then, now that everyone's set…" She then pointed behind her and added, "Go to your designated entrance and wait for the buzz to begin."

They did as told and Naruto said to his teammates, "Oi! We gon kick these fools' butts fou shou!" Sakura and Sasuke just chuckled and began walking towards their entrance, who coincidentally, was number 7.

"Naruto!…" The voice of Anko suddenly won his attention, making Team 7 stop on their tracks to turn and look the buxom purple-haired female who said, "C-Can you come for a bit?"

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the unusual demeanour that Anko was displaying, but he nodded to his teammates and they made their way towards the entrance as he walked towards Anko and said, "What is it Anko? Ya aight?"

Anko looked at the side a little and as she massaged her neck where a certain curse mark was placed, she said, "Y-Yeah… just… b-be careful okay?… my… m-my mark is bugging me more t-than usual and… I… I d-don't like this feeling…" She looked at the side embarrassed, she hated showing how needy she was of the silverette, but she couldn't help it, over the years he had become one of her lifelines, he was the only one capable of subduing the pain from her curse mark, so one could forgive her for feeling like a worried wife whose husband was about to go to war.

The silverette Namikaze just smiled a little as he walked towards her, he hugged her, making sure that nobody was seeing them because he knew that Anko hated to be seen like this, and once he saw they were clear, he kissed her forehead and as she looked at the kunoichi's dark eyes, he said, "Don't worry Ko, I promise ya, I'll be aight."

Anko nodded with a small smile as he placed her head on his shoulder for some seconds before she broke the hug away and said, "Alright, now go and make us proud."

He smiled widely at Anko and with that, he took off towards his team. Leaving Anko there watching his back as she muttered, "He has never lied to me once, so I know he's not about to start now."

* * *

"Everything alright?" Sasuke asked his brother as he walked towards him and Sakura.

Naruto just placed both hands behind his head and replied with a grin, "Yup, don't worry fool! Focus on kicking them asses!"

"Always so eager huh, Naruto?" A voice suddenly said coming from behind the trio, making them turn to look at a recognizable ninja who was having another one of his usual cough fits.

"Hayate-sensei?" The trio said in unison as they looked at the Leaf's greatest swordsman.

Hayate smiled after finishing coughing and while ruffling his apprentice's silver locks, he said, "The very same… _cough cough…_ "

"What'cha doing here?" Naruto asked as he pouted for being treated like a little kid, though, those who knew him well, knew that he enjoyed it none the less.

Hayate walked towards the forest's entrance and as he looked at the genin, he said, "I came to deliver you this…" He took a sheet from his pocket that turned to be a map of the forest with at least two dozens of red points marked in it, "This is a map of the forest and as you can see, there are twenty-six points marked on the map, those points are the possible locations of the scrolls, so you better be fast and get to those points before the other teams beat you guys to it… _cough cough_ … oh… shit…" He explained before he leaned on the fence behind him, he was getting old for this shit.

Team 7 nodded and Naruto kept the map in his pocket as he said, "Aight then, thanks Haya-sensei! We gon win this shit, believe it fool!" He claimed with an excited smirk that his teammates shared with him.

Hayate just smiled and said, "I do believe so…" Suddenly, a buzz was heard and the door on the fence opened, prompting Hayate to say, "Well, that's your cue, go!"

Team 7 immediately made their way into the forest and once inside, jumped towards the nearest tree and began leaping off towards the closest point marked in the map, "Aight, good thing I know this forest like the back of mah hand." The Uzumaki said as he stopped.

"Hn, which one are we going for?" Sasuke asked as he stopped beside his brother, with his hands kept in his pocket.

"Mm… knowing Ko… she surely placed them in the most dangerous places…" The silverette said as he eyed the map intently. The Namikaze then widened his eyes a little when he saw the position of one point, "Oh boi… Yo, I'm sure she hid one here!" He said as he pointed the map.

Sakura then said, "Why are you so sure, Naruto?"

The silverette Uzumaki looked at her and with an excited smirk, he replied, "'Cause that's the shelled bastards' lair!…" He grinned maniacally as he rubbed his hands excitedly while he said, "It's been a while since I paid them shelled turds a visit! Ooooo… they're going down, baby!" He then took off without waiting for Sakura and Sasuke.

The two genin just sighed at their teammate's rash actions before they looked at each other and quickly made their way towards Naruto, "Just don't overdo it, Dobe." Sasuke said as he reached his brother, warning him to no lose time with his six-legged arch-rivals.

The Dobe in question just smirked at his brother and continued on with their trek. It took them almost an hour to reach the giant crabs' lair, " _Sigh…_ " Naruto exhaled the air as he said, "I've missed this place, fools…"

Sakura just chuckled before she questioned, "Well, where do you think the scroll is?"

Naruto looked around the clearing and after locking his sight towards a big cavern, he responded, "Knowing Ko, the scroll has to be in the King Crab's lair."

Both Sasuke and Sakura widened their eyes at that, they have only seen the King a couple of times and it was huge, "Damn… that's going to be tough…" Sasuke muttered as he narrowed his onyx eyes at the cave.

The last Uzumaki nodded as he said, "Yup, but don't worry fam, I gotta plan…" Naruto then jumped down the branch he was standing on and while looking up to his teammates, he said, "Amma make a fuss here, distract King Turd, ya take the scroll from his cave and run like hell away from here."

"Are you crazy!?…" Sakura whispered angrily, not liking the idea, "Naruto, you're going to get yourself killed!"

Sasuke nodded and added, "Yeah Dobe, and what makes you believe we're going to leave you alone?" Sure, the blackette Uchiha had a reputation of never showing emotions, but it was his brother we're talking about, Naruto kept Sasuke from going mad and it was the same thing for Naruto, so he did not liked the idea of leaving his brother alone with a powerful beast.

Naruto just smirked defiantly and replied, "Oi! Trust me ya fools! I can do this!…" He then looked forward and said, "Plus, I'm not going to stay here and fight them all day, I'll just wait until I can't sense ya around anymore and I'll get the F.U.C.K out of here."

Both Sasuke and Sakura just sighed, they knew that trying to convince Naruto from doing otherwise was not possible, he was too damn stubborn, "Alright Dobe, your call."

"Just be careful." Sakura then added.

Naruto just nodded and began to walk towards the biggest cave, he could already feel the smaller crabs crawling out of their hiding spots, surely they have already feel his presence, "Oi! King Turd! Show ya'self, fool! Daddy's back, bitches!"

After his taunt, the ground suddenly began to tremble at the rhythm of the sound of giant steps coming from inside the big cave. After some moments, a huge crimson crab appeared from the cave, the crab was at least 15 meters tall, its pincers were huge and extremely sharp and pointy, it had six dark brown legs that were as sharp as its claws, the King's eyes were golden with a black slitted pupil looking hatefully at the silverette and its giant mouth was filled with sharp shark-like teeth.

Naruto just smirked at the menacing crab and said, "Aww… such warm eyes ya have there for me…" The silverette then draw both Gloria and Nex, and after activating the lightning sword, he added, "I missed ya too, fool!"

The silverette then wasted no time and immediately jumped at the King with both swords cocked back, ready to slash at their master's order. An order that came the moment Naruto reached the pincers of the King that used them to cover itself from the slashes the silverette mercilessly delivered.

The King then used its left claw and swung it towards Naruto who had to jump to avoid the huge pincer, but the moment the silverette landed on the ground, he cursed when he saw a powerful stream of water being shot at him by the angry King, "Ooo… dis gon be good…" Naruto muttered excitedly as he stood up. The silverette then lifted his left foot and screamed, "Mineral Wall!" He stomped the ground hard and seconds later, a wall made of minerals from the soil sprung from the ground, protecting the silverette from the powerful water.

Naruto then jumped on top of the wall and breathed in a huge amount of air, some seconds later, he blew the air and turned it into natural fire that raged down on the King which made strange noises as if in pain.

"Damn… this i-is really scary… b-but cool…" Sakura whispered as she kept her eyes locked on the fantastical battle between man and beast.

"Yeah, let's go, we're clear now." Sasuke then said as he began to lead Sakura towards the King's cavern.

The two genin quickly made it towards the cave and walked inside of it, the cave was surprisingly deep as it took them almost 5 minutes to reach the deepest part of the it, "Okay now, it has to be somewhere." Sasuke muttered as he looked around.

"How are we supposed to find it!? This place is huge and the scroll is so small!" Sakura whined as she looked around as well.

Sasuke grunted in agreement, it was going to be really hard to find it and they really didn't have much time, the battle outside was starting to pick up since the noises and trembles were getting louder and stronger. It took the blackette some seconds, but he finally remembered something, "Wait, Anko-sensei said that the scroll's contents cannot be read, so there has to be some kind of defence mechanism in them or a trap, right?" He asked as he looked at his pinkerette teammate.

Sakura looked at her crush and tilted her head as she said, "Yeah, I guess that there's either a summoning trap inside there that will alert the proctors that someone has open them, or a painful trap, knowing Anko-sensei, I would say is the latter… but why you ask?"

Sasuke just smirked and activated his sharingan as he said, "My sharingan can SEE chakra, all traces of it."

Sakura just widened her eyes before she smiled. Sasuke looked around and after some seconds of looking, he finally found a chakra source coming from below some rubble, "Found it…" He said as he removed the rocks and grabbed the 'Earth' scroll hidden in there, "Let's go." He then said to his teammate who nodded and followed behind.

After the pair finally managed to get out of the cave, they quickly made their way towards the edge of the clearing and turned to look at their teammate, who was having the time of his life as he fought fiercely against the mighty King Crab, " _Huff_ … the Dobe's having too much fun…" Sasuke said with a smirk as he saw his brother stabbing the lightning sword on one of the King's eyes. Sasuke then made some hand-seals and after finishing, he blew a small ball of fire in the air, signalling his brother that their mission was done, "Let's go, he'll catch up soon." He then said to Sakura who nodded reluctantly, not feeling so good at leaving Naruto behind.

"Oops… sorry… didn't know you needed that, fool!…" Naruto said as he kept his grip on Nex, which was still buried in the screeching King's eye, "Seems they did it…" He then muttered as he saw a small fireball in the air, surely from Sasuke, "Well… fun time's up…" Naruto muttered before he jumped away from the King.

The silverette Namikaze then gathered a considerable amount of his divine essence and after he was done, he slammed both hands on the ground while saying, "Doomsday!" Huge spikes of minerals then sprung violently from the ground, piercing the smaller crabs brutally, some even managed to damage the raging King, but the beast was really strong, so Naruto wasn't surprised when his technique merely managed to stop it on its tracks.

"Hehe… well fellas, it was fun seeing y'all again… I'll come by and visit soon…" Naruto said with a smirk before he blew a kiss to the King and added, "Bye dear! Meep Meep!" He took off with great speeds towards the way his teammates left, leaving a roaring beast that could only click its claws in anger.

* * *

"So which point do we check first, Samui?" Karui questioned her team's leader as she sat on the ground.

The beautiful blonde in question just looked at the map in her hands and said, "Well, the closest one obviously…" Samui stated before she showed both of her teammates the map and pointed at a red dot, "It's just some metres ahead."

Karui nodded but Omoi wasn't feeling so confident, so said, "Yeah but, what if it's a trap? What if we go there and turns out to be a cage that will confine us with giant insects inside? Samui will probably end up sacrificing herself to give me and Karui a chance, but she will die, and the Dark Swordsman will hunt us down and take revenge, because I saw how you two were looking at each other…" Samui blushed a little at that, she had a pout on her face but did not denied it whatsoever, "He will kill me and Karui out of revenge, then Lord Raikage will declare war on the Leaf, then…"

"Dammit Omoi!…" Karui screamed as she punched her overdramatic white-haired teammate, "Why do you always have to ramble so much!?"

Omoi just massaged his head and after getting a new popsicle from his pocket, he replied nonchalantly, "Well, it's a possibility."

Samui just sighed tiredly as her two teammates began another one of their usual quarrels, sure, she was used to it by now, but it never stopped annoying her, "Stop it you two, we need to get the scrolls as quick as possible…" She then rubbed her left arm and said as a small shiver ran down her spine, "I hate insects and this place is filled with them, so I want to get the hell out of here as soon as possible."

Karui and Omoi did stopped their spat and nodded at their leader and with that, Team Bee began to make their way towards the first possible position, "Damn, how the hell are we supposed to find the stupid scroll!?" Karui complained as she and her team arrived at the place, which was filled with bushes and trees, making finding the small scroll a strenuous task.

"Mm… not cool…" Samui muttered as she looked around, like her teammates, she had no idea how to find the damn scroll.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?…" A sudden voice then won the Cloud-nin's attention, making them realize the presence of three genin, two male and one female, "Seems like we weren't the only ones aiming here."

Samui just cursed under her breath, the team she encountered was one of the two teams that she wanted to avoid, one being the team of the Dark Swordsman and the other one being the team of the Kazekage's children, "So it seems." She just replied coolly as she looked at Gaara, Kankurō and Tetsu.

"You…" A soft yet dark voice then said, belonging to the red-headed girl known as Gaara, she was pointing at Samui as she said, "Mother seems to like your blood."

Samui did not know what the redhead was talking about, but she knew that she did not liked how that sounded, so silently signalling her team to be ready, she replied, "You're weird."

Both Kankurō and Tetsu just gulped, they did not wanted to get in their sister's way, so they just stepped aside and allowed Gaara to jump down to the ground, with her hands crossed uncaringly as she locked her crazed gaze on the blonde, "So I've heard." The One-Tails jinchūriki just commented as she grinned maniacally and immediately after, her sand shot straight at Samui.

Samui cursed before she quickly made some hand-seals and called after, "Water Style: Water Bubble!" Knowing that sand was weak against water, she quickly called on the water present in the soil and formed a protective barrier around her, which managed to stop the dangerous sand though much to her surprise, the sand stopped before it submerged in the water.

"You bitch!…" Karui screamed at her fellow redhead before she finished her hand-seals. She then grabbed her sword and poured the lightning she gathered in it, "Die!" She screamed as she jumped at Gaara who only looked at her impassively.

Before Karui could deliver her slash though, she was sent back by a powerful gust of wind that originated from the giant fan that the blond Sand-nin swung at her, "Stay out of it, girl." Tetsu said with a smirk as he jumped down to stand between his sister and the red-headed Cloud-nin.

Karui cursed and turned to look at Omoi to ask for assistance, but she once again cursed when she saw that her dramatic teammate was currently being engaged by the last member of the Sand siblings, leaving her alone with the blond.

Samui looked at her opponent and immediately made more hand-seals to say, "Lightning Style: Thunder!" After her words, a barrage of lightning bolts shot out from her hands, heading straight at Gaara who hadn't moved from her original place.

Gaara didn't even blinked nor moved as her sand automatically created a barrier around her, covering her from the lightning shower heading her way, "You'll have to do more." Gaara said unemotionally as she conjured her sand and bringing her hands forward, she sent it at Samui who cursed before she agilely managed to avoid the spikes of sand.

Unbeknownst to the two genin teams, a third team was currently hiding in the bushes, watching the fight with frightened eyes, "Dammit… that girl… she's scary…" Kiba muttered to his two teammates as he petted Akamaru who was quietly whimpering under his jacket, scared of the crazy red-headed Sand girl.

"What do we do?" Hinata asked as she kept her eyes on Samui. She was getting worried, not for her and her team's safety since she knew they could just seize the chance and escape, she was worried for the buxom blonde because she saw how she and her beloved looked at each other, so she knew that Samui was a target of Naruto.

"For now, nothing, we wait and see how it goes, maybe we can get the scroll after they fight it out, or we run away if we see it gets too tense, it's not advisable to flee now because I'm sure the winner will just chase us." Shino then ordered, he was the second in command, so in this kind of situation were their sensei was not present, he was the one to call the shots.

Kiba and Hinata nodded at that, with the Hyūga Princess smirking unnoticedly as she began to channel her chakra onto her mark, alerting Naruto that she needed his presence here because she knew that only him had a chance against the Sand redhead, Samui will surely die if he doesn't get here pronto.

* * *

A certain silver-haired boy was currently leaping from branch to branch in the direction where his teammates headed to, "That was a cool fight, fool." The last of the Uzumaki muttered with an excited smirk.

He had to stop his jumping abruptly though, because he suddenly felt a small tugging in his heart, as if a string attached to it was being pulled, "Hinata!" He screamed as he gritted his teeth, he knew that the feeling was his marks warning him that one of his mates was in trouble.

Naruto just quickly made a shadow clone and ordered, "Keep going towards our team, I'll go and check on Hinata."

The clone nodded and made its way towards Team 7, leaving Naruto there alone as he concentrated on Hinata's presence. It took him some seconds, but he finally found her and immediately made his way towards her, "Dammit… I really need to get the Thunder God down…" He cursed under his breath as he leapt, his biological father's technique would come in handy in these kind of situations.

Naruto was leaping so fast that the only thing that could be seen was a red glow left behind, the silverette didn't even realized that he had called on Ddraig's cloak subconsciously, but it did the trick since it took him only a couple of minutes to reach Hinata who thankfully, was not too far, "Hina?" He whispered as he crouched beside her, startling Kiba and Shino a little, but Hinata already felt him so she managed to cover her teammate's mouths so no sound would come out.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Hinata said as she looked confused, but Naruto could see that she was trying to tell him to play the fool for now.

Naruto quickly made up a lie and said, "I had to stay behind a little to cover my team's back, I was making my way back towards Teme and Sakura when I saw you here… what's going on?"

Kiba then said as he pointed towards the battle some metres from them, "Look."

Naruto looked towards where the dog-boy pointed at and felt his eyes widening when he saw his two targets fighting against each other, with the blonde named Samui clearly losing as she had a bent arm that seemed to be broken and was breathing heavily, her teammates were winning against Gaara's siblings, but they still couldn't aid their comrade.

Naruto just gritted his teeth as he understood why Hinata called him here, he needed to save Samui and calm Gaara down, "Get out of here, that girl, Gaara, she's a jinchūriki like me, you do not want to be here."

Kiba and Shino widened their eyes and gulped at that, Hinata already knew about it but for the sake of the play, she feigned surprise as well, "B-But Naruto… y-you're gonna get yourself killed, man!" Kiba whispered heatedly.

The silver-haired Namikaze just smirked as he replied, "Nah, I'm stronger than her, I just can't guarantee your safety because if I fight her here, I'll have to go all out."

Team 8 just sighed in defeat, they knew that their friend was stubborn, the most stubborn person they knew, so there was no way to convince him to change his mind. Plus, they were really scared and knew they were over their heads in this one, so they reluctantly nodded at Naruto, who said, "Aight, I'll show mahself and then you get out of here." He ordered, prompting the genin to nod at him, with Hinata sending him a silent thought to be careful, which he smiled reassuringly at her.

Naruto looked back at the fight and cursed when he saw that Gaara had trapped Samui in her sand, which encased the blonde as if she were in a sand coffin. So knowing that he did not had much time, he quickly breathed in a big amount of air and jumped towards the field where the Sand-nin and the Cloud-nin were fighting.

As he was in the air, Naruto aimed his mouth at the red-headed crazy girl, he wasn't going to kill her, he only wanted to brake her concentration.

"D-Dam…mit…" Samui just cursed under her breath as she gritted her teeth in pain, she could feel her bones starting to crack due to the immense pressure the sand was placing on her. She knew this was it, there was no way for her to escape, her teammates were screaming at her, frustrated that they could not help her, _'I-I'm… s-sorry… Y-Yugi…'_ She thought about her best friend and how her death was going to break her.

Gaara was smiling crazily as she pressed her sand coffin even harder, she could already smell the blonde's fresh blood and was savouring how good it was going to feel to once again prove her mother her existence. But the redhead suddenly widened her eyes when she felt immense heat coming her way, making her turn to look at a huge fireball sent at her. But she managed to jump away and avoid the ball of hell that crashed in the ground, creating a big explosion that forced her to break her concentration in order to do get out of the fire's range unscathed.

Samui widened her eyes when she saw what happened, even more so when she fell from the sand and instead of landing on the ground, she landed in the embrace of two strong warm arms, making her look up to see none other than the Dark Swordsman carrying her bridal style, "…" Samui was just speechless, even after almost dying, she could feel her body demanding her to not let go of this man.

Naruto kept his eyes on Gaara as he said to Samui, "You aight?"

Samui finally recovered her composure after some moments, when she responded, "N-Not really…" She was feeling her face heating up so badly that for a moment she completely forgot her injuries, the warmth that the silver-haired swordsman was covering her with felt so incredible and oh so right, like if she was at home, "B-But… w-why?… why a-are… _auch_ … w-why are y-you helping m-me?" She then asked as she looked at anywhere but his face.

Naruto just smiled a little and without looking at her, replied, "I don't know, my body moved on its own." He was lying of course, he was not going to tell her that she was a target to move his ambition forward nor that he was secretly pouring some of his divine essence into her, seizing the pain she was in as a distraction to go unnoticed, but he did managed to sound romantic there, probably earning him some points.

Samui just stared at the beautiful man as she placed her good hand over her throbbing heart, as if trying to stop it from jumping out of her chest, she did not know what the hell was going on, she never felt like this before, it was not normal, at all, but she didn't cared.

"Samui!" Suddenly, the voice of her white-haired teammate was heard saying as he and Karui made their way quickly towards Naruto and Samui. They had finally managed to fend their opponents off, though, both Tetsu and Kankurō made their way towards their sister as she stood there, frozen and unresponsive. Both Karui and Omoi saw that the silverette saved their leader, but they did not know if he came on good terms or not, so one could forgive them for being on guard.

Naruto felt this and turning to look at the two Cloud genin, he said as he gave Samui to the white-haired male, "Go, get out of here…" The silverette then turned back to Gaara and finished, "I'll deal with her."

Both Karui and Omoi seemed to like that idea, but Samui on the other hand, couldn't stop herself from saying, "N-No!… _auch_ … y-you'll… s-she's… too… s-strong…" She blushed immediately after she said those words, she didn't intended to sound so worried for the man, but she couldn't help it, her body was acting on its own, she had no control whatsoever.

Naruto just looked at her over his shoulder and said with a fierce smirk, "Don't worry beautiful, we will meet again soon."

Samui felt her heart beating even stronger after that, _'W-What the h-hell is going on!?…'_ She though frustrated at her current situation, she did not know why she was acting like a damn high schooler in love.

The other two Cloud-nin just nodded gratefully at the silverette, with Karui saying with a small smile, "T-Thank you for this… w-we won't forget t-this…"

Naruto just nodded with a small smile at the Cloud-nin before they quickly jumped towards the nearest tree and soon later disappeared from sight, with Samui not once prying her eyes away from the silverette, "Gaara." Naruto then said as he smiled a little at the lunatic red-headed beauty.

Said girl smiled crazily at her fellow jinchūriki as she greeted back, "Naruto."

"This is not our time to fight Gaara, I have a feeling you and I are going to fight in grand style." The silverette then said with a genuinely excited smirk. Sure, he was going to save this girl from her madness, but he was mad with battle lust as well, so he was obviously going to be eager to fight strong people.

Gaara did seem to pout a little at those words, making Naruto tense unnoticedly, thinking that the girl might not accept his words. Surprisingly though, she did as she said, "I see… mother's telling me that I shouldn't mess with you… so for now… I'll comply…" She then turned her back on him and went back into her uncaring mode as she added, "But next time we meet in the battlefield, we will fight." With those words, she jumped at the nearest tree and disappeared from view moments later, with her two siblings in tow.

"I know…" Naruto just muttered tiredly as he kept his gaze towards where his fellow jinchūriki previously stood. He hated to see such a beautiful woman carrying such pained eyes, it reminded him of his past too much and he was going to make sure that the girl recovers her sanity, that was a promise of a life time.

The silverette suddenly cursed though, because the clone he sent to his team suddenly poofed out of existence and sent its memories towards Naruto, who cursed while saying, "Orochimaru!" He immediately jumped towards his team's direction, knowing that they needed him, badly.

* * *

Some distance away from where Naruto was fighting against the Crab King, two figures could be seen jumping from branch to branch, getting as far away as they could from where their silver-haired teammate was fighting it out with the beast.

"S-Sasuke…" The voice of Sakura then brought the Uchiha's attention behind, where he could see the worry etched in his pinkerette teammate's eyes, "D-Do you think Naruto will be alright?" She then asked as she kept the pace with her crush.

Sasuke turned his attention forward as he replied, " _Pfft…_ Come on Sakura, you and I both know that the Dobe has been fighting with the crabs for ages now, I'm sure he's already making his way to us now." He had full confidence in his brother's abilities.

Sakura just smiled a little at that, she knew that the blackette's words spoke the truth, but she could not get rid of her worry even so, "I-I hope y-you're right…" She just muttered as she looked back a little, to where her lost teammate was fighting.

Sasuke just sighed when he saw that Sakura was not calming down, but before he could do anything, he and Sakura went on the alert when they felt danger coming their way. Both genin quickly jumped back and landed on the ground with their guards already up as they saw with horror how a giant snake suddenly crashed against where they previously stood.

"Well, well, well… kukuku…" A voice was then heard coming from the other side of the field, the voice seemed sickly sweet and carried an ominous feeling with it that made both Sasuke and Sakura a little nervous, but they still managed to keep their cool, "You're not as helpless as I thought you were." The voice then added followed by the revelation of the owner, which was a strange female wearing a Grass forehead protector, the strange female seemed to glide like a snake towards them.

Sasuke just narrowed his eyes at the strange woman before he sniffed her scent and found something alarming, _'Damn… she's smells of snake… don't tell me she's…'_ He just gritted his teeth at the realization, if this was who he think she was, they were screwed.

The woman for her part just licked her lips like a snake as she released a huge amount of killer intent, trying to freeze the two genin in their place to make her job easier. But much to her surprise, neither Sasuke nor Sakura seemed affected by it in the slightest, _'Interesting… they are obviously wary of me… but they're not scared… not even a little… interesting indeed…'_ The woman thought as she smirked at the two, "Now kiddies, why don't we skip the pleasantries and you just give me the scroll, hmm?"

Sasuke smirked back as he replied, "Like hell we're doing that… Orochimaru." He finished with his eyes turning into his two tomoe sharingan, Sakura didn't showed her surprise at hearing that from her teammate, but she quickly brought her kunai forward and prepared to defend herself.

The Uchiha knew about Orochimaru thanks to his brother's godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin, previous member of Team 7 and old teammate of Orochimaru himself, he had specifically warned the Uchiha to be careful of him because Orochimaru was obsessed with getting every jutsu in the world and what better way to do it than with the sharingan. The snake summoner was as obsessed with the legendary dōjutsu as the old war hawk known as Danzō, so Sasuke knew very well who he had to thread carefully with.

The now revealed Orochimaru did widened his eyes at that, he was genuinely surprised to see his prey knowing who he was, "Oh my… kukuku… Sasuke dear… you're such a splendid specimen…" He said as he liked his lips and looked at the blackette hungrily.

Sasuke just shivered with disgust, if he didn't knew what Orochimaru was after he would've thought that the snake guy was nothing but a sick paedophile. But the blackette knew that even if he talked big he had no chance against Orochimaru, he was a Sannin in the end and while the Uchiha was certainly strong, he was not on that level just yet, _'Dammit Dobe… we need you here…'_ He thought before he made some hand-seals and after finishing them, he claimed, "Lightning Style: Flashbang!" Suddenly, the sparks in his hands clashed against each other and created a powerful white light that managed to force Orochimaru to cover his eyes, allowing the two genin to attempt an escape.

Orochimaru just smirked as he saw the genin trying to flee, "Mmm… kukuku… so interesting…" He said as he jumped at the head of the giant snake and fused with it, sinking his legs and waist in his summons's head, leaving only his upper half above.

"D-Did it w-worked!?" Sakura asked a she followed her crush.

Sasuke just gritted his teeth and as he stopped, he said, "No." After his words, Orochimaru appeared in front of them with the giant snake, looming dangerously over the two genin.

Orochimaru smirked and as he flicked his tongue like a snake, he said, "You have impressed me, children… kukuku… perhaps, I should take you both." With that, Orochimaru lunged his snake straight at the genin.

Sasuke and Sakura gritted their teeth but the latter managed to finish her hand-seals and said as she smashed her hands on the ground, "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" After her words, a thick wall of mud sprung from the soil and managed to protect them from the snake that could not stop its attack and crashed violently against the wall.

Sasuke did not wasted any time as he immediately jumped at the top of the wall and as he breathed in a bunch of air, he made a set of hand-seals and jumped while releasing a huge fireball at the snake Sannin, who cursed as he quickly moved him and the snake out of the way.

 _'Tsk… these brats are tougher than I thought…'_ Orochimaru thought with irritation, he had thought that it was going to be a simple mission, but these kids were stronger than he believed they would. Still, he was a Sannin, so he had the upper hand none the less, "Kukuku… seems like I've underestimated you too much…" The snake summoner then brought his hands forward and said, "But not anymore… Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" After he said that, he brought both hands to his mouth and immediately after, blew a powerful gust of wind strong enough to bring the mud wall down, sending the two genin flying towards the trees behind.

"Fuck!" Sasuke cursed as he went back on his feet, he had no time to breathe though, because he suddenly had to jump behind when Orochimaru opened his mouth and from it, a sword that elongated towards him came crashing down towards where he previously laid.

Orochimaru retracted his sword back and detached himself from the snake, he made his way towards Sasuke and began a dance of taijutsu with the Uchiha, surprising him at how good the blackette was, _'Yessss… you are the perfect vessel… Sasuke… kukuku…'_ Orochimaru thought as he continued trading punches with the Uchiha, he could finish this in a second, but he wanted to test his next vessel.

This was the scene that Naruto's clone arrived to, it cursed and immediately dispelled itself to send the information to the original Uzumaki, it just hoped that he would get here in time.

"Earth Style: Earth Dragon!" The voice of Sakura was then heard and soon after, a powerful dragon made of earth sprung from behind her, aiming straight at the snake Sannin and her teammate.

Sasuke managed to catch a glimpse of his teammate doing her hand-seals thanks to his sharingan, so he managed to get away before the dragon crashed against him, but Orochimaru actually missed it, thinking that the pinkerette was down for the count, a mistake that ended up costing him as he was hit by the dragon dead on, sending him flying against the trees where he crashed against many tree trunks before he finally landed face first against a larger trunk, stopping his advance.

"Grr…" Orochimaru growled after he stood up, this fight was getting out of his hands, these damn kids were really good and they even managed to actually land a powerful hit on him, they were testing his patience, "Enough!" He screamed as he seized the distraction his snake summon made when it attacked the two genin from behind, allowing Orochimaru to lunge his head straight at Sasuke, elongating his neck inhumanly to do so.

Sasuke cursed as he managed to get away from the giant snake, but he then screamed in pain when he felt two fangs sinking into his neck, he could also feel a foreign presence invading his whole body, that is until he couldn't keep his awareness on any longer and fell to the ground completely limp.

"Sasuke… ah!" Sakura screamed when she saw the blackette falling before she too yelled in pain when the snake used its tail to hit her from behind, sending her straight towards a tree where she crashed violently and lost consciousness as well.

"Kukuku… little girl, you will also make a perfect addition to my forces…" Orochimaru said as he walked towards Sakura, that is until he widened his eyes when his senses warned him of incredible danger, making him jump back away from where he and his snake were.

He did it just in time as an incredible ball of fire hit where he previously stood, his snake wasn't so lucky as it couldn't escape in time and paid heavily for it, even Orochimaru was surprised when he saw his summon turned into complete liquid, "Natural fire!?…" He muttered after he heard a voice saying.

"Yo fool! What'cha think ya doing, huh!?…" Naruto said as he jumped in between his downed teammates and the snake Sannin who licked his lips at his arrival, "Kicking mah teammates' asses like if they were a bunch noobs! Ya need to chill fam!" He added as he pointed at the man accusingly.

Orochimaru laughed before he said, "Kukuku… ah, the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki… you're really strong, boy… as delicious as little Sasuke… kukuku…"

Naruto felt a disgusting shiver running down his spine when he saw and heard the things the snake fool was saying, "M-Mah dude… t-that's… that's so f-fucked up, fool…" He then hugged himself before he added indignantly, "Ninja, yo a pedo!?"

Orochimaru actually had the decency to look completely baffled at that, when he stuttered, "W-What!?…"

"Yo, that's fucking disgusting, fool!" Naruto screamed at the stupefied snake summoner.

Orochimaru surprisingly started moving his hands dismissively while stuttering, "N-No! That's n…" He couldn't finish his sentence because the silverette screamed.

"Ya need Great Red!…" The Uzumaki looked completely indignant as he picked up both of his teammates, he began to walk away but left saying, "Only the Lord can help ya out of such revolting path! Only he can save yo sinful ass, fool!" He then disappeared from sight, leaving a stunned Orochimaru behind.

Orochimaru just stayed there, completely shocked at what just happened, he did not understand why in the bloody hell did he just let the kids go and why the words of the silverette shocked him so much, "W-Why do I f-fell like… I've b-been tricked?…" He muttered as he disappeared in the ground, still not sure about what just happened.

* * *

"Ooooo… I c-can't believe t-that worked, fool!" Naruto muttered as he felt droplets of sweat running down his forehead. He completely played his way out of the situation with Orochimaru, he was no fool, he could fight him yes, and maybe if he went all out on his snake ass he could actually beat him, but he was not going to risk it when his teammates' lives were on the line, so he had to play the pedo-card to get his ass out of there.

 ** _"You humans are really, really strange."_** Ddraig said inside his mind as he smirked. He found it hilarious the way his host got himself out of a sticky situation, he didn't found it so surprising though, he knew that his host literally lived off of such moves.

 _"Yeah well, don't underestimate the power of awkwardness, fool…"_ The silver-haired swordsman replied as he finally got a good distance away from the Sannin.

Naruto then looked around and found a perfect spot to rest for now since both of his teammates were completely out for the count. The silverette walked towards a thick tree that had a small cave in its roots, he settled both of his teammates down and then rested his back on the wall, "Mm… the fuck is that?…" He said when he saw his brother's neck, where a strange symbol was showing, "The Teme doesn't have tattoos… so the fuck is it?" He added as he examined the strange symbol.

 ** _"Is a seal boy, for what I can feel from it, there is a presence inside of it… it feels… like… a shattered soul… a piece of one…"_** The mighty Red Dragon Emperor answered his host's question, he was intrigued by the delicate and powerful seal, it was always exciting for him to see humanity's creativity.

 _"A piece of a soul?…"_ Naruto mentally said as he stared at the mark before it then hit him, _"Oh shit!… then it's like Ko's mark!…"_ Naruto growled when he thought of his beloved purple-haired special jōnin's mark that causes so much pain to her, he has been trying to find a way to get rid of it and after some time he finally had one, but it involved him marking her, so he had to wait. But with Sasuke, there was nothing he could do to get rid of the stupid curse mark, "I'll fucking kill you Orochimaru." Naruto then muttered as he looked at his brother, no one was going to take his brother away from him, he was going to make sure of that.

Naruto then just covered Sasuke and Sakura and went to take a nap, he wasn't concerned about someone sneaking on them because his senses were incredibly sharp and Kurama will stay awake to take over his body for his rest.

Some hours went on in tranquillity, until three figures hid behind the bushes some metres away from the sleeping figures, "Wow, they're sleeping without a care in the world, how stupid can they be?" A tall boy with spiky black hair whispered as he stared at the Leaf-nin, he had a smug smirk on his face, thinking that this was going to be too easy.

"I don't like this, guys, this is too easy." The lone female of the team then added as she narrowed her eyes at the sleeping genin. She had long black hair that almost reached down the ground, she was finding it really hard to believe that the famed Dark Swordsman was such an easy target.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Zaku, Kin…" The last member then said with a gruff voice. The voice belonged to the same guy that punched Kabuto back at the test room, "This is our chance to prove our worth to Lord Orochimaru."

The boy named Zaku then added as he chuckled lightly, "Yeah Kin, listen to Dosu, I'm sure that the Dark Swordsman just stole all of his 'feats', he seems pretty stupid to me."

The girl named Kin just gritted her teeth as she whispered, "I really don't think he's that stupid!"

Her two teammates were about to retort, but they had to widen their eyes in fear when a mocking voice said from behind them, "Ya fools should really listen to your beautiful teammate, ya know?… It might have saved your lives."

The three Sound-nin turned quickly behind them to see the very same young man they were discussing, he was standing there with bored eyes and crossed arms as he looked at them uncaringly, "H-How?…" Kin muttered, not understanding how he got behind them without them even noticing, she was sure she never took her eyes off of him and he never moved.

Naruto just smirked fiercely as he replied, "Shadow Clone." He then pointed behind them, making them look back towards the place he was supposed to be. They were surprised when the silverette they were looking at the whole time poofed away the moment he pointed at it.

But the Sound-nin made a terrible mistake, they had turned their backs on their opponent and Naruto was not such a merciful guy. Zaku was the first one to learn this when he grunted in pain as he felt something piercing his chest, he looked down a little and widened his eyes in fear when he saw the tip of a blade piercing his chest. The sword didn't pierced anything important, so he could still move, that is until the silverette charged the sword with lightning and immediately after, Zaku fell limp.

"Z-Zaku!" Kin screamed in horror as she saw her teammate falling to the ground, she didn't know if he was alive or dead, she only knew that she was damn right about the handsome young man, he was way out of their league.

"Damn you!" Dosu screamed as he made to pounce on the silverette.

Naruto just looked at Dosu and could hear from his heightened senses that the bandaged genin was charging whatever it was the machine in his arm, but before he could even do that, the silverette suddenly disappeared from sight, "What the hell!?" Dosu claimed as he landed where his opponent was supposed to be just moments ago.

"Dosu, behind you!" Kin screamed at her team leader.

Dosu turn quickly behind but it was already too late, as the silverette had already clashed a rasengan in the Sound-nin's stomach, making him release a hollow scream before he went flying towards a nearby tree where he crashed violently enough to knock him out cold.

Kin was completely speechless, her team has just been taking out in a matter of thirty seconds, maybe even less, she knew that the silverette was out of their league, but she didn't thought it was by this much.

"Aren't ya gon fight, fool?" The voice of said silverette then brought her attention back to him, making her crawl away a little in fear.

"N-No… I… p-please…" She didn't know what to say, she has never been loyal to the Sound, only Dosu, and that was because he just wanted to have a home, they all knew that Orochimaru was a sick bastard, but they didn't have anywhere else to go, but even so, she didn't had it in her to die for the snake bastard.

Naruto just narrowed his blue eyes at the girl as he said, "Do you have a scroll?"

Kin quickly nodded and took two out of her packet, she threw them both at the silverette while saying, "T-Take them… j-just… please… l-let us go…"

Naruto looked at his feet where the scrolls laid and saw that they actually had both, so he kicked the 'Earth' scroll back to the girl who felt confused, so he explained, "We only need the Heaven scroll, take that one."

Kin just nodded numbly at that, she was surprised to see kindness in such a scary person, but not wanting to anger the handsome boy anymore, she quickly grabbed both of his teammates and jumped towards the nearest tree, but before she left, she heard the silverette say, "Leave Orochimaru, girl, the snake-pedo's only goal is to experiment on his people and you will not be an exception." With that he went back towards his team, leaving Kin to just look at his back before she took off, as far away from him as she could.

Naruto just sighed once he felt that the Sound-fools were gone, but he then raised an eyebrow when he felt a huge burst of chakra coming from where his two teammates were. The silverette saw how his brother started to awake like a zombie and once he stood up fully, Naruto saw that his whole body seemed to be covered in strange flame-like markings or tattoos while his body was being surrounded by strange but powerful purple energy, "Teme?" Naruto asked as he walked closer to the Uchiha.

Sasuke heard the voice of his brother and turned to look at him, he was feeling incredibly good right now, huge power was coursing through his veins, his emotions were raging freely as he thought on his desire for vengeance and lust for power, that is when he realized he was not being himself, so Sasuke closed his eyes and began to calm down. Moments later, he managed to subdue whatever was happening, making him turn back to his original self, "D-Dobe… what the hell happened?… what was that?…" He asked his brother as he stared at his hands.

"Orochi-bubu placed his damned curse mark on you…" Naruto said, making Sasuke widen his eyes at that, "How did you managed to suppress it though? From what Anko has told me, the curse mark is incredibly hard to resist."

Sasuke just inhaled in before he replied, "I train every day with the guy that holds the Twelve-Wings, the dragon's aura is worlds away more oppressive than the snake bastard's."

Naruto just smirked before he walked towards Sakura who was still unconscious, he then picked her up bridal style and turned to look at Sasuke to say, "Well, glad to be of help…" The silverette walked out of the small cave they were in and added, "Let's go to the tower, we already got the Heaven scroll so we're set."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at that, feeling confused, "Where did you get it?" He asked as he followed his brother.

"I'll tell ya in the way." Naruto replied as he jumped towards the nearest roof and headed towards the tower with Sasuke in tow.

* * *

"So… what now?" Sasuke said as he and his brother with Sakura still unconscious in his arms arrived towards the tower they were supposed to get to.

It took the pair the whole night to arrive there and they did ran into some trouble with Rain-nin but they were quickly dispatched by the two Leaf genin, "I dunno…" Naruto just answered before he felt Sakura stirring in his arms.

"Mmm… w-what's going on?… ouch!…" Sakura mumbled before she winced in pain.

"Chill Sakura, you were badly injured so just relax." Naruto said as he gently placed Sakura in the ground.

The pinkerette just looked at her goofy teammate with a small smile as she thanked him, she now remembered what happened and was happy and relieved to see that the silverette got there in time to save her and Sasuke.

"There's nobody here." Sasuke then said as he looked around.

"No shit, fool…" Naruto jabbed his brother, but before the Uchiha could retort, the silver-haired Uzumaki whined as he pointed at a riddle placed in front of them, "Oooo man!… fucking puzzles, fool…"

Both Sakura and Sasuke turned to look at where their teammate was whining at and they both saw what he was talking about, "Mmm… I think I get it…" Sakura then said after some moments, "Open both scrolls and crossed them with each other, then pour some chakra in them."

Naruto and Sasuke raised their eyebrow but did as told none the less, Naruto grabbed the 'Heaven' scroll and opened it, Sasuke did the same but with the 'Earth' scroll and after opening it as well and placing them both in the ground, they both realized what it was, "A summoning scroll, huh?" Sasuke said as he crossed his arms and looked at the scrolls.

"Wonder what it summons?…" Sakura muttered as she looked at the scrolls curiously while still applying some of her medical ninjutsu on herself.

"Well, only one way to find out." Naruto commented before he poured some chakra on the scrolls.

Immediately after he did so, a cloud of smoke filled the room and after it dispersed, it revealed the figure of Iruka Umino standing there atop of the scrolls, "Oh! Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura! It's you guys!" Iruka said with a smile, surprised to see his students there.

Naruto and Sasuke just smirked friendly at their teacher while Sakura said as she stood up, leaning on Naruto's body to help herself, "Iruka-sensei, it's good seeing you."

Iruka just smiled at them as he explained, "It's good to see you three as well…" He then got a little serious as he asked, "Did you fought with a certain snake?" He knew that Orochimaru was present, Anko and some ANBU team found the bodies of the Grass team, they were dead and had her faces removed, the bodies smelled heavily of snake and with Anko's mark hurting her like hell, it wasn't that hard to figure out who was the responsible.

Naruto replied, "Yeah, we ran into Orochi-bubu, but we managed to escape relatively unscathed, though, both Teme and Sakura needed almost a full day of rest to heal their injuries, I arrived late so I didn't fought him for long, but he still managed to land some good hits on me." He couldn't tell Iruka about Sasuke having Orochimaru's mark, that was something that would cause a lot of alarm and will probably put his brother in a tight spot, so he wanted to keep the knowledge of the mark to as few people as possible.

Iruka just frowned at that, he couldn't help but worry for these three kids, they were growing insanely fast and almost every mission they take turns into a dangerous one, they were growing really strong yes, but that came with the price of getting too much attention. But the scarred man just shook his head to get rid of troubled thoughts before he said, "Well, the important thing is that you're okay, we're all tracking Orochimaru down, but we all know how slippery the traitor is…" The genin just nodded and with that, Iruka lightened his mood a little as he said, "Well, with that said, congratulations! You have passed the second test and in record time!"

Team 7 just 'yayed' sarcastically, making their annoyance and tiredness known, prompting the teacher to laugh and say, "Alright, alright, just go to the rooms in these tower, you are to stay there until the last day arrives, fortunately for you, you are the first team to come and it only took you a day to finish the test, so you have four days to rest, enjoy." Iruka then smiled warmly at his ex-students before he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Team 7 just sighed in unison before they made their way towards the tower, already drooling at the thought of a warm bed to sleep on and rest for the next four days, the encounter with the snake Sannin was something that took a huge toll on all of them and they needed to calm themselves down so they could be ready for the next test.

* * *

"All the teams that advanced to the next stage are here, Lord Hokage." Anko said to her leader as she walked up to him. The five days of the test have finally passed and the teams that succeeded were already gathered in an indoor arena.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded at his subordinate as he eyed the 8 teams standing before him. He was happy to see that most of the candidates were from the Leaf, seeing that Team 7, Team 8, Team 9 and Team 10 were all present. He was surprised though, that even though Team 7 finished in record time and were rewarded with four days of rest, they were the ones that looked the most tired, he couldn't blame them of course, fighting Orochimaru is a terrifying thing.

The other four teams that passed the second test were comprised of one team from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, one team from the newly formed Village Hidden in the Sound, the last team from the Leaf that managed to pass as well and the team of the Kazekage's children, who finished the test in second place, coming after Team 7 with only minutes of difference.

The Hokage stepped forward and said with a kind smile on his wrinkled face, "Congratulations, young ones. You have all passed to the next stage of the Exams, now…" The old man was interrupted however, when Hayate suddenly appeared before him and requested.

"Please sir, allow me…" The Sarutobi smiled at him and nodded, prompting Hayate to stand up and turn to look at the genin to say in between coughs, "Originally… _cough_ … the third stage of the Exams… _cough_ … were supposed to begin in a month… _cough_ … however, since there are too many candidates… _cough_ … we are going to have to do a preliminary round…" The genin in the room immediately groaned and whined about it, stating that it wasn't fair for those who couldn't get enough rest, "Cry me a river… _cough_ … you kids honestly think you will be able… _cough_ … to get rest in a real war?" Hayate then added as he eyed the kids.

That shut the genin up, they knew that the coughing jōnin was right, it was explained to them prior to the Exams that they were basically a way to vent frustrations and grudges between villages, as well as to showcase their upcoming talent and try to get the best contracts from the nobles and lords of the land.

"Now, since we're… _cough_ … about to begin… _cough_ … anyone who doesn't feel up to it, raise your hand… _cough_ … right now…" Hayate added as he looked around the genin. Seeing that no one was raising their hands, he looked towards a large screen placed in the far wall of the room and said, "Alright then… _cough_ … let's see who gets to fight first."

The genin looked at the screen and saw how letters started to appear and flick erratically, it took some seconds before two names formed, prompting Hayate to say, "Alright then, anyone who's not Kabuto Yakushi…" The swordsman unnoticedly narrowed his eyes at the man, knowing that he was quite the suspicious character, "And… _cough_ … Zaku Abumi, please go to the stands."

Everyone did as told and soon later, only Kabuto, Zaku and Hayate remained on the field, "Ready?…" Hayate asked to Kabuto, who nodded with his creepy smile, "Ready?…" The swordsman then asked Zaku, who nodded with an excited smirk, "Begin!" Hayate declared as he jumped out of the way.

At those words, both fighters immediately jumped into action, pouncing at each other, trying to get the first hit, "Well, this looks kinda boring if you ask me…" Naruto said with a lazy voice as he rested his head on the reel of the balcony, he continued watching the fight until it ended, surprisingly, with Zaku's victory, _'Convenient…'_ The silverette Uzumaki thought as he narrowed his eyes at Kabuto, who was being carried away by the medics, he knew the suspicious fool lost on purpose but the silverette just wasn't sure why.

The screen then lit up again and after seconds of flickering, two names popped out, "Ino Yamanaka and Karui of Cloud, please come down." Hayate said.

Ino made her way down but stopped when she gave her beloved silverette a kiss on the cheek as she whispered, "Wish me luck, babe." She winked at him as she then made her way towards the ground.

Naruto just smirked and brought his gaze back towards the upcoming fight, "Are you two good to go?" Hayate asked the two girls, who nodded in yes, "Alright then, begin!"

The fight then began and Naruto was amazed at how much Ino has grown as a kunoichi, he could also see that many people form the Leaf were surprised to see her using water chakra, which she discovered was her affinity and asked Naruto for help. The redhead form Cloud, who Naruto recognized belonged to the team he rescued from Gaara back in the forest, was no easy cake either, she was putting an incredible fight despise being obviously outclassed somewhat. Naruto could tell that Karui was more of a pure taijutsu and kenjutsu fighter and while a close ranged fighter used to be Ino's worst match up before she started working on her chakra nature, now it was the opposite, a close ranged fighter against a water user was not a good match up for the former because water was the more defensive of the elements, as it mainly revolved around barriers and traps.

His musing proved right when after some minutes, Karui finally fell into a trap, she was encased in a water bubble while the Yamanaka heiress said, "Give now, you won't be able to hold your breath for much longer."

Karui just cursed under her breath before she looked at the proctor and nodded since she couldn't talk, prompting Hayate to say, "Winner: Ino Yamanaka!" Ino then dispelled her attack and made her way back to her team, not before giving her Naruto a kiss on the cheek once again.

"Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi, come down." Hayate said after the screen revealed the next fight.

Naruto narrowed his deep blue eyes at the blackette, he was surprised to see that her team managed to advance after he took one of their scrolls. The girl in question though, gulped a little when she felt the silverette's beautiful eyes on her, she was still a little shaken up by their previous encounter.

"You two ready?…" Hayate asked and after receiving a nod, he claimed, "Begin!"

The Uzumaki kept his pondering behind for now and focused on seeing the fight, he already knew that while the girl named Kin was probably stronger than Shikamaru in terms of power, she had no chance against the lazy blackette's intellect and just as he thought, for the most part of the fight, Kin was the one with the upper hand, she had exceptional control over her sound based ninjutsu and genjutsu but just as he predicted, she ended up falling into a complex trap that Shikamaru put in motion from the very start of the fight, earning him the win.

 _'Shika really is one of the toughest ones here…'_ Naruto thought as he patted Shikamaru on his shoulder as he walked by him, congratulating him on the win.

"Will Shino Aburame and Yoroi Akadō come down?" Hayate then said after he saw the names the computer picked.

Both Shino and the bandaged guy named Yoroi walked down to the ground and after nodding at Hayate, the battle began. The fight was somewhat boring since both fighters weren't really flashy ones, Yoroi seemed to be a close rang fighter and was later revealed to have the ability to steal someone's chakra but in order to do that however, he had to touch his opponent, something he learned was a bad idea to do with an Aburame because the moment he got close to Shino, the Aburame's bugs enveloped him and began to suck his chakra until Yoroi could barely move, "Winner: Shino Aburame!" Hayate announced as the medics took Yoroi out of there and Shino headed back to his team.

 _'That fool… smells of snake too…'_ Naruto thought as he narrowed his eyes on the unconscious form of Yoroi.

The computer then flickered again and after some seconds, two names appeared, "Sakura Haruno and Samui of the Cloud, come." Hayate then called the two fighters.

"Well, seems like is my turn." Sakura said as she breathed in, she looked at her team and smiled at them, thankful for the support her teammates and sensei were giving her.

Naruto smiled at Sakura before he looked at Samui, who was also somewhat timidly looking at him. He could tell that the beautiful blonde was still injured, her arm was indeed broken and it will take time to recover, but even injured, the Uzumaki could tell she was a force to be reckoned with.

Hayate asked the two kunoichi if they were ready and after both nodded, he signalled the start of the fight and immediately Sakura began making hand-seals to start sending barrages of rocks at Samui who swiftly dodged them. The blonde kunoichi was not going to stay passive for long, as she grabbed her short sword with her good arm and after charging it with lightning chakra, she started slashing in front of her, sending waves of electricity at Sakura who somehow managed to avoid the attacks.

The battle between the females was quite the entertaining one, with both females fighting at their best, making most of the genin surprised at how much Sakura has grown. But Samui was the one that surprised everyone the most, she was injured with a broken arm and the pain it caused her was clear in her beautiful face, but even so, she kept fighting, showing everyone how good she was with the lightning element.

It all came down to Sakura's chakra reserves that even if they have grown larger, they were still not large enough. She eventually ran out of juice and due to the strain in her body for both her fight with Orochimaru and this fight, she could not avoid a powerful attack from Samui, "Lightning Style: Twin Lions!" Samui screamed as two lions made of blue lightning charged at Sakura, hitting her dead on and sending her straight into unconsciousness.

"Winner: Samui of the Cloud!" Hayate declared the winner as the medics took Sakura out of the field.

Samui started walking towards her teammates, but she sent a shy look towards Naruto, almost as if checking to see if he was mad at her, but she blushed a little when the silverette in question smiled at her and nodded slightly in congratulations, making her turn to look the other way to hide her flushed face and almost unnoticeable smile.

The computer then once again finished naming the next opponents, so Hayate said, "Tenten Hattori and Tetsu of the Sand, come down."

Both genin walked down the field and after nodding at Hayate, the fight began with Tetsu immediately opening his fan, he waved it around and started sending powerful gushes and slashes of air. Normally, a long range opponent would be Tenten's worst match up, her being a weapon mistress and all, but thanks to Naruto being a powerful wind user himself and him training her to overcome such weakness, she managed to distract the Sand-nin enough to secretly plant paper bombs around the blond male, who started increasing the power input in his attacks.

It took Tenten quite a while to finally lock him in a circle of paper bombs, as he was extremely good with wind techniques and that damned fan of his, but once she was done, she jumped some metres away from the blond and said, "Look down."

Tetsu did as told and felt his eyes widening when he saw the trap he just fell in, he knew he was screwed so he just sighed tiredly before he gave up, "Alright, I give."

Hayate nodded and announced, "Winner: Tenten Hattori!"

"Great work, Ten." Naruto said with a smile at Tenten as she walked past him.

Tenten just giggled and gave the silverette a small kiss on the cheek before she said, "It's all thanks to you, Naru." She smiled at him and walked towards her eccentric team.

"Hinata Hyūga and Neji Hyūga, it's your turn." Hayate then announced.

Hinata did widened her eyes a little but suddenly, she completely changed her usual kind demeanour for the cold look of a warrior, shocking those around her who were thinking that she might have a problem fighting her cousin, but instead, she just made her way down to the field, with a small smile gracing her lips when she saw Naruto silently muttering _kick his pompous ass_ at her. She wasn't so comfortable fighting her cousin, but she was not a weakling as he and her father believed her to be, and she was going to prove that now, in front of everyone and her beloved.

Neji saw the determined look in his spiteful cousin's porcelain face, he did felt somewhat unsure of himself when for some strange reason, he felt as if Hinata has gained a power up somehow, but he still had full confidence on himself, so he said, "Give up now, Hinata, you're weak and have n…" He was interrupted however, when Hinata said with such coldness that even he flinched a little.

"Shut up and fight, Neji." Hinata narrowed her eyes at her cousin as she took on her fighting stance, with a cold aura around her.

With that, Hayate signalled the start of the fight and everyone was surprised when Hinata was the first one to deliver a strike, she was dancing beautifully around Neji as she delivered precise gentle-style hits full of her chakra. Neji was gritting his teeth in both pain and frustration, he knew that Hinata was not the same weak girl she used to be but this was beyond what he expected, he was being hit relentlessly by the bluenette Princess and he had yet to deliver a single hit.

Neji then out of frustration, finally managed to even the fight and started hitting Hinata, but much to his and everyone's surprise, his attacks only seemed to be uncomfortable for her, nothing more than an annoyance. This pissed Neji off badly and he started to go to extremes, aiming now at vital points in Hinata's body.

Everyone but Naruto gasped when they saw Neji's action, it was clear to everyone that he was feeling frustrated and was allowing his anger to take over his fighting, not even caring whether he killed Hinata or not. Naruto wanted to go and rip the blackette's head off for even thinking to harm his princess, but he decided to allow Hinata to shine, he had full confidence in her and as luck would have it, he was proven right.

Hinata was a little shocked when her cousin started to aim for her heart and lungs, practically telling her that he wanted to kill her. If she were to be her old self, she would definitely be crying right now, but she was not her old self, she was a new woman, with a new power, new dreams, a new family and a new man, and she was going to prove them all that she was not to be taken lightly anymore.

Hinata began to call on the power her beloved bestowed to her and in a move that surprised everyone, she actually kicked Neji on his testicles, making him grunt in extreme pain and confusion. She then quickly appeared behind him and hit him hard on the crook of his neck, sending him straight into unconsciousness. She saw with cold eyes as his body fell limp and said, "I really hope that one day you may be able to let go of your hate, cousin, but for today, I will take the win."

"Winner: Hinata Hyūga!" Hayate then said.

Hinata then made her way towards her team and as everybody congratulated her, she sent a happy smile towards her beloved, who smiled at her back and mentally told her how proud he was of her, making her smile even wider as she felt the love of her man spreading in her body through her mark.

Naruto then looked at his team and whined, "Damn fools! When's gon be… mah… turn…" He started saying annoyed but then whispered the last part as his eyes widened in shock.

He wasn't the only one, as everyone in the room went completely silent, wearing the same shocked expressions as they looked at the screen. Hayate even stopped coughing due to the shock, but after a while he remembered that he had to call on the next fight, so he gulped and stuttered, "N-Naruto Uzumaki… a-and… S-Sasuke Uchiha…"

The two brothers looked at each other in shock before they grinned in excitement as they immediately jumped at the floor and stood metres away from each other. The Uchiha for the first time in his life actually showed a genuine happy smile as he said, "Dobe."

Naruto reciprocated his brother's feeling when he said with the same smile, "Teme."

Everyone glued their eyes at the two brothers, they could not believe they are going to see the two strongest candidates fighting against each other so soon, but nobody was going to deny that it was going to be a fight to remember.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya lads go, I hope you liked the chapter and that you are as hyped as me for the next one! I apologise for updating the story so erratically lately, but I've been having many gigs at the clubs and it makes it a little harder, but anyway, see ya later, cheers!**


	20. The Exams (Part 3)

**A/N: Hey lads, waddup! Welcome to a new chapter, as usual, lemme say some stuff.**

 **Again, sorry for the erratic updates, but I'm afraid that it will continue for this month, I am just too busy with my gigs, but once I'm done, it'll go back to normal.**

 **Also, finally, the first lemon of the story has arrived, it's at the end of the chapter and as usual, there are warnings in case you want to skip it. Though, let me say make something clear, this story won't revolve around Naruto's girls, nor will be filled with lemons, I'll make sure to write at least one for each girl as well as making a chapter for each one to show how their relationship deepens, but that will be it, this story will focus on the plot.**

 **But anyways, I think that's it for now, so enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **The Exams (Part 3)**

"S-So soon!?" Kurenai said with wide eyes as she glued her beautiful ruby orbs to the battle zone. She, like the rest of the people present in the Arena, was really surprised to see that the two strongest candidates had to fight it out so soon, the fact that those two were brothers just made the fight all the more appealing.

"Y-Yeah… this f-fight is going to be incredible…" Asuma added as he picked his cigarette back from the floor.

"Such flames! Such youth! Truly beautiful!" Might Guy added as he kneeled down and cried manly tears, act mimicked by his equally extravagant student.

The genin were just completely shocked so couldn't say anything, they never thought that they would live to see those two fighting, but now that they have the chance to see it, they were not going to let anything distract them from the fight.

"Don't be so hyped about this." Kakashi then suddenly said, he was still reading his book and didn't seemed to have any interest in his two students' fight.

The people around him felt really confused at those words, so Kurenai asked, "W-What do you mean Kakashi? Those two are already jōnin level! How could this fight not live up to the hype!?"

The silver-haired ninja chuckled and replied, "Oh, it's not that this fight won't be good, but the outcome is already there…" He looked at the two in question and added with an eye-smile, "This is really more about a man trying to see how much he can annoy his brother."

Some of the more experienced ninja finally understood what he meant, the younger ones were still confused but since the fight was about to start, they kept quiet and turned their attention back to the field, were a battle of brothers was about to begin.

* * *

"Maaaaan… I wanted to fight fou shou!… but with ya!?… hell no bro… you're too weak fool!" One silver-haired Uzumaki said with a huge smile to his brother. The silverette was really hyped for this fight, but he was still annoyed that he knew that it was his win. No matter how you look at it, Sasuke could barely use his chakra so his sharingan was out and that damn curse on his neck was really painful for him, so Sasuke was like at 20% of his true strength right now.

The Uchiha's last loyal survivor just smirked bitterly as he said, "You shouldn't look down on someone Dobe, much less your big brother." Sasuke also knew that it was his loss, he was too weak from the curse that snake paedophile placed on him and after Kakashi placed a containing seal for the curse, he was left with almost no chakra to use, so even if his silverette brother was still tired from his fight with the Crab King, he was way more exhausted than him.

Naruto pointed at the Uchiha accusingly and whined, "Oi! You're just four days older, ya fool! I'm mentally older than yo avenging ass!"

Hayate Gekko just chuckled at the usual fight between the two powerful brothers and as he stepped in between his two students, he said, "Are you two brats ready?"

"Hn." Was Sasuke's intelligent reply as he crossed his arms uncaringly.

"I ain't no goddamn brat, fool!…" The Namikaze whined before he smirked fiercely and added, "Amma kick this ninja's sorry ass! It's school-time homeboy!"

Hayate just chuckled again and said the words everyone were aching to hear, "Alright then _brats_ …" Both younglings grunted at the word as he added, "Begin!"

"Well, are they going to move?" Karui asked as she looked at the two handsome boys who for some reason were standing still.

"Umm… Sakura?…" Tenten asked the pinkette in question, drawing her attention, "What's going on?" She was as confused as all the other young ninjas.

Sakura replied without taking her green eyes off of her teammates, "They always have this sort of moment before they fight in their spars, I do this as well, basically what they're doing is that they are getting a grasp on their surroundings, they are using they're chakra to make a scan on everything around them."

The genin tilted their heads at that, even Hinata because she too always feels confused whenever her beloved does that before a spar, so she asked Sakura, "Like bats?"

The Haruno girl nodded at that and explained, "Exactly, they are heavy hitters, they love destruction, so they are ninja who like to use everything they can get their hands on to harm their opponent…" She then smirked excitedly and said, "It's about to begin now."

True to her words, the whole room went quiet when a powerful gust of wind hit them, making them widen their eyes when they saw that the two genin had ran against each other and clashed forearms.

The two brothers immediately separated from each other and Sasuke brought his mother's katana out, he then used his incredible speed to run towards the silverette and try to deliver a dangerous slash.

Naruto saw that and he immediately brought Nex out and used his chakra to create the lightning blade to parry the strike. He managed to do so and Naruto tried to use the lightning to shock the Uchiha, but Sasuke knew that and he rapidly ducked and tried to kick the Uzumaki's feet to destabilize him.

"Shit!…" Naruto cursed as he saw the kick, he jumped and as he was in the air, he unsheathed Gloria and as he charged it with lightning, said, "Shiver fool!" He threw the sword at his brother.

Sasuke immediately swung his sword and managed to divert the projectile, the problem was that a little bit of the lightning in the sword managed to numb his arm somewhat, but he was still aware enough to realize that Naruto was falling down on him with his leg aimed at his head.

"It's not going to be that easy, Dobe!" Sasuke claimed as he powered his legs with chakra and made a big leap away from Naruto's landing zone.

Naruto cursed and threw the Thunder God sword at Sasuke which he dodged swiftly, Naruto was expecting that though and almost with inhuman speed, he finished some hand-seals and said, "Lightning Style: Twin Bolts!" At his words, two powerful bolts of red lightning shot at the Uchiha with great speed.

The black-haired genin cursed and quickly duked under the bolts, he then made a run towards Naruto and tried to deliver a punch, but Naruto managed to catch his fist. Sasuke used this to his advantage though, as he manoeuvred his hand and made a half seal, forcing Naruto's hand to complement his seal. Sasuke then kicked the side of Naruto and grabbed his hand again to finish his other seal and once he did so, the Uchiha jumped back and threw multiple balls of fire at his brother.

"Fire doesn't work on me, Teme!…" Naruto screamed before he widened his eyes when he heard a chirping sound coming from the fireballs, so knowing that the sound came from kunai with paper bombs attached to them, Naruto used substitution with one of his swords and managed to avoid the hit, "Oh shit! Yo… that was close fool!" Naruto claimed as he covered his face from the explosion that ensued once the fireballs hit the ground.

The Uzumaki didn't waste any time as he immediately covered himself in crimson flames, releasing an incredible aura that spread throughout the whole Arena, "W-What is this f-feeling!?" Chōji said as he intensified his chips eating.

"It f-feels s-so… d-dark…" Tenten then added as she shivered a little.

"T-That's the Tw-Twelve-Wings' ch-chakra, right?" Shikimaru asked Kakashi, since neither he nor most of the genin have seen Naruto using the chakra of the mighty dragon before.

Sakura was the one that answered when she said, "Yup, that's Naru's 'Chakra Cloak', it greatly enhances his abilities and body by quite a lot."

"How will Sasuke deal with this?" Asuma then said.

"What are you going to do now, ya fool!?" Naruto taunted his brother as he flared his powerful aura a little.

Sasuke gritted his teeth at that, he knew that without his eyes and chakra he was fucked, Naruto's chakra cloak increases his power by a lot and while the silverette will not be able to hold it for long since he was still tired, it'll still be enough to end him, _'Tsk… I don't have any chakra…'_ The Uchiha thought irritated before he smirked fiercely and added mentally, _'But the curse does…'_

Sasuke then started to focus on the curse mark and immediately felt a great wave of power washing over him, the problem was that it was incredibly tempting for him, it was telling him to give into his dark desires for revenge, but he was the goddamn last Uchiha, he was not going to let anyone tell him what and how to live his life, his brother managed to make the power of the mighty Twelve-Wings his own and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to catch up to him.

The jōnin present in the Arena all widened their eyes when they felt the curse mark's power, the Leaf-nin knew very well what it was. Anko who was also present there just frowned as she grabbed her neck.

Finally, the room gasped in unison as Sasuke's body was starting to be stained by strange flame-like markings, they were slowly covering him up as a purple mist that gave off an evil feeling shrouded him whole.

"W-What is go-going on!?" Sakura asked frightfully to her sensei, she knew that Sasuke was marked by Orochimaru, but she did not know that he could do this.

"Kakashi!…" The old Sarutobi then appeared next to Kakashi and asked, "Is Sasuke able to control it?" Hiruzen could tell that the lone Uchiha was calling on the curse's power consciously, he just wasn't sure whether he was doing it on his own will or if the fight was getting the better of him.

Kakashi did stopped reading his book, making it known that things were getting serious, he sighed and explained, "To an extent, yes."

Everyone was surprised at that since so far, there hasn't been anyone capable of not losing themselves in the curse's power, that's why Anko asked with a little bit of a hopeful tone, "H-How!?"

Kakashi looked at the woman and then looked back at the floor before he replied, "Ever since those two were seven years old, they have been training together. They're equals, they know everything about each other, that's why they always go all out in all of their spars…" The silver-haired male then leaned on the wall and added, "Sasuke is used to the Twelve-Wings' oppressive chakra, it has come to the point where he doesn't even feels the shivers and as you can all feel…" Kakashi brought his book back and finished with an eye-smile, "The Twelve-Wings' chakra is worlds more oppressive than the snake traitor's."

Everyone just nodded at that, it was true. Usually, Orochimaru's chakra was sickly to be around, disgusting and vile, but the Twelve-Wings', fuck, there wasn't even comparison, the chakra coming off from Sasuke's curse mark couldn't even be felt, the mighty dragon's was showering the whole room with such aura that the weaker ninja were having trouble breathing.

The snake traitor in question was licking his lips excitedly at seeing his next vessel using his power, Orochimaru was currently wearing a disguise as the Sound team's jōnin and he was elated at seeing Sasuke calling on his curse mark, though, he was frustrated to see that the Uchiha did not showed any signs of dependency of the curse, _'Go Sasuke dear… taste my power… I know you'll want more… kukuku…'_ He thought with a creepy smirk.

"So, you gon use that, ei?…" Naruto said as he gave his brother an excited smirk, he could feel how Sasuke's power increased greatly, it wasn't enough yet, but it will certainly make this fight more exciting, "It ain't gon work, fool!" He then screamed as he pounced on the blackette.

Sasuke just smirked as he crossed his arms in front him, stopping the powerful punch the Uzumaki sent, the Uchiha then pulsed his new chakra and sent Naruto flying back a little. Wasting no time, Sasuke coated both of his arms with lightning and said, "Let's dance, Dobe." He ran at him and started to deliver powerful and precise punches at his brother.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he parried every single strike the Uchiha was sending him, trying to deliver one of his own whenever he had the chance. Naruto then created a chance when he caught Sasuke's fist and used his divine essence to stop the lightning from harming him, he pulled Sasuke towards him and Naruto ducked to deliver an uppercut than sent the Uchiha flying up. Naruto then jumped and was about to hit Sasuke with his foot, had it not been for the Uchiha catching it and turning his body around, the lone survivor used his momentum to send Naruto to the ground, where the silverette crashed violently while creating a crater.

Sasuke then manoeuvred his body and as he coated his hand with lightning, he claimed, "Chidori!" He propelled himself down to the crater and clashed his hand against his brother.

Sasuke smirked as he saw his hand piercing Naruto's right shoulder, but the blackette lost his smirk when Naruto suddenly held his arm and stopped him from moving, making the Uchiha realise that it was just a clone.

"It won't be your win, ya fool!" The voice of Naruto then brought the Uchiha's attention to his front, where Naruto suddenly appeared and before he could react, delivered a powerful kick to his face that sent him flying towards the big statue in the Arena, the power of the crash was such that the statue actually crumbled down.

"Oh shit!" Kankurō screamed what was in everyone's mind, this fight was so intense that it was sending shivers to all of them, this wasn't a ninja fight anymore, it was more like a fight between mythical warriors with absurd powers.

"A-Amazing…" Samui claimed as she looked at the fight with awed eyes, watching the silverette fight was such a sight to see, she couldn't stop her cheeks from reddening at seeing it, but she was also a little frightened by both Leaf genin, they were abnormally strong.

"H-He… h-he's amazing…" Yugito whispered under her breath as she looked at the silverette, she couldn't stop her body from responding to the authoritarian aura the silverette was releasing, she inherited most of her partner's traits and unfortunately for her, her partner was a hellishly horny cat.

 ** _"Nya!… Kitten!… Go! Go!… don't let that magnificent specimen get away!… mate him as soon as you can!… for both of us!…"_** Said Nekomata Tailed Beast said excitedly inside her mind. The Two-Tails was losing her mind right now, she knew who the Twelve-Wings truly was but unlike her siblings, she wanted to be the Absolute God of End's mate, the mere thought of being that made the naughty cat fawn shamelessly inside her host's mind.

Yugito's face reddened so much that it looked like a fresh tomato, _"S-Shut up M-Matatabi!"_ She replied mentally as she covered her face so no one would see her huge blush.

Back to the fight, some noises were heard coming from the rubble of the statue and soon later, a huge wolf's head made of lightning shot at Naruto who cursed and immediately jumped out of the way and avoided the explosion that ensued the hit.

That turned out to be a mistake though, because Sasuke appeared next to him with such speed that Naruto actually failed to sense him, so he could not stop the powerful punch to his cheek that sent him crashing against the wall. But that was not it from the Uchiha, since he quickly ran at where his brother crashed and kicked where Naruto was, breaking the wall and sending Naruto out of the Arena.

But before Sasuke could say or do anything, he noticed a cable attached to his leg, which pulled him straight towards his brother who received him with a punch that sent him back to the Arena, where Naruto immediately followed after him and once he reached him, the two ensued in a powerful exchange of fists that sent strong gusts of winds whenever they clashed.

"Such youth!" Rock Lee claimed excitedly as he watched the incredible fight.

"Wow… I h-have never seen those two go at it but damn… this is amazing…" The Yamanaka heiress said as she fawned over the man she loved, Naruto would just never stop surprising her.

"True that." Chōji stated as he got another bag of chips out of nowhere, he was enjoying this amazing fight for sure.

 _'D-Damn… grr… I'm n-near my limit h-here…'_ Sasuke thought as he gritted his teeth and delivered a kick to Naruto's stomach, sending him skidding back a few steps.

Naruto cursed and thought as he parried another strike from his Uchiha brother, _'Oh shit b-boi… s-shouldn't have used 'Doomsday' b-back there with King Turd!…'_ Like Sasuke, he too was approaching his limit, the ordeal back at the Forest of Death left him and his team completely exhausted, mainly because he was using his divine essence for the first time, every attack and jutsu he made contained his divine essence, he needed to train using it, but it put a huge strain in his body. Even so, he was the one less tired since he did not fought against Orochimaru, but the fact that Sasuke actually managed to control the curse for so long and pushed the silverette to his limit was a huge testament at how strong the Uchiha truly was.

The two brothers then jumped away from each other and stared at one another while panting with happy eyes, the thrill of their rivalry was certainly the most exhilarating high they can get on, "We're both on our last breath, Dobe." Sasuke said in between pants, grabbing his right wrist with his left hand and soon later, his right hand made the typical chirping noise of the Chidori.

Naruto smiled widely at that and as he panted as well, he brought his right hand forward and a blue ball of spinning chakra appeared, "I guess that leaves us with one last shot, huh fool!?" He said as he prepared his rasengan.

The rest of the participants immediately widened their eyes at what they were seeing, they could feel the powers coming off from both legendary attacks, these two brats were too damn abnormal.

"Uh oh…" Sakura muttered as she walked back a little.

Tenten saw that and confused as the rest, she asked, "What is it, Sakura?"

The pinkette just smiled as she replied, "They're about to make a BIG mess."

The genin and jōnin, save for Kakashi of course, felt confused at the pinkette's words, that is until the Leaf-nin remembered what the silver-haired sensei of Team 7 said to them minutes ago, that those two, never held back in their fights.

The two brothers just stared at each other in silence, the whole room was silent as well, the only noise that could be heard was the chirping from the Chidori that took on an ominous purple colour and the swirling of the Rasengan that strangely took on a vermilion hue due to the influence that both Orochimaru's and Ddraig's aura were having on the attacks.

Almost as if an unheard noise signalled the final stand, both brothers ran at each other with great speeds, meeting in the middle of the Arena as Naruto screamed, "Rasengan!"

"Chidori!" Sasuke also screamed as both attacks clashed against each other with such violence that powerful gusts of wind were sent all over the place, forcing those present to cover their eyes before they had to jump down from where they stood when the two attacks merged and exploded, sending bolts of lightning and bursts of energy all around the Arena.

" _Cough… cough…_ E-Everyone okay!?" Sarutobi asked as he used a wind technique to clean the place from the smoke. He widened his eyes though when he saw the damage done to the Arena, the balconies were destroyed, the statue was demolished, the roof was cracked as well as the walls and none of them seemed like they would be able to hold on for much longer.

"Y-Yeah." Anko said after she saw that everyone was okay, just some bruises and dirt covering them.

"Holy shit! T-Those two are crazy!" Tetsu said as he dusted himself up, he was genuinely impressed by the fight, it was exhilarating.

"Y-Yeah but…" Ino said as he fixed her hair and soon after, she added, "Who won!?"

Everyone wondered the same thing and brought their eyes back to the center of the Arena where once the smoke cleared, revealed the scene of one black-haired boy lying on the ground unconscious while a silver-haired boy was kneeling while panting really hard and bleeding a lot from his forehead.

Everyone was frozen at that, but Hayate finally remembered that he had to announce the winner, so after shaking his head to clear it from his shock, he walked towards the duo and said, "Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!"

Nothing was heard, they were all shocked, their fight was short but so damn intense, it was frightening to see how strong those two were and knowing that they still had decades of growth ahead, made everyone fear at what they might become.

"Hehehe… I told ya fool!…" Naruto muttered with trouble as he felt his consciousness slipping away, "My… win…" He finished before he finally collapsed beside his brother, who despite being beaten, had a small happy smile on his pale face.

* * *

"What were you able to observe?" A bandaged man sitting on a throne-like stone chair asked the two figures kneeling before him. Danzō wanted to know what his two Root soldiers saw in the fight between Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, one that interested the old war hawk greatly.

Ryū and Terai had their heads down and after hearing the question from their leader, Terai said, "It was quite the fight sir, those two kids are really strong, abnormally so."

The silver-haired Root female soldier lifted her head up and added, "Even having the influence of the curse, the Uchiha managed to control it, he had trouble yes, but he still managed to control the chakra and make it his own…" The female then breathed in a little and added, "As for the Uzumaki…" She ignored the swirl in her stomach and continued immediately, "He showed impressive control over the Twelve-Wings' chakra, he didn't showed any kind of trouble dealing with it."

Danzō narrowed his uncovered eye at that, feeling troubled by the information, "That is not good, they are still young and they already have great power and control over it…" The devious man sighed tiredly and added, "It seems that controlling them is completely out of the question."

"Do you think the leverage we hold will work, sir?" Terai then asked.

The Elder hummed and replied, "Yes it will, I don't know if it will be effective on Uzumaki, but on the Uchiha will be infallible for sure."

Ryū for her part just kept her newfound emotions to herself, she was finding it harder and harder to keep them hidden from her peers, it wasn't helping hearing all this talk about 'leverage' on the two boys either, she knew what 'leverage' Danzō held on the two and it made her sick just to think about it, her sickness was just going to increase when said war-maniac said.

"Are the preparations for Orochimaru's entourage ready? I don't want any sort of delay and we only have one month till the date." The old man said as he couldn't hide the excitement he felt, he could feel the Hokage hat already in his hands.

Terai answered, "Yes sir, the bodies of the three previous Hokage have already been sent to him and we already have some of his men infiltrated in the village, all that's left, is to begin the infiltration plan."

The Elder nodded and turned his attention to the female when she asked, "Can we truly trust that Orochimaru will hold his end of the deal, sir?" She knew that the snake traitor will do exactly that, betray them, even if she found it stupid to continue with this disgusting plan, she could do naught but do as ordered.

Danzō just snorted cynically as he replied, "Of course not, I'm sure he will kill Sarutobi, but he will undoubtedly try to destroy the village in the process, but I already have a response for him."

"Which is?" The silver-haired masked female inquired further.

The old man did narrowed his eye at his subordinate, he was finding her sudden curiosity quite strange, but not seeing anything wrong with it, he responded, "If he does succeeds in killing the old monkey and then fails to stop his invasion, we will detonate strategically placed paper bombs all around the village, we will take as many men from his army as we can, hopefully, the devastated look of the village will be enough to trigger the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki to lose his mind in anger…" He failed to see the twitch in the silverette's body as she heard that, but he continued, "If he fails as a whole or gets driven back, we will use his little 'fetish' against him."

 _'How many is h-he willing to s-sacrifice for his selfishness?…'_ Ryū thought in disgust as she nodded at her leader, somehow managing to suppress all forms of emotions from the two others present in the room.

"Now then, Terai, I want you to shadow the Uchiha at all times, this next month will be crucial…" Danzō said to the masked man before he then looked at the female and added, "Ryū, you continue shadowing Uzumaki, he's the one that won so he will surely be trained by someone special, I want you to detail every ounce of strength and power he attains, that damn brat is getting too troublesome for my liking."

Both Root soldiers just nodded as they then saluted at the old man and left the room, with Ryū having too much trouble to continue in this damn organization, the problem was that she had nowhere else to go, _'What did you do to me, Uzumaki!?…'_ She thought frustrated since she knew that he was the culprit of whatever was making her losing her cool.

* * *

 _"Five-hundred… five-hundred-one… five-hundred-two…" A silver-haired male muttered as he continued his extreme workout routine. The boy seemed to be in his early teens and was only wearing black pants and a red forehead protector with a swirl etched on the metal plate._

 _"Naruto…" A gruff voice then said, making the Uzumaki teenager stop his training and turn to look at the man who spoke with cold and dead eyes. The man in question seemed to be in his late 50's but even so, he exuded great power, the man had a red robe with golden trimmings, a huge swirl symbol etched on the front of the outfit, he had green eyes and red tomato hair and beard, overall, he seemed like a wise and powerful old man, "It's time to begin the procedure."_

 _"Hn." Was all the silver-haired teen said as he stood up and put on his black shirt and sandals._

 _The man then walked out of the room and was shortly followed by the boy, "I know you're angry at me, your parents and this village, but Naruto…" The man started saying as he looked at the boy, "This is for the good of your home, Whirlpool Village, we've always been bullied by the so called 'Five Great Nations', thanks to you, we will finally be able to stand up and fight for our own goals." The man finished with great determination, he did seemed really pained at doing this to the boy but he was the Uzukage, his village comes first, and this was for the good of the village._

 _Naruto just kept his dead and cold gaze aimed at the front as he replied without stutter, "My home is Suki Uchiha, I don't give a fuck about you, Kushina, Minato or all these fools living here."_

 _The old Kage did winced at that, he was making a huge gamble here with this, the boy was certainly unstable. Naruto was angry, full of hate and was a merciless killer, but Whirlpool desperately needed him, he was the only one capable of withstanding this. Naruto was different, different than any other human being, his body seemed to be almost godlike, not even the jinchūriki could come close to the silverette's potential and with the procedure they're about to do, the silverette will become the world's deadliest weapon, "W-We know boy, but as long as you keep your end of the deal, we'll keep ours, the Uchiha girl will come here to you once she turns sixteen, her parents already agreed to it." He just hoped that that will be enough to keep the boy in line, they would wait longer for this to take place, but the other villages were starting to realize what Whirlpool was up to, so their time was getting short._

 _The Uzumaki teenager just kept silent and looking at the front, he didn't showed any kind of reaction, but the old Uzukage was sure that Naruto was at the very least content with knowing that his beloved will be by his side in two years' time._

 _The two finally arrived to their destination, a big laboratory with many people inside working nonstop, the place was white like a hospital and had many machines and chemicals spread around the room. In the centre of the room, was a bed-like metal structure, with nine big containers with strange red liquid placed around the bed._

 _Naruto without a word walked towards the bed and took his shirt off, he then laid on it and allowed the young scientists to inject the big needle in his heart and another one in his brain, the one in his heart was connected to a tube that led to the nine containers while the one in his brain was connected to a small container placed on the floor behind him._

 _"Are you sure this is a good idea, sir? Naruto's still too young." The lead scientist spoke his worries, he and the rest of the scientists present felt that they were rushing this._

 _The Uzukage just sighed sadly as he replied, "I'm afraid so, I wish we didn't have to do this, but this is the only way we can compete and defend ourselves from the other villages, we need to do this now before they figure out what we're doing." His answer didn't made anyone happy and some were about to complain more, had it not been for Naruto speaking with a powerful voice._

 _"Do it already." His voice was strong, calm and evil, no one there dared to even look at him._

 _The lead scientist just sighed tiredly and nodded, "Alright then, everyone to your stations…" He ordered and once he saw everyone ready, he pressed on one button that unlocked two handles in the deck in front of him, he then placed his finger on a red button next to the left handle and announced, "Injecting: One-Tails' essence." At his word, he pressed the button and the first container started to release the liquid inside the tube leading to Naruto's heart._

 _"Hm…" Naruto just moaned a little uncomfortably as he felt the One-Tails' essence invading his body, it burned, but it wasn't so bad._

 _As the red liquid entered in Naruto's body, a blue liquid was being poured inside his brain to help him cope with the stress of having his body forcefully injected with a Tailed Beast's essence, "Injecting: Two-Tails' essence." The scientist then said as he pressed the button again and the same procedure happened, "Injecting: Three-Tails' essence." The lead man said after some moments._

 _"Grr…" Naruto grunted now openly in discomfort._

 _"Injecting: Four-Tails' essence." The scientist announced again._

 _"Grrrr…" Naruto was now gritting his teeth._

 _"Injecting: Five-Tails' essence." And again._

 _"Hngrrr…" Naruto was now grasping the metal table._

 _"Injecting: Six-Tails' essence." And again._

 _"Grragh…" Naruto was now crushing the metal bed with his hands as he visibly showed pain._

 _"Injecting: Seven-Tails' essence." And again._

 _"AARGH…" The silverette was now loudly complaining as he twisted his body in pain._

 _"I-Injecting: E-Eight-Tails' essence." And again._

 _" **GRRARGH!…** " Naruto now screamed with fury as he tried to control his pain._

 _"Gulp… I-Injecting… Ni-Nine-Tails' essence…" The lead scientist finally said as he, like the rest of the people in the room, couldn't even look at the silverette who was clearly under infernal pain._

"GRARGH!" Naruto then suddenly woke up as he roared in anger and pain, feeling incredibly confused after he saw that he was in the hospital, while a heavy weight on his waist was making it difficult for him to move.

"Naruto! F-Finally you woke up!" Sakura said with watered eyes as she hugged her teammate. She saw him thrashing around on his bed while sweating profusely and screaming in pain, she got incredibly worried because she could not wake him up.

Naruto panted a little before he released a heavy sigh, he hugged his teammate back and as he kissed her forehead, he reassured, "It's a-alright Sakura… I… I w-was just h-having a nightmare…" He saw that Sakura was about to question him about it, but not feeling well talking about that strange dream, he quickly changed the subject, "W-Where am I? W-What happened?"

Sakura narrowed her green eyes at Naruto, she knew that he was hiding something but feeling content for now, she relented and explained, "You're in the hospital, dummy…" She released the hug and as she pointed to their side, she continued, "You and Sasuke knocked each other out."

Naruto turned to look at his left, where his brother was peacefully sleeping with an ever so slightly smirk plastered on his pale face. The Uzumaki just snorted and said, "I remember now yo… fuuuck… I completely drained myself there, ya know!?…" He then laid back on the bed.

Sakura just chuckled a little and after she went to grab a glass of water for the silverette, she said as she gave him the liquid, "Yeah, you two certainly did a number on each other." She sat in a chair placed in the middle of the two battle maniacs.

Naruto gulped down the liquid before he remembered something, so inquired, "Oh shit! Yo! What happened to the rest of the Prelims!?"

Sakura just smiled as she replied, "They're already over, you have been in here for seven hours."

Naruto whined loudly before he said, "Oooh man! I so wanted to see the rest of the fights!…" He then looked at Sakura's green eyes and asked, "Who passed then!?"

Sakura closed her eyes in thought for a second before she opened them again to reply, "Mmm… well… a Sound-nin named Zaku… Ino… Shika… Shino… the girl that beat me, Samui…" She gritted her teeth in frustration before she continued, "Tenten… Hinata… you… the Sand boy named Kankurō… a Cloud-nin named Omoi who beat Chōji… a Sound-nin named Dosu who beat Kiba… and that creepy girl from Sand named Gaara." Sakura shivered as she remembered the crazy girl's fight, it was brutal.

Naruto tilted his head at that and questioned with shock, "Lee lost!?" He was surprised to see that someone so strong like the green spandex enthusiast lost his fight, he was hoping to meet him in the finals.

Sakura just shivered harder as she explained, "He almost died…" Naruto widened his eyes at that, prompting the rosette to add, "He fought against that Sand jinchūriki, he almost had her but somehow, she completely turned the tables, she was so brutal that Guy-sensei had to intervene before she killed Lee."

Naruto just closed his eyes at that, he was really saddened by his fellow jinchūriki's madness, "How's Lee?" He then asked, having a feeling in his gut that he was not going to like the answer.

Sakura looked down and whispered, "Not good, his injuries were horrible, fatal almost…" She looked at her teammate again to add, "The doctors say that his career as a ninja is over."

Naruto just shook his head in sadness, he was incredibly pained to hear that, Lee was a good friend and the Namikaze knew how much being a ninja meant to the black-haired boy, but now, it was apparently over, "Did they said who's gonna fight against who?" He asked, wanting to change the subject, he will visit Lee later and somehow, he was going to help him recuperate his career.

Sakura shook her head as she replied her teammate's question, "No, they said that it will be announced the day of the finals."

The Uzumaki nodded at that, he figured that they would do that, "I guess all that's left for me is to train." He then uttered as he laid back on the bed.

Sakura nodded and with a smile, she stood up and went to kiss the silverette on his forehead, she then did the same to Sasuke and as she walked to the door, she said, "Yes, but for now you need to rest, so sleep, I'll come back tomorrow morning." She then left.

Naruto just looked at the night sky from his window, now that Sakura was gone, he completely focused on his strange dream, one that eerily resembled the one he had on Wave, "What the fuck was that!?…" He whispered as he narrowed his eyes at the distance, he needed to figure out what those damn dreams were.

* * *

A red-headed beauty was walking through the shore, she was enjoying the gentle breeze the sea was giving her but her face carried clear worry, worry for her host, "L-Lord Ddraig?" She asked timidly as she bowed to the powerful being in front of her.

Ddraig was enjoying his eternal nap when he heard the voice of his late friend's child and creation. The mighty dragon god opened his giant right eye and as he looked at the Nine-Tails' human form, he replied, **"What is it, child?"**

Kurama fidgeted a little as she looked at that giant green eye in front of her, many people would surely laugh at her unusual nervous demeanour, but she was in front of the third strongest being in the whole universe, this being could destroy a galaxy without even getting up from his nap, so one could pardon her nervousness when she asked, "I… umm… I w-was wondering…" She breathed in a little to calm herself and once done that, she continued, "I s-saw the dream Naruto had and… umm… I s-searched through his memories f-for the one he had before… t-they're… t-they're not d-dreams… a-are they?" She was really worried about those dreams, they were too real, even for her, she could feel the emotions of not just Naruto but the people around him inside the dream too.

Ddraig actually sighed tiredly after she spoke, showing Kurama just how long this powerful being has being around when the Red Dragon Emperor answered grimly, **"No child, they aren't dreams…"** Ddraig closed his eyes and then added, **"They're echoes."**

Kurama widened her eyes at that, she was confused so asked, "E-Echoes?"

 **"Of another sea."** Ddraig responded cryptically.

Kurama had some trouble following but thanks to her being so old and intelligent, she managed to piece the puzzle together, "A-Another sea?…" She muttered as she massaged her chin before she looked back at the god and said with wide eyes, "Y-You mean… a-another dimension!?"

 **"Yes."** Ddraig replied dryly.

Kurama was shocked to hear that, the thing about different dimensions was incredibly complicated to fully understand, in truth, only Zekrom, the Absolute God of Traverse, can fully understand the concepts of time, space and gravity, but she knew a lot about the subject too. Basically, as explained by her father, there are infinite amount of 'Alternate Dimensions', timelines where the smallest of differences drove the flow of things into a completely different place, a world where she was never created, one where she was the only one created, one where her father was never born, one where her father was a woman and so forth, infinite possibilities, all of them flowing parallel to each other, so close to one another but unable to ever cross, otherwise, a huge catastrophe might occur, "B-But how is that possible!? I-It s-shouldn't be p-possible! F-For him to see a-another world… is a b-breach to the r-rules of life!" She then asked. What she said was true, the Golden Dragon Emperor exists for that specific reason, to oversee that there are no disturbances to the multidimensional plane.

Ddraig grunted in what Kurama thought was an agreement, with the mighty being saying shortly after, **"That is true, it shouldn't be possible…"** The God of End opened his eyes and as he looked at the distance, he added, **"That means that one of three scenarios happened. One, my little brother is getting lazy…"** He said referring to Zekrom, **"Two, he is dead…"** He knew that that couldn't be it though, since he would feel the immense void his younger sibling would leave in life if he were to die, **"Or three, the Naruto that your Naruto can see is setting up something enormous in motion, big enough to send echoes to his other selves all over the multidimensional plane."**

Kurama was shocked at hearing that, she knew that her father was the one doing something similar back when he fought against his mother, the events that occurred back then were so massive that they were felt throughout the multidimensional plane. But such events could only be seen by the eyes of the perpetrator's other selves, "W-What could t-the other Naruto be d-doing? T-To cause such r-rapture in the dimensional b-barrier… it has to be h-huge…" She muttered to herself as she looked at the sea with troubled eyes, she didn't know what was happening, but she could feel it was not good.

 **"Indeed."** Ddraig added dryly as he did the same that the chakra-fox. He wasn't worried because whatever it was that was causing the rapture wasn't going to affect any of them really, this kind of things only affected the dimension they were placed in. The waves of it though, they could be felt throughout the multidimensional plane and what worried the dragon was what could change in Naruto once he realised that the one causing such rapture, was another version of himself.

* * *

"Yo! Finally, ya fool!" Naruto claimed with a wide smile as he stretched his muscles a little. He and Sasuke have been released from the Hospital and were now getting ready to leave this infernal place.

"Hn." Sasuke just grunted as he grabbed his headband.

"Geez Naruto, calm down would you?…" Sakura said chided her hyperactive teammate, "You're still not back to a hundred percent, so take it easy for a while." She added as she finished changing Sasuke's bandages, the blackette hurt himself with his own lightning and had some burns on his arms.

The silverette in question just gave his worried teammate a toothy grin as he said, "Oi! Don't underestimate this body, ya fool! I can kick anyone's ass right now fou shou!" He started punching the air before he grunted in pain when he over-stretched his still slightly stiff body.

Naruto quickly hid his pain, trying to fool his teammate, unfortunately for him, Sakura was already in front of him growling as she commanded, "Naruto! Don't. Over. Do. It!"

The next Absolute God of End actually paled at his teammate's aura, Sakura was way too overprotective of her team and whenever any of them overdid something, she would get incredibly furious while she healed them, sometimes she even refused to heal them so that they would stop doing reckless things.

The Uzumaki just saluted her like a soldier would his queen and said with a little stutter, "Y-Yes ma'am!"

Sasuke chuckled at the interaction between his two teammates, it reminded him that even after everything that happened to him, he did got himself a new family, "You better not lose the finals due to your stupidity Dobe, I don't want people believing that I'm weak if the guy that beat me lost because he didn't healed properly." Sure, he was angry that he lost the fight with his brother, but even so, he was finding himself actually feeling proud of Naruto, he didn't knew when he got so soft, but he guessed that this brotherly-pride he was feeling now was the same that Itachi had whenever he saw him or Naruto achieving something.

"Oi! Amma kick them asses, ya'll see, fool!" The silver-haired Namikaze heir replied with a wide excited grin.

Sakura just smiled and after an amused snort, she muttered, "You two never stop with your battle-craze."

It was then when a knock on the door suddenly brought the three Leaf-nin's attention to it, where a beautiful buxom blonde female was standing a little timidly while wearing an almost unnoticeable blush on her porcelain face. The three Team 7 members recognized the girl as a genin from one of Cloud's team, the female that defeated Sakura, "H-Hello… umm… I-I'm sorry to b-bother you…" Samui said a little flustered before she reigned her nervousness and said more confidently, "I-I wish to speak with t-the Dark S-Swordsman, if I may?"

Naruto and Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at that while Sakura giggled at the strong Cloud kunoichi acting like a schooler in love, so she walked towards Sasuke and grabbed his arm and as she led him towards the exit door, she said once she was next to the blonde, "That was a great fight, congratulations." She congratulated her honestly on her win, sure, the pinkerette was mad at the outcome, but she was angry at herself for losing.

Samui just smiled ever so slightly as she replied with a cool tone, "Thank you, you fought very well too, it was a close one, but cool." She shook the rosette's hand and with that, both Sakura and Sasuke left the two other genin alone in the room.

Samui just gulped and turned her blue eyes back at the handsome man that rescued her, she walked towards him a little shyly but not wanting to make a fool of herself, she said confidently, "Waddup." She cursed herself then when she realized that out of nervousness, she ended up talking like her sensei, sounding really lame.

Naruto kept his eyebrow raised at the girl, now that he could look at her well, he was impressed at her amazing beauty. Her body was that of a goddess, easily rivalling Kurama's human form, her eyes were a shade lighter than his but they were so cool and refreshing, almost like sea breeze itself, her face seemed to have been carved by a master artist along with those enticing plump red lips. The thing that caught Naruto's eyes the most though, was her strength, he was a dragon now, so he knew that ever since he became one, his focus was always mostly on his possible mate's strength, "Nuffin much, ya know!?… just chilling…" He then leaned against the wall beside him and added, "Waddup with ya?"

Samui was in the same situation that Naruto moments ago, she was eyeing his entire form now that she was able to be close to him. He was a god, his dark blue eyes were so haunting and mesmerizing, like a raging sea enticing you to get lost in it for ever, the shirt he was wearing did nothing to cover his impressive built, he wasn't buff nor slim, he was perfect for a ninja, his scent though, shit, it was so enticing, she could not get it out of her mind. But that hair, that beautiful dark-silver hair was so amazing, it was the exact same shade of her favourite colour, a colour she now had more reasons to love for sure, "Oh!… umm… ye-yeah… _ahem…_ Nothing much really… I… umm…" Samui cursed herself a little, she has never been shy around anyone in her life before. She was Cloud's most sought out female for sure, she had a huge line of suitors but none has ever caught her eye, she was known as the Cloud's Ice Queen, a title she enjoyed having, but for some strange reason being in front of this god of a man was making her incredibly meek, "I j-just w-wanted to… umm… t-thank you."

Naruto mentally smirked devilishly as he realized the flustered state the blonde was enduring, he was releasing a good amount of pheromones in the air and along with the essence he already injected her with, he was making sure the blonde did not forgot about him any time soon, "For saving ya?" He asked as he tilted his head a little.

Samui just shook her head to rid her mind of her growing lust and replied, "Y-Yes!… umm… y-yes…" She breathed in a little in order to add, "T-That was a huge risk y-you took for me."

The silverette just smiled warmly at her, making her blush a little harsher, before he replied, "Ah don't worry 'bout it, fool! I told ya already, mah body moved on its own."

Samui felt her heart racing hard when she heard those words, "B-But… w-why?…" She whispered a question as she subconsciously walked a little closer to him.

The Uzumaki smirked when he saw her moving towards him and walking a little towards her, he brought his hand to her face and as he moved some of her blonde locks to the side, he whispered huskily, "I don't know…" Wanting to be as memorable as he could, he closed in on her and whispered seductively in her ear, "Maybe because I find you so painfully beautiful."

Samui was panting openly now, she had no fricking idea why she was allowing such closeness, she has never let any man come at her this way in her whole life, heck, she hadn't even kissed anyone. But for some damn reason she could not control her body from responding to the silverette's ministrations, she was enamoured by his powerful aura, "R-Re-Really?…" She whispered a question as she tilted her head a little to grant the silverette access to her sensitive neck, again, she had no idea why she was doing this, but she didn't give a damn about that.

Naruto just smirked when he saw her moving her head to the side, he accepted the invitation as he brought his nose close to her neck and while sniffing her scent slowly and lustfully, he huskily replied, "Yes…" He then grabbed her by the waist and as he brought his face back to look at her directly to her eyes, he asked, "Unfortunately, we haven't even introduced ourselves."

Samui was fighting so hard against her lust right now, the silverette was making her senses go crazy with lust, she managed to calm a little though and after a gulp, she replied, "I-I'm Sa-Samui."

Naruto smiled at that and while he caressed her waist and cheek with his hands, he said, "A beautiful name, fitting for such incredible woman…" Samui blushed like a tomato at that, but the silverette added, "I am Naruto, pleased to make your acquaintance, fool."

Samui ignored the similarity Naruto's speech had with her sensei in order to focus on how beautiful this man was, his caressing on her body was sending waves of warmth, comfort and security she has never felt in her life, but knowing that more of this will lead to a wild outcome, she shook her head and after a loud gulp, she gently removed herself from his embrace and walked some steps away from him, "I-It is a p-pleasure… N-Naruto…" Samui then thought quickly on an excuse to leave, knowing that she won't be able to hold her lust for much longer, so she said after a deep breath, "W-Well… umm… that w-was all I w-wanted to say… I u-umm… h-have to go now… m-my team is w-waiting for me at the g-gates…" It wasn't entirely a lie though, she and her team were supposed to leave in some more minutes.

Naruto smiled a little sadly at that, creating a pang in Samui's heart at seeing that, but he said, "Aight then, it was fun to meet ya in person, ya know!? Just travel safely and I hope to see ya in the finals!" He then smirked at her while sending her a thumbs up.

 _'G-God… h-he's sooooo coooool!…'_ She thought as she felt her heart already threatening to jump out of her chest. The blonde then shook her head and replied, "Y-Yes…" She walked towards the door but not knowing why, she turned to look back at him and spoke, "I-I'll be back in t-three weeks w-with my sensei and team… s-so… I w-would like to… c-chat with you again."

Naruto smiled at that and said happily, "Fou shou baby! Just let me know when you're here and we'll chill, fam!"

Samui smiled at that and quickly made her way out of the room, wearing a genuine happy smile on her face after meeting the man that saved her and that has been her idol ever since she heard the stories and songs about him.

Naruto just stared at the door before he widened his eyes and said as his heart pumped strongly, "H-Hold on j-just a minute!… s-she… s-she… s-she said h-her… 'sensei' w-was coming… d-does that m-means that…" He grabbed the window's lower frame for support and as he stared at the window, he whispered, "T-The M-Mighty's coming… t-to town…" The silverette then looked at the red star on the sky and whispered with longing eyes, "A-Am I… w-worthy!?… f-fool…"

With that, the silverette stayed there looking at the sky with stars in his eyes as he thought of his idol, that is of course until he whined in pain when he remembered that looking straight at the sun was not a good idea, though, he didn't cared, the Mighty's coming to the Leaf, and he needed to be at his 100% to meet the man that inspires him forward.

* * *

"Where's Pa, yo!?" Naruto uttered annoyed as he continued walking through the Village Hidden in the Leave's busy streets. It has been two days since the end of the Prelims and now that he was fully rested and that he spent some time with his girls, he was itching for training, wanting to get even stronger by the time the finals arrive.

So the silverette was looking for his father so he could tell him what to do, but alas, he was nowhere in sight, "W-Whoa!… is… i-is that Pa!?" He then whispered in shock when he saw his father speaking to a beautiful black-haired woman he recognized well as the female his father informed him that she was been captured while she was trying to spy the Leaf. She comes from the Lock Village in the Land of Keys and according to his father, he had some history with her when he helped her get back home when they were children, she got lost and didn't know how to go back to her village, his father found the girl crying and helped her get back to Lock.

The two met again some years ago when she was posing a singer in a village inside the Land of Fire's territory, that's when Naruto could tell that something happened between the two. Unfortunately, it turned out that she was a spy trying to get info on the Leaf so her village could sell it to the highest bidder, similar to what the Village Hidden in Hot Water does. She was caught by Yūgao in fact and was brought in for questioning, but after seeing that she really didn't know nothing and had apparently erased all memories of what she saw in the Leaf, the Third was kind to her and was willing to let her go, but something made the female stay in the Leaf, something he now could see what it was.

The female's name was Hanare if he remembers well, it made the silverette really happy to see that his father did seemed to like the woman as well, he was getting worried that his father would lock himself form getting attached to someone, so seeing him interacting and flirting with a girl made the silver-haired Uzumaki happy.

But, his father has teased him so much in his life that he couldn't help but grin mischievously as he thought on a good way to get back to him, knowing that Kakashi surely told her about him. So chuckling live a villain of a movie, Naruto used henge to transform into an 8 year old version of himself, he turned his demeanour completely into the one of a cute boy and put his plan into motion.

"U-Umm… K-Kakashi?…" Hanare said timidly as she wiggled her body a little, she couldn't stop the blush on her cheeks from showing but she really didn't cared, she was in love with this man, he was willing to give her a second chance in a new village, where for the first time in her life she had finally found a home, so even if she was betraying her original village to stay here, she didn't cared, she was wanted a new home, a new life and she wanted the silver-haired man to be by her side, she was even willing to be a mother to his son.

Kakashi for his part was fighting his feeling down a little, he liked the girl as well, even if at the beginning he didn't trusted her, he could tell by these past weeks that she genuinely wanted to be here, with him. Yes, he knew that she was in love with him and frankly, he was starting to think that he felt the same, the fact that Naruto could very well use a mother figure in his life was also making him consider beginning a relationship with the woman, "Y-Yes Hanare?" The Hatake responded.

Hanare was about to say something, but a cute little silver-haired boy came running towards her and hugged her by the waist, burying his little head in her stomach, confusing the woman incredibly.

The little boy then turned to look at the silver-haired jōnin and said with such innocence that it melted Hanare's heart, "Papa! Papa!…" The boy then looked at the woman and added with puppy eyes, "Is this my Mama!?"

Kakashi almost died from the huge lump that formed in his throat, he cursed his son inside his mind as he knew what he was up to. Unfortunately for him though, Hanare did thought that the little boy was genuinely asking that, so she developed a huge blush as she kneeled down and while patting the little boy on the head, she said, "Aw! Are you Naruto?" Hanare asked while babying the little boy, she couldn't stop her maternal feelings from sprouting.

The boy smiled widely and replied, "Yep! I'm a ninja!" He then moved around as he did childish ninja moves.

Hanare just giggled at the boy but was confused when Kakashi said with irritation, "Alright son, cut it out now."

Naruto then stopped and in a puff of smoke, his true self was revealed, making Hanare blush at how handsome her beloved's son was, just like his father, "Hahaha! How was that, ya fool!? That was for all of them times ya teased me!…" Naruto then walked towards the surprised Hanare and enveloped her in a hug as he added, "But seriously though, is she mah Ma!?"

Kakashi once again coughed in shock at those words, Hanare though, released herself from her surprise and hugged the teen back, saying, "If your father and you are happy with me, I will be rejoiced to." She replied with teary eyes as she couldn't stop herself from babying the teen, it just felt, right.

Naruto for his part was feeling really shocked right now, he was just hugging her to be polite and teasing, but now being in the woman's arms while she babied him, he was starting to feel the one thing that he always missed in his life, a mother's love.

Kakashi just smiled a little as he saw his son's face, he was happy and enjoying Hanare's caressing. He always knew that even if Naruto did had Mikoto in his childhood, the Uchiha matriarch was never a true mother figure, she was the woman Naruto first loved romantically, but now, it appears that maybe, Kakashi could give his son the last missing piece, "Hanare…" Kakashi then said, sadly, there were more pressing matters right now, so he added once the woman looked at him, "Go to my house…" He gave her a key and continued, "I know you want to talk right now, but there's something me and Naruto need to do, so just wait for me and I'll come by soon, okay?" He was genuinely sorry for this, but it was important.

Naruto sensed that and released the woman, although a little reluctantly. Hanare just grabbed the key and with a small smile, she replied, "Okay Kakashi, I'll be waiting…" She then turned towards the silver-haired teen and after she kissed him on the forehead lovingly, she said, "Be careful Naruto."

Naruto just stared at her wide-eyed, he didn't know what the fuck was happening to him, he just knew that he liked this feeling, a lot, "Y-Yeah… d-don't worry… f-fool…" He stuttered back.

Hanare just smiled sweetly at the boy and made her way towards the jōnin's house, she was feeling really nervous and hopeful as she really wanted to start a life with Kakashi and she was not going to lie either, pampering the silver-haired Uzumaki made her mother-side giddy at the mere thought.

Kakashi for his part just smiled at the boy, he could tell that something in him awoken, that need for a mother figure in his life, even if he really didn't need that guidance anymore or even if he has certainly become colder and highly independent, the mere thought of knowing that you had one person that will never doubt you or leave you down was certainly comforting, "Naruto, come on son, we have to go to the Cryptanalysis Team's HQ." He said as he tried to draw his son's attention back to him.

Naruto shook his head a little and turned to look at his father, he didn't said or asked anything because he knew that Kakashi was not one to talk about such things, but he could surely say that he hoped that his father develops a relationship with the beautiful woman, he wanted Kakashi to have someone waiting for him back home and the thought of having someone he might one day call 'Mother', was certainly alluring, "Umm… right!… w-why thou!?" The Namikaze said as he tilted his head a little.

Kakashi then started walking towards the building with his son in tow as he replied, "Mitoku sent word to me that he has finished studying the scroll sent to you, so we're going to see what he found and whether or not it's safe to teach you its contents."

Naruto nodded with a smile at that, he was getting really giddy with that scroll and all the things he could learn from it, but he was no fool, even if he was thirsty for knowledge, he knew that something so good as that scroll coming seemingly for free was way too suspicious.

It took the pair some minutes to get to their destination, but once they arrived, they made their way inside the building and were greeted by a young blonde bespectacled woman, roughly the same age as Naruto, She was wearing a lab coat and her blonde hair had a lot of wild strands all over the place, "Hello, h-how ca…" The girl was saying from her desk before she realized who it was, "Ah! M-Mr Hatake!…" She then looked at the beautiful young man by his side and greeted with a stutter and a blush, "M-Mr Uzumaki! W-Welcome."

The father and son duo laughed at the awkward girl, with Kakashi saying, "Please young one, just call me Kakashi…" He then gestured the silverette by his side and added, "And call him Naruto too, he hates honorifics."

"I sure do, fool!" Naruto claimed with a sexy smirk that made the blonde girl flush even harsher.

"R-Right…" Shiho replied shyly before she added, "Umm… y-you came h-here for the scroll, right?"

Kakashi nodded at that and said, "Yes, Mitoku sent word that you had an idea as to what it was."

Before the blonde could say anything, a manly voice then interrupted them as he greeted happily, "Ah, Kakashi! Naruto! Come here!…" The man gestured the duo to follow him as he walked towards a large table deep into the office, were said scroll was opened while a short-haired brunette was intently reading its contents, "Yurika! Say hello!" Mitoku then said to his most important aide.

Said brunette shook her head at the voice and immediately noticed the two newcomers, blushing really hard when she saw Naruto, who, unbeknownst to many people, was actually a good friend of hers, well, her crush really, even if he was younger than her, the boy was the handsomest man she has ever seen and she would admit having some perverted dreams whenever he thought of the silverette, "M-Mr Hatake! Naruto! Go-Good day!"

The two mentioned greeted with Naruto enveloping the flustered girl in a tight hug that made her eyes go dreamy for a second. The exchange confused Mitoku, as he asked, "Oh, I didn't know you two knew each other."

It was Naruto then one that explained as he released the girl from his arms, much to her displeasure, "Yeah, we go some years back, she's actually the reason why I even managed to pass the written exam in the Academy." It was true, he met the brunette at Ichiraku's since she is also quite the fan of the food, he instantly hit it off with her and eventually she became a good friend of his, to the point where she usually helped him study the books he was given. Though, she was a little like Ayame to him, he wanted the girl to be his mate, he liked her, but he would take it easy with her first.

"Oh, I see." Mitoku said with a knowing smirk on his face, _'So this is the boy that keeps Yurika awake, huh?…'_ He thought with a chuckle as he remembered all the times he has caught Yurika day dreaming while blushing slightly out of nowhere.

Yurika for her part just tried to control her blush as she fidgeted her fingers behind her back, "Soooo… what'cha find Yuri!?" The voice of the object of her affections then broke her out of her flustered state, making her shook her head and grab the scroll to say.

"Naru! I don't know how someone just gave this to you, but this scroll is the most fascinating one I have ever seen!" The brunette said with awe etched in her voice as she talked about the aforementioned scroll.

"I-It's true…" Shiho then timidly added as she walked towards her mentor, "I-It's a ma-masterpiece even."

Both Kakashi and Naruto lifted their eyebrows at that, with Kakashi questioning, "I see, what exactly did you found?"

Mitoku was the one that answered when he said, "Nothing."

Both Naruto and Kakashi were really confused at that, with the former speaking, "What'cha mean, fool!?"

Yurika giggled at the silverette's usual rudeness before she explained, "Naruto, this scroll is a complete unknown, we are the village with the most knowledge in this sort of things and yet, we couldn't find a single factual origin to this scroll."

Naruto whined and Kakashi massaged his chin as he said, "So, it was useless then."

Mitoku gabbed the scroll and as he shook his head, he said, "Not really, we couldn't find anything on the scroll from factual sources…" He gestured a couple of books placed on the table and added, "We actually found something about this scroll from fictional and mythological sources coming from Europa."

Both Hatake and son widened their eyes at that, "What sources?" Kakashi asked then.

"First…" Yurika said as she grabbed a brown book, "The crest of the black dragon is briefly mentioned in this book…" She opened the book and after she found a specific page, she said, "This book is a fictional tale of how the 'War Without Horizon' began…" She couldn't continue because her crush raised his hand.

"Yo, sorry to be an idiot, but what is that war?" He said as he felt confused by the term he has never heard in his life.

Yurika smiled at him but it was Shiho the one that explained as she said, "T-The 'War Without Horizon' is the name g-given to the conflict Europa has been suffering practically s-since its foundation, t-that's how locals and scholars refer to it."

Naruto nodded and as Yurika saw that her fancy understood now, she continued, "Well, the true origins of said conflicts are unknown as it recalls back to hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, so there is really no factual information on how it truly began…" She then looked back at the book in her hands and added, "But there are many theories and tales of old as to how it started, this one though, is the most famous…" She cleared her throat and read aloud, " _Ahem…_ 'And the men of the Exiled One marched onwards waving their peccant banners proudly, the black dragon and its golden eyes instilled fear inside the hearts of all of those who followed the word of the Allfather. The child of darkness wanted naught but control, his cold silver mane waved all mightily as he rode with his sinful souls. The Exiled One succeeded in poisoning the minds of mortals like you and I, with promises of power, success and lust, but it was all lies, as all that the one who was casted out of Paradise truly wanted, was to destroy the one that opposed his views, the one that gave him life'…"

Naruto and Kakashi had their eyebrow raised at that, "It sounds… chaotic…" Naruto muttered with some trouble, not really knowing how else to explain.

Yurika nodded at those words, saying, "Yeah, the whole book basically explains that this 'Exiled One' manipulated the continent into fighting each other so that the 'Allfather' would come down from his Paradise and fight the one he casted out, who according to the legend, is the Allfather's son."

The two male ninja nodded at that, with Mitoku urging the blonde, "Now Shiho, tell them about the other book."

Shiho nodded shakily at her boss and grabbed the other book, a black one with a silver cross on its cover, "T-This book is considered as h-holy, it's comprised of 'sacred' t-texts that have be-become law to Europa's primary religion, it is known as 'The Bible'…" She opened the book and after she found a specific page, she continued, "S-Strangely enough, the so called 'Exiled One' and the 'Allfather' are the main figures in this book too. The 'Allfather' is written here as 'God', the main deity that Christians pray to. According to this book, he created Earth and humans, as well as a paradise called 'Heaven', where his 'soldiers' reside to protect the souls of all those who have perished, his soldiers are known as 'Angels'. The 'Exiled One' is his counterpart and he used to be an Angel, God's first one actually, but due to his immense pride, he was casted out of 'Heaven' by God, thus, becoming his sworn enemy, creating an opposing race to that of God's Angels, he called them 'Devils' or 'Demons'."

Mitoku then added, "Unfortunately, that is really all we could find, the only other thing left to relate those tales to this scroll, it's the way that the one that wrote the note to Naruto referred to him, 'Son of the Dawn', it's also mentioned in this book as a way to refer to the 'Exiled One'."

Both Naruto and Kakashi were really confused, though, Naruto was really shocked to hear about Devils and Angels in these books, he knew they were real, they just weren't the way they were depicted, a Fallen Angel IT'S literally one of his mates and he knew that the only one she prayed to was Great Red, who according to her, is the one true God that her, her kind and all deities pray to.

"Did this… 'Exiled One'… had a name?" Kakashi then asked, greatly intrigued by this. Sure, it sounded too fictional, but he knew that even the wildest of tales had some truth in its origins.

Yurika nodded and said, "Yes, according to the Bible, his name is 'Lucifer'."

Naruto actually widened his eyes at that, confusing those around him as they didn't know why such name could hold any meaning to him, " _Pft…_ Ironic…" He uttered with a small snort.

Everyone looked at Naruto weirdly until they too realized why he would say that, "Anyways… do you think is safe for him to learn the contents of the scroll?" Kakashi then said, changing the subject of the conversation to avoid a certain topic.

The three scholars caught on the subtle change but relented, as none of them wanted to touch that topic, so Mitoku said, " _Cough…_ Unfortunately Kakashi, I cannot tell you that, we truly do not know whether this scroll's contents are veritable or not, the only thing I can confirm is that the scroll is one hundred percent real, there's no trap or any kind of tampering, it is as it was created."

Yurika then gave the scroll to Naruto and said with worry, "I-I know y-you're going to use it, just b-be careful, okay?"

Naruto smiled warmly at the brunette and after giving her a kiss on the cheek, he said to the blushing teen, "Oi! Don't worry Yuri! I'm gon be careful with this shit, yo! And once I win the finals! Amma take you to a nice dinner at Ichiraku's, fool!"

Yurika blushed madly at that but smiled earnestly, already feeling the fast pace her heart was going at hearing such words coming from the mouth she has dreamt kissing so many nights.

With that, both father and son waved goodbye at the Cryptanalyst team and left the building, with Naruto saying once outside, "Pa! Can I use the scroll!? Pleeeeeeeease!" He gave his father his best puppy eyes.

Kakashi just sighed worriedly, he really didn't know what to do. On one hand, the power the silverette could achieve with this scroll was certainly great, but the fact that someone left it at his doorstep asking nothing in return was really troubling, fortunately for him, there was currently another person in the village who could help with the scroll situation, "Listen son, I know you're eager to learn and train, more so when you've advanced to the finals, but I am not comfortable with this…" He saw his silver-haired son pouting at that, so he added, "But let's see what Lord Jiraiya says, his knowledge on this sort of things is the best in the village, so take the scroll to him and we'll see after he sees it."

Naruto tilted his head at that and said, "Pervy Sage!? He's here!?"

Kakashi nodded and with an eye-smile, he responded, "Yup, he arrived just today, he had a meeting with Lord Third and took the chance to see you too, he was looking for you this morning but he probably got… side-tracked…"

Naruto just huffed annoyed at that, knowing that his perverted godfather was probably shamelessly peeping on women. But he really wanted to see his godfather, he was a good man and has a special place in Naruto's heart, so not needing instructions on where to find him, he said, "Aight Pa! I'll go and look for the perv!"

The Hatake smiled at the boy as he said, "You do that, show him the scroll and tell him to come see me once he's done, we will discuss what to do then."

Naruto nodded and immediately ran off towards the bath house, knowing that the famed hermit and perverted Sage was surely there. Naruto just hoped that none of his mates or the women he fancied were currently using the bath, otherwise he was going to seriously harm his godfather for that.

* * *

"Where is that damn pervert!?…" Naruto muttered annoyed as he walked around the huge bath house the Leaf had, he couldn't find his godfather anywhere, "Let's see who's inside…" He then said as he closed his eyes and released his aura in a subtle way to sense who was inside. The silverette immediately growled when he sensed that Hana Inuzuka and Tsubaki Amari where inside the bath house and thanks to the wave of aura, he was also able to find the Sannin.

Making his way down there, walking fast as faces passed by, he saw a bush suspiciously placed outside of the women's side of the bath, the bush was unnaturally moving as a soft perverted giggled was heard coming from it. Knowing that Jiraiya was there peeping his heart out, Naruto decided to inflict some pain since two of the women he was seeing were of his fancy, he silently placed his hands on the ground and as he focused on his godfather's chakra signature, quietly said, "Magnet Style: Mineral Bind!"

"Gigigi… oooh yes… look at that bounciness…" A pervert giggled followed by an equal perverted claim was heard coming from a hiding man. The man seemed to be in his late 50's, he had long spiky white hair and was wearing a quite extravagant green and red kimono with a big scroll on his back, the man had red lines falling down his eyes and was wearing a headband with the kanji for 'Oil'. The man was furiously writing things down on his small notebook as he giggled perversely and had a trail of blood coming down his nostrils, "I love this village!" The man known and feared by enemies and females alike as Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, claimed lustfully.

Jiraiya suddenly cursed though, when out nowhere, he felt a cold sensation encasing his feet. Turning down to see what it was, he was welcomed to the sight of his feet being encased by what it looks like mineral bindings, something that Jiraiya knew only one person was capable of using such element. Jiraiya peeped his head out of the bush and looked at his angry godson who was looking at him with irritation, "Hey! Brat! What are you doing!?" He whispered heatedly as he glared at the son of his late student.

Naruto instead of answering right away just smirked evilly and stood up, he turned around and placed his hands on his eyes so that he couldn't see and screamed, "Pervert!"

Jiraiya immediately paled as he heard the women inside the bath screaming in distress, quickly followed by the sound of a stomp of angry women, with the white-haired pervert trying with all of his might to get rid of the damn bindings he was placed in.

"What is…" Hana Inuzuka said before she saw the Leaf's number one pervert. She also saw her beloved knucklehead looking the other way while covering his eyes, obviously not wanting to be rude to the women, that made the female Inuzuka smile and feel her heart beat faster.

"Now what do we have here." Tsubaki said with a dangerous tone as she saw the trapped form of the perverted Sannin.

"Hehe… ladies… l-let's talk this out, alright?…" Jiraiya pleaded with a nervous chuckle as he sweated profusely, knowing that he was doomed.

His guess was right when immediately all the angry females ganged up on him and started beating the living shit out of him for some minutes. It all came to the point where the pervert Toad Sage was lying in the ground as he twitched and moaned in excruciating pain.

Hana then walked towards the silverette who still hadn't moved an inch and once she was close to him, she hugged him from behind, surprising him, she then brought her lips close to his ear and whispered seductively, "Is alright Naru, I don't think no one here minds if it's _you_ looking." She wasn't kidding, the females behind that were only wearing towels covering their wet bodies were giggling perversely as they all went to dreamland thinking of the famous silverette.

Naruto _oooo_ in awe as he opened his eyes and turned to look at Hana, seeing her in only a towel that didn't hid any of her fantastic figure, her wet brown hair sticking so seductively to her creamy skin. The sight of the rest of the women was making his draconic lust flare almost dangerously, "R-Really!?" He asked with hopeful wide eyes.

Hana and the rest of the females giggled at the boy, they knew that he was a hardened warrior, but it was in moments like this that they remembered that he was a healthy teen too, "Gigigi… yes Naru…" Hana said before she moved her body seductively and added with a lustful tone, "Perhaps, we can even give you some lessons in female anatomy."

Naruto groaned in lust before he closed his eyes and said with total earnest, "Please do!"

Everyone laughed at how fun and cute the boy could be when he was relaxed, that was the reason why he was so popular with all the women, he was strong, vicious and cunning enough to protect them from any danger, but he was also kind, fun and honest, even with his own perversion.

Tsubaki was blushing really hard right now, she was enjoying the teasing, but damn, her heart was beating like crazy when she looked at Naruto, she didn't know whether she was in love or completely lustful for the guy, but she was rubbing her thighs together in order to control her arousal.

Sadly though, for both Naruto and the women, he needed to train so he said, "Thou, amma have to get a rain check on that, mah luvs…" He then walked towards his unconscious godfather and as he grabbed him by the back of his clothes, he added, "But as y'all know, I'm in the finals and I need this perverted fool to train me!"

The women actually groaned in disappointment, but settled for waving goodbye to him and wishing him good luck, with Hana giving him a sensual kiss on the cheek and adding an extra sway on her already enticing hips, "These women gon be the dead of me, fool, fou shou…" He muttered with a bloodied nose as he dragged the Sannin away towards a location where they could train peacefully.

* * *

"This looks like a good place…" One silver-haired Namikaze muttered as he arrived to a clearing with a small lake. He was still dragging his unconscious godfather that by now seemed to be sleeping, "Oi! Wake up, ya pervert!" Naruto then screamed as he threw the Sannin to the cold lake.

"Oh!…" Jiraiya screamed as he felt the freezing liquid soaking his body. He panted a little and started looking around to see where he was, it was when he looked at the front that he saw his godson wearing a devilish smirk while crossing his arms, "You damn brat! You ruined my research time!" He then said irritably as he walked out of the lake.

Naruto just snorted in amusement before he said harshly, "Seriously, ya fool keep calling the shit you do 'research'… it's really called 'sexual harassment', ya know!?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Jiraiya just said as he used a wind jutsu to dry himself. He then looked at his godson and with a big grin he grabbed his shoulders and praised, "I heard you passed to the finals! Congratulations brat!"

Naruto just smiled at the old man, he really misses the pervert whenever he's not around, Jiraiya has always been there for him, though, not physically due to his job as the Leaf's spymaster, but at the very least, Jiraiya always makes sure to send him gifts, books and things that helped the Uzumaki grow into a fine ninja. Plus, he was not going to deny that the Toad Sage was quite amusing.

"What did ya expected, huh!? I'm a killer baby!" The Namikaze claimed as he moved his hands around in an extravagant manner.

Jiraiya just smirked at his godson and student's manners, he always found it amusing the way he molded himself as his hero Killer Bee. Though, it was saddening for him to see that the boy did not hold any special place for either Minato nor Kushina, to him, the two were ninjas whom he respected greatly, Minato especially, but that was it, they weren't his parents, they were the heroes of the Leaf.

But even if that saddened the Toad Sage pervert, he could not really blame the boy for feeling the way he does, he never knew them and the fact that they were his parents was kept hidden until he himself uncovered the truth. He was a kid and kids don't care at all for reasons, as noble as they might be, kids care for who's there to pick them up when they fall, to teach them things about life, to tell them what's right and what's not, and to Naruto, Kakashi was the one that was there to pick him up and helped him grow, that's why the Hatake ninja became Naruto's father, and the Toad Sannin was really grateful to the Copy Ninja for that.

Jiraiya shook his head to rid his mind of sad thoughts and after giving the boy a grin, he said, "I guess that you interrupted my precious research time to get some training."

Naruto just snorted at the 'research' part but said after, "You got it, fool!"

Jiraiya chuckled and said, "Alright, but first, your father told me about a strange scroll that was sent to you." He was told by Kakashi about a strange scroll that was left in Naruto's doorstep. Apparently, this scroll contained information on how to advance to another stage in the Magnetic Bloodline, something that as far as the Toad Sage knows, was not possible. But Kakashi was really serious about it, saying that the knowledge written in the scroll seemed to be real, the problem was that the scroll came for free, and knowledge was never free.

Naruto nodded and brought his hand to his pocket where he took out a scroll, he handed it to his godfather as he said, "Yup! It's supposed to help me reach Magnetic's second stage."

Jiraiya nodded as he took the scroll, he looked at it intently and narrowed his eyes at it. It was very well crafted and since he was a practitioner of Sage Mode that connected him with natural energy, he could feel something powerful and ominous oozing off of the fancy looking scroll, "Alright, I'll take a look at it…" He then threw another scroll at Naruto and added, "You do the things written in that scroll while I check this one."

Surprisingly though, Jiraiya raised his eyebrow when he saw his godson giving him a very serious gaze as he said, "Pervy Sage, I want you to teach IT to me, I am ready, I'm sure of it." For once, he dropped all goofiness and rap remarks from his speech, showing how serious he was.

Jiraiya sighed at that, he knew that Naruto wanted to learn his biological father's trademark technique, the famed and feared 'Thunder God Jutsu', it was actually Itachi the one that convinced Naruto to wait until his body was strong enough to withstand the strain the space-time manipulation jutsu had, and frankly, Jiraiya didn't saw anything wrong with doing it now, "Alright then, I have seen your reports and asked about your progress, your father and the old Sarutobi both agree that you are ready, and so do I."

Naruto smiled at that and started to get really excited, "Oooo shit! Yo! Amma be one overpowered piece of shit after this, fool!" He claimed as he started kicking a ghost's ass.

Jiraiya chuckled at the boy's excitement before he said, "Now, now, calm down brat, one step at a time…" Jiraiya then added, "Get the scroll and the kunai ready, let's not waste any more time, if we do this right, you might have it done by the time the finals arrive…" The white-haired man then narrowed his eyes and ordered, "But do not use it carelessly, the moment you show this jutsu to the world, you will be practically announcing your true heritage, so be very careful with this, you are still not strong enough to deal with Minato's enemies, so if you're going to use it, make sure that it's as a last resort."

Naruto nodded at that with serious eyes, he knew that it was no joke, the moment someone sees him using such legendary technique, it won't take long for the world to connect the dots, so he was going to definitely be very careful with the technique. The thing was that he needed it though, he needed the jutsu so that he could be by any of his mates' side at the blink of an eye, that way, he could make sure that he could protect them well. With that, the godfather and godson duo began the training, with Naruto eager to show the world what he's truly made of.

* * *

 **Lemon**

"Ooowww…" Naruto groaned in pain as he opened the door of his apartment. He just finished training with his godfather and it was brutal, the very basics of the Thunder God Jutsu were incredibly difficult to grasp, it required him to study everything about space-time theory, so he had to train both his mind and body, otherwise, he would never be able to successfully teleport himself to where he wanted if he didn't knew how space and time worked and if his body was not strong enough to deal with the strain, adding the fact that he also needed to learn advanced sealing. All in all, it was very difficult to get it right and his respect for Minato surely grew after the very first day.

"Mmm… what's going on?…" The Uzumaki muttered as he saw that there was a tender light coming from his room, light he could tell was coming from candles. So walking towards his room, he was surprised to see many candles placed around the room, but the most exciting sight, was Ayame who was completely naked sitting on the bed, she was looking at him with eyes full of love and lust, "A-Aya!?" He asked, unsure of what was going on.

Ayame for her part gathered all of her courage, she was incredibly nervous right now, this was the surprise she's been wanting to give her mate, she loved him, he loved her, she couldn't wait any longer to be fully mated to him. So she reigned her shyness and stood up, walking seductively towards Naruto to say, "Hello my love." She kissed him chastely while she started undressing him.

Naruto gulped hard at the view, Ayame had an amazing body, it was so firm yet soft that he couldn't get enough of it, but right now he was confused, Ayame's birthday was still 5 months away, "Aya… w-what are you doing?…" Sure, he makes sure to satisfy his women with foreplay, but he could tell that Ayame wanted to go all the way.

Ayame smiled sweetly at him and finally got rid of the annoying cloth hiding her mate's godly body, she took some moments to lick her lips as she eyed his body lustfully, especially his slowly hardening member, "I w-want to… g-give myself t-to you…" She kissed him deeply as she led him towards the bed, "Entirely this time." She then urged him to sit on the bed as she placed herself behind him, pressing her front against his back while she kissed his shoulders and caressed his stomach.

Naruto groaned at the action, it was getting really hard to control his draconic lust, he was not a wimp or a blushing teenager, he now had full confidence and knowledge in how to please his mates, so he was calm when he asked, "Are you sure, Aya? I can wait until you're truly ready."

Ayame stopped kissing his shoulder and smiled with some tears in her eyes, she just continued to fall in love with him as the moments go by. She knew that he was having a lot of trouble controlling his unnatural lust, he was deeply in touch with his animalistic side and every time he pleased her and the others, he seemed to struggle a lot, almost painfully, to control himself, that fact made her, Akeno and Hinata just fall even harder for him because to him, it was never about him, but about them.

This time was going to be different though, she was going to make him feel as incredible as he makes her feel, "I am ready, my love…" She whispered to his ears as she brought her hand to his penis and started stroking it, "I love you so much that it hurts, I want to show you my love…" She then grabbed his head and turned it to kiss him deeply, "And I want you to show me yours… I need you… inside." She said after the kiss.

Naruto just smirked dreamily at her and in a swift movement, he turned around and grabbed the giggling girl by the waist, positioning himself below her, with his face in front of her dripping vagina while hers was in front of his pulsing member, "Mmm… I can see that, my food goddess…" He licked the slit tentatively and added, "You're already soaking wet down here."

Ayame moaned at the action and said as she approached the object she wanted buried in her special place, "You're one to talk, Naru…" She gave the tip a wet kiss and added, "Your… Lil Pepe… _gigigi…_ is almost about to go through the roof."

Naruto chuckled at that but instead of saying anything, he attacked her wet sex with incredible fury, caressing her outer folds first before he started to intrude inside her vagina, exploring every corner of the place he already claimed as his, all the while pinching her clitoris with delicacy, just the way she likes it.

Ayame moaned harshly at her love's ministrations, the way he has made his tongue a deadly tool of pleasure never stopped to surprise her, or to pleasure her. Not wanting to be a selfish lover, she opened her mouth and started to bob her head up and down, sucking his penis with skill while moving her wet tongue around his shaft, not wanting to miss any single place of her beloved.

The two continued their oral play for some moments, until both reached their climax with loud moans, releasing each other's sexual fluids inside their partner's mouth, not one of them wasting any single drop.

Ayame then was about to move but her mate quickly grabbed her waist and placed her on the bed, positioning himself on top of her while his penis hovered outside her welcoming slit, "Ayame, are you sure, my love?" Naruto asked with such love that it melted Ayame even more, he caressed her cheek while he stared straight at her brown eyes.

Ayame couldn't help but cry in happiness at this moment, it was the moment where they will finally connect with one another in the most intimate of ways, "Yes Naruto, I love you, I don't even know if my heart can hold out much longer without you inside me." She whispered while caressing his cheek with equal love and tenderness.

Naruto smiled lovingly at that and started to grind the head of his penis on her entrance while releasing a huge amount of pheromones to get her ready and reduce the pain of losing her virginity as much as he could. Once he saw her begging eyes, he pushed the tip inside a little until he forcefully penetrated her all the way, "Ow!… aaahh!…" Ayame screamed while shutting her eyes, it hurt somewhat but the pain was rapidly fading.

Naruto kissed her lips and whispered, "It's okay Aya, take your time." He stayed still, knowing that she needed to get accustomed to the feeling.

Ayame took some seconds to breathe in, trying to control her emotions and pain, "I-It's o-okay now… my lo-love… m-move…" She grabbed his head by the cheeks and added while staring at those blue eyes she loved, "Ma-Make love to m-me."

Naruto smiled lovingly at that and did as told, starting with slow thrusts while he kissed her neck. The moment Ayame started to moan harder, he increased the speed and power of his thrusts as she wrapped him in her arms, screaming in pleasure without a single drop of restraint.

"Ah… aawww… s-sweetie!… I l-love it!… I l-love you!…" Ayame panted as she kissed her man hungrily while enjoying his penis penetrating her vagina over and over again, she never wanted to stop.

"Aya!… f-fuck… grrr… y-your s-so hot down there!…" Naruto said between kisses as he felt how his partner's inner walls were cramping around his penis, they were hugging his member with such strength that he was having trouble thrusting out.

Ayame was about to replay but the silverette suddenly took his penis out of her vagina, she was about to complain but he turned her around in all fours and mercilessly thrust back in, grabbing her waist while he pummelled her butt cheeks with every push he made.

"AH!… YES!… D-DEEPER!… HA-HARDER!…" Ayame screamed as she arched her back so she could grabbed Naruto's face and bring him in for a wet, deep and lustful kiss.

They're bodies were now glistening from the sweat pouring from their skins, the heat in the room increased drastically that it could almost melt anyone that walked inside, the sound of Naruto pounding Ayame echoed throughout the room as the lust-crazed couple moaned into each other mouths.

Ayame released Naruto's mouth to scream, "N-Naru!… I-I'm sorry baby… b-but… I… _aaaooo_ … I c-can hold it a-any lo-longer…"

Naruto grunted and with inhuman speeds, he turned her around to position himself atop of her once more. He thrust back in and increased his assault on her abused sex while saying, "I want t-to… grr… I w-want to see you cumming…"

Ayame stared at her mate's eyes that suddenly turned red, making her lust go through new heights as her own eyes gained a more feral look, "G-Give it to me… a-all of it!…" She said as she couldn't close her mouth from her pleasure.

Naruto growled like a beast as he increased his pace inhumanly so, he could hear the bed starting to crack due to the pressure but he didn't give a damn. It took some more moments of relentless pounding, but Ayame finally teared up once she felt the heat inside her stomach and screamed, "NARUTO!"

Naruto growled harder than ever that night, feeling the hot liquids pouring from Ayame's vagina straight around his penis and all over his waist made him lose all restrains and allowed his body to inject her with his own sexual liquids, quickly biting her neck to sink his teeth in her smooth sweaty skin.

Ayame could only twitch in pleasure as she felt the boy she loved releasing inside of her, this is the feeling she's been dreaming to have for so long and now it was finally there, washing over her whole body while her mate marked her once again on her neck, increasing her pleasure by ten-fold at the very least.

Naruto breathed in heavily as he recovered his breath, it was fucking amazing, fantastic, animalistic, there were no fucking words to describe how good it felt to penetrate his mate over and over again, "A-Aya… _pant…_ t-that was am-amazing…" He said as he turned to look at the brunette, who much to his amusement, was already asleep, not once releasing him from her arms or allowing him to pull out of her, "Hehe… _pant…_ rest n-now… my b-beloved Ayame…"

With that, Naruto released a wave of his aura to create a gust of wind that put out every candle in the room, allowing the light of the moon to be the only thing lighting their wet bodies. Naruto just grabbed the sheet and pulled it over them, placing Ayame over him so she could sleep more comfortably, not daring to disconnect himself from her at all, "I love you Aya, everything I do, I do it for you." He whispered to her before he closed his eyes, wearing a happy smile that his now lover shared with him.

 **End Lemon**

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya go! I hope you've enjoyed the chap and the lemon, if you think it was too soft, remember that it's Ayame's first time and plus, sex isn't actually that crazy, but anyways, there's only one chapter left for this arc, so I'll see ya on the next chap! Cheers!**


	21. The Exams (Part 4)

**A/N: Yo waddup! Finally! I got the last chapter of the second arc done! It was a bitch to get done but it's finally here but as usual, some words before.**

 **I have received some PM's telling me that they felt wrong that Naruto was seducing and all at such young age, I didn't thought that some of you might not have realised but let me explain. Age is no longer a factor that affects Naruto in this story, heck, if you want to get technical then he is actually 8 years old, remember, he died, I mean literally, he is no longer an Uzumaki nor a Namikaze, he is a dragon, Ddraig only took whatever was useful from Naruto's human DNA and added it to his new blood, that includes his bloodlines and traits, but he could take on the form of a 2 year old, a 20 year old, a 60 year old and so on, so for him, there is no line when it comes to age. The girls however are affected by age, as even if they are bounded to him, they still have the mentality of their true age, much like Naruto, that is why you will not see a lemon of Ino, Hinata or anyone close to that age for now, at least until they reach the age of 16. Also, you guys should stop thinking of them as kids, they are killers, even if the show was kid friendly for the most part, doesn't mean they are not forced and expected to kill and to be killed, hence why they understandably try to enjoy life as much and as fast as they can.**

 **There is a little bit of 'Dragon Tongue' in this chapter, as you can imagine, it's the language of Dragons, but, I did not wrote mere gibberish, I actually created an alphabet and a language, I did it because I need it for the game I'm writing, I might upload it somewhere so you can see it if you want since it will be featured in this story and my other one from now on, though, I don't know where or how to do it.**

 **You will see a first title above the chapter's title, the one written in all-caps, I've decided to add that to all chapters so that you know which arc you are reading, in this case, this arc is named 'Mature' while the first one is named 'Learn'.**

 **There is a special message at the end of the chapter, I cannot say anything about it now because it will spoil the chapter, so make sure you read it after you're done with the chap.**

 **I certainly enjoyed exaggerating the shit out of Bee and Naruto's meeting, I hope you like it as much as I did, anyways, without anymore delay, enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-MATURE-**

 **The Exams (Part 4)**

He could hear them, the angels chorusing together as they sang their blissful tune, singing in the background as if they were trying to convey how much reverence one would need for someone such as him. The sun was shining brighter on the very spot he was standing, a divine ray of light protruding him as to let everyone know just how fucking lucky they were to be in his mere presence. His arms flowed around with such grace, delicacy and style that it made one silver-haired jinchūriki hit the ground with his fist in frustration as he realised just how much of a fucking novice he truly was.

Absentmindedly, he could hear the stoic voice of the beautiful goddess known as Samui speaking by his side, probably trying to get his attention back to her, but he couldn't do that, he could only drop to ground on his knees, unable to even gather the strength to stand as he dragged himself towards him, him, only him, the only thing he could see, was him.

In the back of his mind, Naruto could barely hear the mighty god known as Ddraig, the Absolute God of End, berating him, angrily asking him ¿How could he dare to kneel to somebody other than the almighty creator, Great Red? He was the successor of the Red Dragon Emperor, the next in line to oversee all that it was darkness and everything it conveyed, he wasn't supposed to kneel and bow, the universe was supposed to kneel and bow to HIM, but he didn't cared.

Out of the corner of his eye he could blurrily distinguish his friends and comrades sighing as they massaged their foreheads, understanding such strange behaviour that had one Samui and her team really, really confused, but he didn't cared. He continued his religious knee-walking towards him, finally able to listen to his magnificent words, listening to the sound of the pencil writing on that small holy book that certainly contained every question, every answer, every norm, every mandate, words that Naruto knew were meant to change the world.

"U-Umm…" Samui muttered as she watched her crush knee-walking shakily and weakly towards her sensei. She and her team who her by her side were really confused at such strange behaviour, "W-What is he doing?" She asked as she turned to look at his team who were unable to watch such embarrassing sight.

Sakura just sighed tiredly before she locked her green orbs to Samui's blues to reply, "Well, let me introduce my beloved teammate to you, properly that is…" She sighed once again and added as she pointed towards her silverette teammate who has yet to reach the unsuspecting male from Cloud, "Rejoice, Naruto Uzumaki, known as the Dark Swordsman by most, feared as the jinchūriki of the Twelve Winged Dragon by all, and shamelessly and embarrassingly the Mighty Killer Bee's number one fan."

Samui actually lost her stoic face at those words, trading it for a flabbergasted look shared by her teammates, Karui was agape while Omoi actually let his popsicle drop as he was unable to close his mouth. Behind them, Cloud's other jinchūriki, one Yugito Nii, widened her beautiful black eyes as she tried to process this new information on her fellow human sacrifice, who has also become sort of her fantasy man.

Behind them, a group of powerful ninja were also watching the scene with varying emotions. Hiruzen Sarutobi, Yūgao Uzuki and Kakashi Hatake were all sighing tiredly as they watched the boy known as the most unpredictable ninja of the Leaf knee-walking towards his own personal god. Standing some steps from the three Leaf ninja, the mighty Raikage was groaning loudly at that, now knowing who the mysterious 'Lil Twelve' Bee so fondly spoke about was, he knew it was going to get really annoying with one mini Bee around.

Naruto ignored all of this though, he could not hear nor see anything other than his idol, the man that inspires him forward, that makes him dream of a better world, one full with cooperation, beats and lyrics, "I… I-I…" he whispered weakly as he finally reached Killer Bee. He then crashed his forehead against the dirt and said while shedding tears of immense joy, "I a-am… I a-am no-not… I a-am not wo-worthy of y-your presence!…" He then hit the ground with his fist, frustrated at his incompetence to properly receive the man, the myth, the fucking legend, "I t-tried!… t-to prepare myself f-for your arrival, oh Millennium Poet!… b-but I failed!"

"Hm!?…" Killer Bee extravagantly grunted after he finally realized that someone was bowing before him. Confused, the Mighty Bee took his red shades and removed them to look at the young lad before him, it took him some moments but once he finally felt the power coming off from the boy, he flailed his arms around as he responded, "Yo! Yo! Yo! Lil Twelve! Is dat you, boi!?"

Naruto immediately shot his head up and looked at his idol with wide eyes as he whispered with hope, "M-Mighty… y-you… you r-recognize me?…" He could not believe it, it couldn't be true, life was not that gracious!

"Mah ninja…" Killer Bee put his shades back on and after moving his hands around with such skill that it almost blinded Naruto due to badassness overload, he replied, "Of course I remember ya, fool!"

Naruto grabbed his chest, trying to stop his throbbing heart from jumping out of his chest, "N-Ninja… y-you real!?…" He whispered.

Killer Bee just punched him straight on the head and sent him crashing on the ground while screaming, "Of course I'm real, fool! What are ya!? A fool!? Fool!"

Naruto whined while he massaged his sore head but then jumped back on his feet and replied accusingly "Oi! I ain't no fool, fool! Yo the fool!"

"Nah ninja, you the fool!" Killer Bee shot back.

"Who you calling fool, fool!?" Naruto replied heatedly.

"The only fool around, fool!" Killer Bee replied while crossing his arms coolly as if not giving a damn.

Naruto gasped indignantly before he screamed, "Fool!"

"Fool!"

"Fool!"

"Fool!"

"Oh dear god…" The Raikage muttered while he massaged his forehead as he saw his younger brother fighting with his newfound twin, "I can't believe there is actually another person like Bee." He then added with utter regret.

The rest of the people present nodded tiredly at that, with the Leaf contingent just sighing at the embarrassing behaviour the silver-haired Uzumaki was displaying, "Unfortunately, Naruto has been young Killer Bee's fan ever since he was seven years old."

Kakashi then added his cents, "We've tried to change that, trust me, we have…" He shed a tear of regret as he added with shame over his own failure, "But we couldn't."

The Raikage just sighed at that while saying, "And here I thought only Bee had such stupid behaviour."

The Village Hidden in the Cloud's leader was then somewhat shocked though, when the young lad known as the Dark Swordsman turned to look at him and said with indignation, "How DARE ya speak ill of the Mighty! Ya fool!…" Naruto then started flailing his arms around as he rapped, "He's a killer! He's the realest! He's the one that's gon make us chiller!"

Before anyone could say anything though, one jinchūriki of the Eight Tailed Ox once again smashed his fist against the young B-rank ramen connoisseur's head as he chided, "What'cha think was that, fool!? Ya fool!…" Bee grabbed his notebook and then lifted Naruto up as if he were nothing but a mere sack of potatoes. He placed the confused boy between his right arm and his right side and added, "Yo rhymes were pathetic! Generic! Absolutely not L.E.G.I.T., fool!"

Naruto gasped in horror at those words coming off from his idol, _'N-Not… l-legit…'_ The silverette then balled his fists in frustration as he thought with tears on his eyes, _'I am such a fool!… t-there's still… so m-much for me to l-learn!…'_

Bee then started walking away from everyone who couldn't even speak at such sight and said, "But there's no need to fret! 'Cause ninja amma about to make yo ass okay!" With those words, Killer Bee disappeared in the distance as he walked with an awed boy who could only nod with tears of gratitude on his blue eyes. Bee didn't even seemed to mind that he had no fricking clue where he was going, but such were the hard ways of men who live by style, there's no time to dwell in such trivialities! Not when there's a young soul in need of rap-guidance!

"W-What the fuck just happened?" The Raikage muttered in utter shock as he watch his brother dissipating between the crowd, he had no clue what the hell just transpired.

Hiruzen Sarutobi just sighed really, really, really tiredly at that, not able to hide his old age whenever his surrogate grandson made a fool of himself, "I have no clue, Lord Raikage…" The old Hokage then looked at his equal from Cloud and added, "Forget such… encounter… for now, why don't you follow me to where you'll be staying?"

The Raikage just chuckled a little as he replied, "Yeah, yeah, I guess Bee is going to have some fun with the runt…" The blond-haired man laughed wholeheartedly at that, even if his brother annoyed the fuck out of him, he could not deny that those two made quite the comic pair, "Yugito, Samui, Omoi, Karui, let's go." He then added to his subordinates that after they shook their heads, nodded and began to follow their leader and the Leaf contingent, with Samui feeling a little disappointed that she could not talk to her crush, but she could not stop the small smile from forming on her sexy lips, the young man that stole her breath was without a doubt, quite the entertaining fella.

* * *

"Hehehe…" A gruff and smug laugh was heard coming from a buffed male. The male was wearing civilian clothes and was accompanied by five more men, "Never would've thought that the so called 'tree-huggers' of the Leaf would help us with this." He was one of the captains of Orochimaru's army and his team was currently the fifth team to be successfully infiltrated into the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The rest of the man's men laughed at their leader's words, with Terai saying robotically, "Your job is not to think, but to do as told."

His partner Ryū, who was walking beside Terai, then said once they finally reached their destination, "You are now inside the village, do not draw any attention to yourselves while you are inside, remember that the smallest of mistakes will draw the Leaf's attention to you." She was feeling incredibly sick by this, more so when she felt the men of Sound's gazes straight at her butt.

The leader then chuckled and approached Ryū, he grabbed her by the waist and said, "Come on darling, let's go a…" He couldn't finish because his head was promptly severed by Ryū's sword.

The men of Sound were left agape and frightened by the sexy woman, they never saw her move, they only realized now that their leader was dead but before anyone could say anything, the silver-haired masked female said with a cold tone, "Anyone else wants to die? Remember, you're not in Sound."

The men quickly shook their heads at that, prompting Terai to add, "Good, now get out of here and blend, there's only three days left for the date, so be ready…" With those words, the men quickly nodded again and made themselves scarce, "I will burn the body, Ryū, you go and resume your tailing of the Twelve-Wings." Terai didn't waited for a reply as he turned around and took the body of the dead Sound-nin.

Ryū just disappeared from her spot and was headed towards her target, until she was suddenly hit with an urge to go to her apartment and take shower, "W-What is going on w-with me?" She muttered as she quickly made her way there.

It didn't took her long to get to her 'home', a bland apartment placed in a bland complex. Walking inside, she quickly took her mask off and started stripping from her clothes, she was breathing frantically as her nerves were starting to eat her away.

Once naked, she went into her shower and immediately turned on the water, not bothering that it was cold, she just rested her back against the wall and slowly let her body slid down to the floor, where she hugged herself as she continued to gasp for breath, "W-Why… a-am I… p-panicking?…" She whispered as she grabbed her head, she had no idea what was going on, she was the best Root agent, she has never felt anything for over 16 years, but now, after feeling the disgust of having that man touching her coupled with the disgust of going along with her mad superior's plan, she could not stop shivering and, "W-What i… is t-this?…" She whispered as she touched her cheeks, where instead of feeling the cold droplets of water, she could feel hot tears streaming down her face, "T-Tears…" She mumbled.

Ryū then hugged herself again and for once in a very long time, she allowed herself to feel, everything, every frustration, every memory, be it painful or joyful, she allowed herself to vent all the emotions she had kept locked inside her heart for so long that they were now cascading over her without mercy, "D-Daddy…" She whispered as she looked down at the wet floor, "W-What do I d-do?" She asked a ghost, knowing that her father was gone but still, she was her father's baby girl, how could she not ask for his council in such moment?

 _Warn him_

Ryū gasped after she heard a whisper, "W-What?…"

 _Warn him_

The silverette beauty looked around almost frantically, as if trying to find the source of the whisper.

 _Warn him_

She heard the whisper once again, "H-Him?…" She muttered as she slowly realized where the whisper was coming from, her own heart, so long has it been kept locked that now, it was counselling her, "Him…" She muttered again as she stopped crying, she knew who 'him' was, the one that's been on her mind for quite a while now.

Ryū stood up and walked outside her shower, she then stood in front of the mirror and for the very first time in a long time she looked at herself. Her inviting white creamy skin, her luscious long legs, her wide hips that seemed to unnaturally dance at a sinful tune, her toned and slim stomach, her big round and firm breasts, her slender yet toned long arms, her silver main stuck to her body like a lover and the thing she has avoided the most, her eyes, her beautiful silver coloured eyes.

The beauty stood there for some moments before she shook her head and walked out of the room, she then grabbed a clean set of gear and once she clothed herself again, she started thinking, _'I… I w-will warn him… I…'_ She was frustrated, she had no idea why the mere thought of the jinchūriki getting hurt was creating such foreign pang in her heart, _'B-But how!?…'_ Still, she had no idea how to warn him.

Ryū stood there, frozen looking at the small sheet of paper in front of her, she was holding a pencil and was cracking her brain for a way to warn him of the coming event, but nothing she thought would work. Danzō was a tricky old bastard, Morse, secret codes or even foreign languages were not a problem for him to crack and while she was just going to let the paper inside the Twelve-Wings' host's home, she could not let anything to chance, "That's it!" She then said as her brain reminded her of something her father once taught her.

 _Flashback_

 _"Daddy?…" A small girl said to her father as she looked at the book in her hand, the book was written in a very strange language that she could not understand at all, "I… I d-don't understand a-anything here…" She whispered, frustrated at disappointing her father._

 _Said man was currently beside her as he read a book, he hummed at her daughter and turned to look at her. The man seemed to be in his late 40's, he had short silver hair like the little girl, a slim yet athletic body and was wearing casual clothes. The man placed his book at the side and then picked the small girl up, he sat her on his lap and kissed her head as he said lovingly, "Now, now, my little queen, don't feel so down…" He then grabbed the book she was holding and as he chuckled, he added, "You don't understand this book, sweetie, because this book is written in a very, very ancient language."_

 _The little girl looked up to her father and asked, "W-What lan… lang… umm… langache?…"_

 _The man just chuckled at his daughter's cuteness, she still had some trouble with long words, "This 'language', dear, is a language that was taught to our clan's founder, we have been protecting this tongue from going extinct ever since."_

 _The girl tilted her head and said, "T-Tongue? W-Who talks like this?"_

 _The man chuckled and after kissing the girl's head, he said, "Dragons."_

 _End Flashback_

Ryū wiped her tears from the recollection and immediately cracked her brain to remember her lessons on the ancient tongue of dragons. It took her some time, but thankfully, she managed to remember some words that she was sure were enough to convey her message, "Ineimues… Enesidui… Haomui… umm…" She tapped the table for some seconds before she continued writing, "Ajtajeke… Sineajke…" She then folded the sheet and wore her dragon mask again.

She left her apartment and jumped at the nearest roof, heading straight to her charge's home while she whispered to herself, "I just hope that he understands, otherwise, I don't know what I'll do…"

* * *

"Oooooo!…" An incredibly excited and tired young silver-haired boy claimed as he made his way back home. It was already night and he had spent the whole day with his greatest idol, he cried, he smiled, he laughed, fuck, he was so fricking happy right now, "That was soooooo cooooool!" He screamed as he increased his pace.

The Uzumaki arrived to his home after some more minutes, "Damn, I need to make it up to Sam!" He the muttered to himself as he remembered that he complete ignored the beautiful Cloud kunoichi, but he was just too excited.

As he walked inside his home, he was assaulted with a fantastic aroma, he could tell by his mark that Akeno was inside, as usual, so she probably made some food, "Hello my beautiful Raven!" He said to the Fallen Angel who squirmed in delight inside his arms.

Akeno giggled seductively at him and then turned to face him, planting a deep loving kiss, she said, "Hello my dragon-love, I heard you had quite the day."

Naruto just smiled widely at her and dragged her towards a chair, where he sat on it and after he placed Akeno on his lap, he responded, "Fou shou! It was soooo cool! Yo! The Mighty… I… h-he's so fucking legit… I tell ya… fool…" He then started crying as he couldn't hold his joy.

Akeno just giggled at her love, she always found this childish side of him so refreshing and cute, "I'm sure he is." She said as she kissed him again before she stood up and walked back towards the stove.

Naruto looked at his winged mate for some minutes, admiring her before he shook his head and stood up, "Lemme change." He said to her.

Receiving a hum in yes, he made his way towards the room and once in it, he took off his coat followed by his sandals. He was about to take his shirt off when he suddenly noticed a small folded paper on his bed, "What's this?" He muttered as he grabbed the paper.

He then started to unfold it and after he did so, he widened his eyes when he saw the writing, "Dragon Tongue!? Who the fuck knows how to speak our tongue!?" He muttered, a little freaked out because as far as he knew, only dragons should know how to speak it.

 ** _"Mmm… interesting…"_** Ddraig then said inside his mind.

 _"Yo! D! Ya know who could've wrote this!?"_ Naruto asked the mighty dragon god.

Ddraig was quiet for some moments, until he finally replied, **_"I may have an idea…"_** The dragon sighed then, as if he knew he was in for a tale, **_"As you can see, the way is written is a 'humanized' version of our tongue…"_** Naruto nodded at that, prompting Ddraig to continued, **_"Long ago, when the three sons of Hagoromo were alive, the youngest formed his own clan, much like the two oldest. He, however, was fascinated by dragons and our power, so he made his clan revolve around dragons, even going as far as to adopt some of our customs. He then somehow managed to make a deal with a powerful dragon who in turn taught him our tongue…"_** The god paused there, as if recollecting something serious, **_"Before he disappeared along with his clan, he left the knowledge of our tongue to one of his two servant clans, who safeguarded it for as far as they existed."_**

Naruto nodded at that while saying, _"I take it that servant clan went extinct?"_

 ** _"As far as I know, yes…"_** Ddraig then paused before he added, **_"But looking at this note, either some survived or someone else learned our tongue from them, as this writing is specific of that clan."_**

"I see…" Naruto said before he read aloud, "Ineimues enesidui haomui ajtajeke, sineajke…" Naruto massaged his chin as he placed the words inside his mind, trying to make sense of the humanized version of his tongue by comparing the phonetics of the words. It took him some moments, but he finally correlated the words and muttered, "Enemies inside home attack…" Naruto was confused for a little, until he narrowed his eyes when he read the last word, "…snake…"

Naruto pondered on the message for a while, he was really confused at who could've left this for him, but right now that didn't mattered, because he realized what the message was trying to say, "Invasion…" He narrowed his eyes and added, "Orochimaru."

He immediately burned the paper and walked towards the kitchen, where Akeno was cheerfully setting two plates down on the table, she was about to say something to him but he cut her off when he ordered with a cold tone, "Gather the girls here, Ake, we need to talk."

Akeno did not know what happened to her beloved, but she got the hint and immediately nodded and left, feeling confused and a little bit scared at how grave her mate sounded.

* * *

"Mmm…" The old man known as Hiruzen Sarutobi sat there silent as he pondered on what his surrogate grandson just informed him, "I know you're not one to joke with this things Naruto, but how can you be so sure that this note that you speak of was honest?"

The boy in question sighed as he eyed the people in the room besides him and the Hokage, namely Shikaku Nara, Ibiki Morino, Jiraiya and his father Kakashi, "Because there is no way that someone could know the dragon tongue! I know you don't understand because you're not dragons, but let me tell ya, knowing that tongue, is not an easy feat." The Uzumaki said with irritation, it pisses him off that they do not believe him.

Everyone sighed at that, they weren't really understanding the big deal about an old tongue, "But why? It's just a language brat, it's not that big of a deal." Jiraiya said with a wave while scoffing at the notion.

Naruto widened his eyes when he felt his predecessor seething in rage inside his mind, he also felt insulted by his godfather's words, insulting the oldest language there is, it's not something dragons take lightly. Still, he couldn't really blame the white-haired Sannin, he couldn't really tell him the truth about the language, so he just breathed in to cool himself and said, "Pervy Sage, you just insulted my scaly partner, do ya wanna get mauled by him?…" His words had the desired effect, when Jiraiya visibly paled at that and immediately apologized to him and the dragon, "The language is not important now, fools! What's important is what I already told ya might happen!"

Shikaku massaged his chin and then said, "I don't know Naruto, I really think that someone's just messing with you."

Everyone flinched though, when Naruto's eyes turned into dangerous blue and said with a stern voice, "Are you willing to chance an invasion on that?"

Shikaku did sighed at that, even if there were no real tales of such event brewing, the kid was right, just like he had no proof that Naruto was right, he also had no proof that the boy was wrong.

"If Orochimaru is involved in this, I wouldn't put it past him to try something like this…" Sarutobi said as he inhaled some of the smoke from his pipe, "He already showed up in the middle of the second test."

"But with what army? Last time I checked, Orochimaru was a lone snake." Kakashi then inquired, he still wanted to tear a big one in the snake Sannin for harming two of his students.

"Sound…" Jiraiya responded, drawing everyone's attention to him, "I've been trying to get info on that new village, but it's almost impossible, only two things I learnt. One, the village it's not really village, supposedly, it's sort of a collection of underground facilities…" The Sannin then narrowed his eyes as he added, "And two, it's comprised of rogue ninja. For the life of me, I couldn't find anything on who is leading Sound."

Kakashi nodded at that and added, "And since Orochimaru is someone capable of taking that spot, Sound is the most likely village to attack us." Jiraiya nodded at the Copy-nin words.

"The fact that Sand also brought their jinchūriki here is unsettling…" Shikaku said and as he looked at Naruto, he added, "We have no problem with having our jinchūriki competing in the Exams since he is at home, so he is well protected…" Shikaku then groaned tiredly and concluded, "But having your jinchūriki competing in a foreign land is quite the risk… plus, they are not happy with us getting more missions than them in their own territory… damn… now I do see a possible invasion… why do things have to always get so troublesome?… _yawn…_ "

Ignoring the ever lazy Nara patriarch, Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the village he could see through his window and said, "Shikaku, I want you and Jiraiya to prepare a containment plan, prepare for both Sand and Sound…" The two mentioned ninja nodded at their leader's words, "Kakashi, have a group of ninja that you fully trust ready to fight back, be careful who you choose though, if Naruto is right, then we already have enemies infiltrated in the Leaf. For the finals, you will resume your role as ANBU Commander…" Kakashi sighed and nodded at that, "And Naruto…" The silverette hummed in acknowledgment, so knowing that his surrogate grandson was listening, Sarutobi finished, "I have a special task for you, Sasuke and Sakura."

Naruto widened his eyes at that but soon later, an excited smirk grew on his handsome face, he knew that shit was about to hit the fan, but Orochimaru was not going to caught them off guard, _'You can bet yo pedo ass on it Orochi-bubu…'_

* * *

"Genma…" The voice of one silver-haired jōnin called the brunette who was leaning against a wall. Kakashi has just received terrible news and he needed to change some things of the plan, "Come here." He ordered the special jōnin.

Genma looked at the Arena and all the people present in it, it was the day of the finals and as predicted, the place was fully packed with people, both commoners and nobles coming from all over the Continent. But he was also informed of the plausible coming danger, something in his gut was telling him that it was more probable than not, "What is it Kakashi?" The brunette then asked the temporal ANBU Commander.

Kakashi looked around and made sure that nobody was within earshot, once done that, he looked back at the brunette and said, "Hayate has been killed."

Genma widened his eyes at that, gritting his teeth around the senbon in his mouth out of frustration. The brunette jōnin then closed his eyes and sighed, it was sad to hear that his dear friend has died, but life moves on and knowing this information, just told the special jōnin that an invasion was surely to happen, "I see…" He inhaled to regain control of his emotions and then asked, "You want me to take his place as the proctor of this round?"

Kakashi nodded while saying, "Yes, but I also want you to know that Sand is in it too…" The silver-haired male grabbed a sheet from his pocket and added, "This was Hayate's last message."

Genma grabbed the sheet and unfolded it to see the words 'Sand confirmed' written on it, it was all they needed to know that Hayate's mission was successful, even if it cost his life, Hayate died as what he was, a loyal Leaf shinobi, "It will be done." Genma declared with conviction, he was going to make sure his friend's death was not in vain.

Kakashi sighed and nodded, already feeling tired at his temporal position and what he was supposed to do. He was also feeling sad about Hayate, more so when he knew that the swordsman's death will be a heavy blow to Naruto and Sasuke, "Be ready, we already made sure that Naruto faces off against Gaara, once their fight begins, you get out of the ring." With those words, he walked away, having an important job to do.

Genma sighed and burned the sheet, he bowed in mourning at the memory of his friend and then headed towards the center of the Arena, where 12 genin were already waiting for the proctor to appear.

The moment Genma stepped inside the Arena, the crowd started cheering, knowing that the show was about to begin. He sighed again and finally stepped in front of the genin, "Well brats, ready?" Genma questioned the eager combatants.

His question was met with annoyed glares at the term but they all nodded at him, with Naruto tilting his head in confusion and after looking around a little, he asked, "Umm… Genma?…" The brunette in question hummed at him, prompting the silverette to continue, "Where's Hayate-sensei? I thought he was supposed to be the proctor."

Genma sighed at that while thinking, _'Damn, how am I supposed to tell this kid that his sensei died?…'_ Genma knew it wasn't the time to break the news to the Uzumaki, so he opted for saying, "He had a new assignment, I took over for him…" He saw that Naruto narrowed his eyes at those words, but not giving the silverette time to ponder on them any longer, the brunette said, "Now, let's not waste any more time…" He turned back and as he pointed at a large screen placed above the walls surrounding the Arena, he said, "Like in the Preliminaries, we will be choosing the competitors at random…" At his words, the screen started flickering letters until it finally settled in two names, "Alright then, everyone that's not Hinata Hyūga and Zaku Abumi, go the competitors stands."

Everyone nodded and promptly made their way towards their destination, with Naruto quickly whispering to his lavender-eyed mate, "Kick this fool's ass, my princess." Leaving a blushing Hinata with a determined smile on her face as she focus her sight on the boy in front of her, her father alongside her sister and her clan's elders were present in the crowd and she was going to show them what she can really do.

Once Genma saw that the genin left the field, he looked at the two combatants and said, "Are you ready?…" Both genin nodded and Genma announced, "Begin!"

Zaku instead of taking this seriously, laughed cynically before he said, "Give, little girl, this is not a game, you c…" He couldn't finish though, because he suddenly received a powerful knee to his gut, sending him back skidding while coughing a little bit of blood.

Naruto smirked as he saw his beloved Hyūga not giving her opponent a moment to regain his senses. Over the past month, Hinata has been focusing on learning how to mix her chakra with her new essence, much like Akeno who was the first one that learnt how to mix her magic with the essence he gifted her, hence the ability to regrow her wings so easily. The Hyūga heiress wanted to mix her essence with her chakra to achieve more power in her techniques, but also to make her body stronger, faster and keener, thing that she achieved.

The silverette looked on as Hinata started kicking the living shit out of the Sound-nin, who apparently had learned nothing from his encounter with him back in the Forest of Death where he also underestimated him, thing that almost ended up costing him his life had it not being for Naruto not wanting to shed senseless blood. The Namikaze took his eyes off the battle a little to glance at Hinata's father, who along with the Hyūga elders were struggling to keep their surprise hidden from their faces, seeing Hinata being so relentless and brutal was certainly something they never thought her capable of.

"Winner…" The voice of Genma then brought the silverette's attention back to the fight, where unsurprisingly to him, Zaku was beaten to a pulp, barely able to moan in pain, "Hinata Hyūga!" The crowd roared at seeing their Princess winning so easily.

"D-Did… d-did you liked m-my fight… Naruto?" Hinata asked her beloved once she walked into the competitors stands. Sure, she was confident in herself now, but whenever it came to earn her beloved's appraisal, she goes back to her shy ways.

Naruto resisted the urge to crash his lips against the Hyūga heiress right here and now, he always found it extremely cute whenever the lavender-eyed princess went shy. But knowing that it would raise many questions, he decided to pat her head tenderly as he flashed her one of his fierce smirks and said, "Fou shou! You kick that ninja's ass without a sweat! Just like I knew you would, ya know!?" He then used his mark on her to send her a wave of his affection to the girl.

Hinata blushed brightly at that while she felt her body heating at the affection she felt through her mark, she sure as hell wanted to kiss him right now, but she understood that they were in public and that small show of affection will surely draw too much attention to them, attention they certainly didn't needed.

"Will Kankurō of the Sand and Shino Aburame please come down?" The voice of Genma then draw everyone's attention back to the field, where they saw that the next fight was being called.

"Good luck Shino!" Naruto said to his friend who nodded with a small smirk.

"Proctor!…" The voice of Kankurō suddenly won everyone's attention to him, when he declared, "I forfeit!"

The crowd was confused as well as the other combatants, those who were in on the invasion though, narrowed their eyes ever so slightly at the clear effort to keep himself ready for the incoming invasion. Naruto turned to look at the stands where his father and brother were watching, he saw how Kakashi blinked five times at him, letting him now that just as he thought, Sand was in it too.

"Very well then…" Genma said before turning towards the screen again to see it show two new names, "Samui of the Cloud and Shikamaru Nara, come down."

Samui started walking towards the field, with a sidelong glance at her crush who smiled at her while giving her thumbs up in encouragement, act she surely appreciated if the almost unnoticeable blush in her stoic face was anything to go by.

Shikamaru on the other hand was surely loud on his disagreement, groaning loudly as he rested his face against the reeling of the fence in the stands, "Maybe I should forfeit, this is too damn troublesome." He groaned while yawning deeply, how much he longed for his bed right now.

"Oi!…" Naruto was having none of that though, as he kicked the Nara heir on the ass and sent him towards the Arena, where he crashed face first against the dirt, "Get yo lazy ass out there fool! Ya fool!" He added passionately.

"Hahaha… your shinobi are not only strong Lord Hokage…" The Raikage said to his equal sitting by his side, "They are really amusing too." He added with a wholeheartedly chuckle, he really liked those brats.

Hiruzen chuckled at those words and replied, "Oh yes, they are always up to no good, even if we are ninja, sometimes it is impossible to not act accordingly to our age…" The Raikage nodded at that, mumbling something about younger brothers who acted too much like kids when they weren't, "How about you, Lord Kazekage? Are you having fun?" The Sarutobi then asked the man sitting at his right, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Sand or at least, that's who this person claimed to be.

Orochimaru, who was disguised as the Kazekage, just nodded while saying something cordially, he seemed calm on the outside but on the inside he was feeling nervous, he did not counted with the Raikage being here present and he damn well knew that he could not take two Kages at once. He was feeling tempted to calling the invasion off, but even if he did, his agents were already making their moves, it was already too late to stop. Fortunately for him though, he had a trump card that will surely give him the advantage.

"Damn Naruto…" Shikimaru mumbled as he stood up, not really feeling up to it but now that he was here, he might as well just wing it, "Alright, alright, let's just do it."

Samui just lifted her eyebrow at the genin's strange behaviour, sure, she could see that the boy was lazy as hell, but she was one of Cloud's best behaviour readers, so she knew that this guy was certainly one to be wary off, after all, everybody knew of the Nara clan's intellect and capabilities with strategies, they really didn't needed to fight, they only needed you to fall into their traps. Unfortunately for him, she wanted to prove herself and show off her strength, after all, someone did caught her eye.

"You two ready?…" Genma asked the two, receiving a stoic nod from the buxom blonde and a lazy one from the Nara heir, "Begin!"

Naruto locked his eyes at the fight, which at first, started rather tensely, with both combatants sizing each other up. He knew that Shikimaru was already planning something, that lazy bastard sucked at fighting for sure, but he rarely needed to fight, he was so good at strategizing that usually his opponents were already inside a trap before they could even touch him.

And much like the silverette predicted, Samui was the one doing all the moving, she attacked and attacked relentlessly, trying to get to the Nara's lazy ass but Shikamaru was a slippery bastard, it was almost as if he had a sharingan since he seems to read every move the beauty was about to do. To most civilians and shinobi alike, the fight was pretty boring, not much action as it was only Samui fighting while Shikamaru evaded, but to those with keener eyes, like him, the fight was quite impressive, mostly because they were able to catch on Shikamaru's plan.

To Naruto though, something was feeling off about it all, he didn't knew what, but he knew something was up.

" _Sigh…_ Surrender now, you're caught in my Shadow Possession Jutsu, you can't break free." Shikimaru said lazily while holding his jutsu, he could feel his chakra running low and while he was tempted to forfeit, he knew that his mother will whine the fuck out of him if he were to so easily give, _'Troublesome woman…'_

Much to the surprise of everyone though, Samui smirked ever so slightly while saying, "I don't need to move." At that, Shikimaru widened his eyes when he felt a sharp cold metal pressed against his throat.

Shikimaru turned to look behind him to see another Samui holding a kunai to his throat, "H-How?…" He asked once he looked back at the one trapped in his jutsu, knowing her to be the real.

"I knew for the very start that you were playing me into a trap, after all, your clan is known for that very fact…" Samui said before she added, "All I had to do, was let you play yourself, because even if it hurts to admit, you're a better strategist than I am and I am not strong enough to beat tactics with raw power, so at the very first move I made, I created a pool of water below the soil you're standing, all I had to do was let you burn your chakra and energy in enacting your plan and once you caught me, I turned that pool of water into a clone."

Every shinobi was dumbfounded at those words, they never thought that they would see the day where someone outsmarted a Nara, well, she didn't outsmarted him, she let him overthink his own plan.

"So… fucking… hot…" Naruto muttered as he looked at Samui. Fuck, how he lusted for those who were strong and intelligent, it was super-hot for his dragon side.

Samui felt the intense gaze of her crush and she actually blushed, she knew she had impressed him and she allowed herself to smile a little at that, even if the silverette was a tad too much like her sensei, he was still a kind and good man, "Forfeit now." She then said to the Nara heir, wanting this fight to be over.

The Nara just sighed tiredly before he declared, "Troublesome woman… I knew it was a bad idea…" He then released the jutsu and after the water clone behind him disappeared, he declared, "I forfeit."

Genma nodded and announced, "Winner: Samui of the Cloud." The crowd cheered a little at that, feeling somewhat confused as to what happened.

As both combatants made their way back towards the stands, one silver-haired Uzumaki suddenly appeared out of nowhere and in a bold move, he grabbed Samui by the waist and claimed, "Yo! That was so hot, Sam!…" Samui flushed brightly at the proximity, but surprising even herself, she made no attempt to break his hold on her, "You totally beat this lazy ass' ass! Pardon the redundancy." He then added as released her and patted her shoulder with a beaming smile.

Samui quashed the disappointment she was feeling after the silverette swordsman released her in order to actually smile back at him, "T-Thank you… Na-Naruto…" She didn't know why she was stuttering and blushing, heck, she didn't even know why the hell was she trying to impress him back there, but for the moment, she decided to accept that and add, "It m-means a lot t-to me… t-to receive the D-Dark Swordsman's p-praise…"

At the background, most of the males present were cursing at the silverette, feeling jealousy burning in their veins. Ino and Hinata looked at each other and smirked knowingly at the scene while Tenten just chuckled amusedly at the Cloud kunoichi's flustered state. Gaara though, she was tilting her head at the side in mild confusion.

Before anything else could be said though, Genma announced, "Gaara of the Sand and Naruto Uzumaki." Genma suddenly tensed, this was the moment of truth.

Both jinchūriki widened their eyes before they looked at each other, Gaara looking at him with a craze gaze while a sadistic smile appeared on her beautiful face. Naruto was looking at her with both excitement and sadness.

"Naruto…" He heard Ino saying behind him. Turning around to face her, he saw that Hinata was also looking at him as the Yamanaka heiress said, "Please be careful."

The silverette smiled at his mates and mentally told them, _'Be ready to move…'_ Both girls sent him their acknowledgment through their marks and with that, he walked towards the field.

"Hahaha! This is going to be a fantastic fight!" The Raikage laughed loudly with excitement. Though, it was fake, it took him quite a long talk with the Third to finally be able to convince him of his honest desire for peace, the truce was still somewhat far from achieving though, both leaders needed to first quell their underlings' hatred towards each other, but the Raikage was sure they will get there soon.

He then looked at his two jinchūriki guards as he was also informed of the invasion, he was surprised that the Hokage trusted him with this, but he understood that it was both to protect him and to begin their path to a truce. Both jinchūriki just nodded at their leader and looked at their other fellow jinchūriki, ready to spring into battle at a moment's notice.

The Hokage chuckled lightly at the large man's words and said, "Ah yes, these two youngsters seem ready to go…" Hiruzen then turned to look at the Kazekage to ask, "Isn't that right, Lord Kazekage?"

Orochimaru did not missed the slight undertone his old sensei had when he spoke, he did not know what the hell it was, but it certainly made him panic a little and accidentally called the invasion to begin, "Yes, they do seem eager."

Back on the field, both jinchūriki stood against each other, not once taking their eyes off of the other, "Are you two ready?…" Genma asked the two who nodded at him, so declared, "Begin!"

Gaara immediately called on her sand to get the fight started, but she was confused when her silverette counterpart jumped quite high and after some hand-seals, he declared, "Wind Style: Great Infinite Sandblast Breakthrough!" After his words, Naruto inhaled a huge amount of air and soon later, released it all, not on her, but on the field itself.

Gaara had to cover her eyes as the powerful gust of wind hit the ground, lifting off all the dirt and covering the whole field with a rain of dust, making the whole field a place with zero visibility.

Gaara was about to command her sand to attack, but the sound of six projectiles hitting the ground along with two bodies made her focus her eyes to see not only her fellow jinchūriki, but the boy she knew as Sasuke Uchiha, "What are you doing?" Gaara asked emotionlessly.

"Don't worry Gaara…" Naruto said as he looked at his brother finishing his hand-seals next to him, "I promise you, I'm going to help you."

Naruto then blew a ball of fire to the air and immediately after, Sasuke smashed his hands on the ground, where a strange seal appeared that connected to the six kunai he threw around the field.

Gaara did felt startled but before she could respond, she suddenly felt a strange pull and then her vision was covered by white smoke.

Orochimaru immediately widened his eyes after he no longer felt Gaara's chakra signature, he jumped to his feet and was about to act the part of the worried father but was surprised when he saw that the Hokage and the Raikage along with his guards were already in their fighting stances. Seeing no other way, he chuckled eerily and said with a sweet tone, "Kukuku… it seems that I couldn't surprise you… Sensei…"

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at his old student, he could already hear the sound of fighting all over the village, undoubtedly Orochimaru already put his plan in motion. The Sarutobi was just glad that someone tipped off his surrogate grandson because thanks to that tip, he was able to evacuate the villagers while the Finals took place, "You have certainly gotten low Orochimaru, to attack your own village out of pure spite, you are certainly my greatest failure." He said, stern and cold, he has long ago let go of his attachment to the snake, now, he saw him for what he truly was, a traitor.

Orochimaru gritted his teeth in rage at those words, even if he hates to admit it, his sensei's words definitely stung, "Kukuku… perhaps…" Orochimaru then threw his robes away, revealing a female body that was inhumanly pale, "But me against two Kages and two jinchūriki seems a little unfair, don't you think?…" He finished his hand-seals and after smashing his hands on the ground, he said, "Let's even that out!"

Hiruzen immediately knew what his old student was talking about, so screamed, "Dammit! Don't let those coffins rise fully!…" Everyone was about to stop them but they suddenly had to jump back when four powerful jutsus landed where they stood, the jutsus were fired from four ninja who appeared to stand beside Orochimaru, "Dammit…" Hiruzen cursed when he saw that the coffins were already there. He was confused though, because beside the three coffins he was expecting, there was another one.

"Kukuku…" Orochimaru chuckled sweetly with his usual creepy tone. Licking his lips, Orochimaru then said, "Let's see how you do against the former Hokage…" Three of the coffins suddenly burst open and from them, three male figures walked out, clearly confused, "And the Red Hot Habanero herself… kukuku…" He announced, making Hiruzen widen his eyes when he saw the last coffin opening and from it, a beautiful redheaded female walked out, confused as well.

"Damn…" Hiruzen cursed under his breath, action mimicked by the Cloud group who just like him, understood that things were about to get really tough.

* * *

A rosette female was nervously biting her lip, she knew they would pull through, but still, the idea of facing off against a jinchūriki, even having another one on your side, sent trembles throughout her lithe body.

She stowed all pretences of fear once she saw a ball of fire firing off from the Arena, it was just a small speck to her since she was in the woods behind the village, away from any passer-by or any unlucky casualty.

Making a quick succession of hand-seals, she bit her thumb and slammed her palms on the ground while screaming, "Summoning Jutsu!"

Her surroundings were then clouded by a huge poof that after it dissipated, showed her two teammates standing in front of a very confused female jinchūriki, "What happened?…" Gaara asked with her silky and dead tone. She darted her green orbs around to get a grasp of her new surroundings, "I take it you knew about the invasion…" She then said while tilting her head innocently, with a craze gaze that did not seemed to belong to such cute face, "It doesn't matter, I only care about you, you three will prove my existence!" She added and without delay, called on her sand to start her attack on the three Leaf-nin.

Naruto cursed as he jumped away from the sand, action mimicked by his two teammates, _"Hey Kurama!"_ He then called on the mighty fox while dodging another blast of sand.

 ** _"Yes?"_** The fox replied with her regal tone, not knowing what he wanted.

 _"How do I calm your sibling down!?"_ He asked while throwing a wind jutsu to heighten Sasuke's fireballs.

Kurama did felt really surprised at her host's words, she had thought that he wanted to submit her youngest sibling, but he apparently wanted to talk to him instead, making the redheaded girl feel her heart skip some beats. But shaking her head of such thoughts for now, she replied, **_"R-Right… umm… well, Shukaku has always been the rashest of us all, he often tries to lead his hosts into madness in a bid to get himself free, but he is the youngest, so he is quite excitable and childish… like you… hihi… anyways, when we were young, he was always doing mischiefs and was usually scolded by me, but he did always listened to me, so if you manage to draw him out and use the Uchiha's eyes to subdue him for some seconds, I might be able to transfer our consciousness into the girl's mind, we can talk to him there."_**

Naruto smirked at that and jumped to stand beside his teammates to say, "Guys, the Twelve-Wings gave me an idea…" Both of his teammates nodded and while dodging more sand blasts, he continued, "We need to draw her Tailed Beast out, once the One-Tails takes over her, Sasuke has to use his sharingan to subdue the raccoon for some seconds, I'll then connect my consciousness to hers and I will try to strike a deal."

Both Sasuke and Sakura seemed very reluctant to his plan, but they knew better than to conflict his teammate, so only nodded and started with their plan, as crazy as it might be, the silverette does tend to have luck with this sort of things.

"Magnet Style: Mineral Spikes!" Naruto claimed as he pummelled the ground with his hands, where soon later, big deadly spikes of mineral sprouted and headed straight towards Gaara.

The redhead just gave him a lunatic smile as she used her sand to make a platform and get out of the spikes' grasp. Once out of the danger, she spoke, "Yes! Fight me!" She ordered her sand to form two huge fists that immediately went towards the three genin.

"Shit!" Sakura cursed as she managed to avoid the fist. She then saw her crush doing some hand-seals and knowing what was next, she jumped in front of him and created a wall of mud to protect him until he finished.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Sasuke screamed once Sakura lowered her wall and shot a rapid barrage of fireballs at the crazy girl who had yet to show any sort of emotion, well, other than lunacy that is.

Gaara's sand immediately interposed between the fireballs and her but what the Sand-nin failed to caught on to, was that inside the fireballs three kunai with paper bombs attached to them were hidden. She didn't realized that until it was too late, "Guuh!" She groaned in pain once the bombs exploded, it was only thanks to her sand-shell that she managed to avoid any serious harm.

That was the least of her problems though, because thanks to the small distraction, she failed to realize that her fellow jinchūriki managed to move behind her, where he was finishing charging Gloria with lightning and thrust the sword towards the Sand girl.

That is until her sand automatically protected the girl and once again interposed itself between him and her. But the silverette knew this, so he used wind chakra to propel himself forward and thanks to the lightning in the sword, he managed to pierce through the sand and thrust the sword into the female's back, making sure to evade any lethal point.

Gaara screamed in pain at that, she has never once felt pain in her life and this was so new to her, so raw, so fucking painful. The lightning coursing through her body was making it worse, that's when she started feeling her head fuzzy and her sight was suddenly blurring, as if she was losing conscious.

Naruto jumped in front of her and saw how sand started to surround the female, so knowing that the One-Tails was starting to wake up, he said, "Sasuke! Now!"

Sasuke jumped at the girl and hit her in the face, forcing her to look up to him where he used his two tomoe sharingan to subdue the Tailed Beast for as long as he could, similar to what he does to Naruto whenever the silverette starts to struggle with the power of the dragon, "Now Dobe! I won't be able to hold it much longer!" He screamed, already feeling his control over the beast slipping away.

Naruto nodded and jumped at the girl, he grabbed her face and forced her to look at him straight at his eyes that turned red. It was all a flash to him, because the moment he shook his head, he realized that he was in a dark room now, large, lit only by dim candles, "Whatta?…" He muttered confused.

"We're inside the girl's mind." A feminine voice said by his side, making him turn to look at Kurama who surprisingly, actually smiled at him a little.

 **"Pft, such boring imagination."** A manly voice then said by his other side, making the silverette widen his eyes when he saw a handsome man with dark hair, his eyes were crimson with a green slit and he was wearing the same cloak that Naruto wears, just a little bigger, he also seems to be in his late 40's and strangely, he looked like an older version of Naruto.

"Yo D! Is dat you, boi!?" Naruto asked as he grabbed the man by his shoulders and shook him like a rag doll.

Ddraig just growled annoyed at his successor and after pushing him away, he replied, **"Yes boy, it's me, this is the form you imagined for me, so this is how I projected myself here, we don't want to scare the female after all."** He explained while pointing at the girl in question.

Naruto turned to look at where his partner was pointing at and was surprised to see Gaara there, seemingly asleep on the floor. But just beside her, stood a handsome young man, he had short blonde hair similar to Naruto's, he was tall, taller than him, was also wearing a brown coat with black warrior gear beneath it, he had strange markings on his face and had his black eyes with golden iris and a crux-like pupil wide as saucers, "K-Kurama…" He whispered as he looked at his elder sister, "L-Lord Ddraig!…" He said once he recognized the power of the black haired male. Shukaku then went stiff when he saw the silverette in the middle, for a moment there, he wanted to attack the bastard but when he saw his elder sister standing calmly beside him, he realized that the man was not who Shukaku thought he was, though, he did looked eerily familiar, "W-What do you want!?" He demanded then.

Naruto felt the spike of anger coming from the One-Tails, similar to the first reaction he got from Kurama when she first saw him, making him all the more confused as to what the hell was going on with that, but stowing such thoughts for now, he replied, "I want to help her…" He pointed at Gaara and then looked back at the man to add, "And you."

Shukaku was visibly surprised at that, so said, "Yeah right! I don't know your game but you humans only care about yourselves… _snort_ … what am I saying? You don't even care about your own species!"

Kurama then stepped forward and said with a soothing tone, "Shukaku, let him finish, please."

Shukaku looked at his sister, he was really surprised to see her here sealed inside this boy who also contained the God of End, but not able to argue with his elder sister, he just nodded and allowed Naruto to continue.

"I know that and I agree, that is why I want your help." Naruto looked at him straight at the eye when he spoke.

Shukaku narrowed his eyes at that, suspicion flooding his mind, "Right, so you want my power then!? How the hell did you convinced Kurama!? She is the one that hates humans the most!"

Before Kurama could reply, Naruto continued, "I never said I wanted your power, fool."

"Then what do you want!?" Shukaku replied heatedly.

"I want to free you." Naruto replied without an ounce of doubt.

Shukaku actually widened his eyes at that, not at the words, but at the way he looked at him, making his honesty painfully visible, "W-What?" He stuttered a whisper, not able to hide his shock.

Naruto sighed as he said, "I know you don't trust humans and you have every reason not to do it, but hear me out, aight?…" Shukaku nodded at him, so he continued, "I want to build a new world, one were we can coexist, were no matter where you're from you will be accepted, where all of us, humans, you fools, yōkais, reincarnates, summons, all of us, can work together towards a common cause. I know it sounds farfetched and it is farfetched, that is why I want your help, because I know that the thing you want the most, is freedom. I can offer you that, I'll find a way to free you and your siblings, I give you my word as the successor of the Red Dragon Emperor, all I ask in return, is that you aid us in our goal, which is also your sister's goal." He finished with a smile as he looked at the beautiful redhead who looked at him with a small smile.

Shukaku was startled, mostly because he saw his sister, the Nine-Tails, smiling and agreeing at the silverette's words, "W-Why would you… do that?" He asked, still confused and shocked.

Naruto looked back at him and said, "I… I made a promise to an old friend…" He looked at the sky as if trying to see Shisui up there, "He was a victim of this cruel world, unable to be with the one he loved due to old hatreds that neither he nor she had any part in it… I made a promise to a fallen who was scorned by her family for things that were beyond her control… I made a promise to a child who lost her parents due to the greed that plagues this world… I made a promise to a girl who was chased out of her home by her own father for a power she did not wanted… I made a promise to a friend who was been long held in different prisons for crimes she did not committed…" He looked back at the dark roof as if trying to look past it and added, "I made a promise to my love that what happened to her and her family will never, ever happen again…" He then looked at the raccoon-guy and finished, "I made a lot of promises, promises that I cannot and will not break, I WILL build this world for them, I will fight, bleed, cry and sweat for them, because without them, I am nothing, so why wouldn't I want to build them such world?"

Shukaku and Kurama were stunned, heck, Kurama actually felt tears wheeling up on her eyes when she heard the reference he made of her. Ddraig was really surprised too, but also proud, the boy has certainly grown a lot.

Shukaku shook his head and looked down a little while saying, "What if I don't want to help you?"

Naruto shrugged as he replied, "Then don't, I never said I needed your help, I said I wanted your help, I will free you regardless of what you say because I am also helping Gaara here and all you've done to her was drive her to madness, so one way or another, you will be free."

Shukaku snorted and looked back at the silverette, he had one question that will show him just how truly strong and honest this boy was, "And once I'm free, what if I go against you?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and replied without a drop of hesitation in his words, "Then I will kill you, I don't care if you're Kurama's younger brother, I long ago understood that in this path, I am not the one that will be remembered as a hero, that's my women's spot."

Ddraig smirked at his words, Kurama was certainly surprised but otherwise she seemed quite pleased. Shukaku though, for the first time in who knows when, he actually smirked amicably at him, "Then I will help you, I really don't know if you'll be able to pull off what you want to do, but perhaps, with me and my siblings' help, you'll be able to."

Naruto smirked and nodded. Shukaku though was suddenly crushed by a hug from his elder sister, who say, "I'm so proud of you, little brother, I knew you'd grow up." Shukaku just blushed while he returned the hug. Sure, he was rash and all, but he did loved his siblings, especially Kurama, who was the one that took care of them in their youth after their old man died.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, he has never seen the proud fox act like this, but he knew that it must be a happy moment for her since she does seems to be attached to the other Tailed Beasts.

"I got a question though…" Shukaku said after Kurama released him. Seeing the silverette nodding at him, he asked, "You say that you'll find a way to free us, right? Why not just ask Lord Ddraig to do it? He can do whatever he wishes." He was asking that because as far as he knew, Ddraig was the third strongest being in existence and as such, he could do almost anything.

Naruto just looked at Ddraig as he answered, **"You already heard that the boy is my successor, he is the next in line to oversee the End of life and as such, he needs to show his worth to me and my father, who is always watching, I am not going to meddle in his path, I will only watch over him and guide him when he asks for help. Yes, I could free you all, I don't even need to know where your other siblings are to do so, but this is something the boy needs to do for himself."** Naruto just nodded at the god, already knowing his reasoning.

Shukaku understood that, he was a little displeased that he has to wait until the silverette finds a way to free them, but he was no fool, he could feel his father's power in him, letting the raccoon-boy know that he was his transmigrant, though, he could also tell their relationship was deeper than that.

"I take it then that you understand that you can no longer harm Gaara, right?" Naruto then asked with such commanding tone that the One-Tails could do naught but nod immediately.

Naruto smiled and started walking towards the girl who was sleeping, he touched her forehead and after injecting her with some of his essence, she stirred and opened her eyes slowly, "W-Where… _mmm…_ w-where am I?…" Gaara mumbled as she sat on the floor. She then looked around the room with her green orbs and found herself startled to see her fellow jinchūriki alongside one redheaded female and two males.

"Hello Gaara, we're inside your mindscape…" Naruto said as he kneeled in front of her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and as he applied her with his soothing dragon aura, he continued, "I wanted to help you with your tenant, as I said I would."

Gaara widened her eyes at that, she could feel something so strange in her, melancholic even, something she only felt when her mother held her the moment of her birth, she was feeling safe in his presence, "M-Mother?" She then said to the blond guy standing next to her, recognizing his aura, though, she was confused to see her in a male form.

Shukaku chuckled sheepishly while saying, "Y-Yeah… umm… about that, girl… I…" He was squirming under Kurama's scrutinizing gaze, so he spilled the beans, " _Sigh_ , Listen, I lied to you, the thing is, ever since your people imprisoned me inside that old monk, I've grown to hate you, sure, he won my respect later on but after he died my next host was a nagging asshole, so I vowed to drive every host I had mad… I am not your mother, I am the One-Tailed Raccoon, Shukaku."

Gaara had her eyes wide open at that, she was incredibly confused, she did not know what the hell was happening, "T-That means… m-my existence… i-is… in vain…" She whispered as for the first time in her life, she was not crazy with bloodlust, neither was she eager to kill, she was a 14 year old girl who had no idea what to do.

Naruto then surprised her when he hugged her tightly, making her widen her eyes at the touch since no one has ever hugged her before. Naruto rubbed her back as he said, "No Gaara, that's not true, you exist to live, to fight, to learn, to feel pain, joy, sadness, happiness, to love…" He released her a little and added as he looked straight at her eyes, "To prove your existence, to grow strong, you don't need to shed anyone's blood, you need to build bonds, friendships, relationships, because only then you'll have something to fight for, something to push your limits every day, if you only fight for yourself, you will lose, no matter what, you will always lose."

Gaara was entranced with his words, she was looking at the boy in front of her with awe, she did not realized that now that Shukaku was not messing with her head, her lunacy has receded greatly, letting her feel the way any normal girl would feel, that's why she was confused when she could feel droplets of water falling from her eyes, "B-But… I… I d-don't have anyone… t-they… t-they all fear me…" She then whispered, confused at this cascade of emotions suddenly falling over her.

Naruto smiled warmly at the girl and while stroking her cheek tenderly, he countered, "That's not true Gaara, you have your brothers, I know they fear you but I also now they're desperate to reach you somehow, you're still their little sister…" He was not lying, it was clear in Kankurō and Tetsu's eyes, they were really desperate to reach their baby sister, they just didn't know how, "As for your village, prove them wrong, make them see the real you, they will always fear what they don't understand, that's how humans are, but if you give up, if you stop trying to prove who you are to yourself, you'll never be able to show'em fools how wrong they are."

Gaara looked at him before she looked down on the ground, pondering over his words.

"And you have me, I will always be there for you when you need me." Naruto then said while looking at her straight in her beautiful green eyes.

Gaara once again widened her eyes at those words, it reminded her of her uncle who used to be the only one that treated her kindly, for a period of time that is, but still, he did, so she could only ask shyly, "W-Will… w-will you b-be my… f-friend?…"

Naruto smiled and after kissing her cheek, he answered, "Till the end of time, Gaara."

Gaara for the first time in her life, smiled, it was small, almost unnoticeable, but she did, she was feeling a strange warm feeling in her heart, the same she always felt whenever she thought of her late mother, she was happy and she knew it, "T-Then… I will not kill y-you." She then ruined the moment completely with her ineptness at social exchange.

Naruto just chuckled at that and said, "Well, thank ya for that, fool!…" He then stood up and said to everyone there, "Let's get down to business then, I'm sure the village needs its hero, fou shou!"

They all nodded at that and after another flash, Naruto found himself once again in the woods, with him holding Gaara in his arms while staring at her, "You okay, Gaara?" He asked the redheaded girl.

Gaara shook her head and looked around to see her first friend's other teammates, she looked back at the silverette and replied, "Y-Yes… I'm alright…"

"I see it worked then." Sasuke then said while crossing his arms. He and Sakura have been watching over those two for some moments while Naruto worked his magic on her, he wasn't surprised to see that it actually worked.

Naruto turned to look at his brother and said while puffing his chest, "Of course ya fool! I am the Mighty's apprentice! How could I ever fail in anything, fool!? Ya fool!"

The Uchiha just chuckled at the silverette's antics while Sakura warily approached the redheaded girl to say, "G-Gaara…" Said girl turned to look at the rosette with confusion, prompting Sakura to add, "Are you hurt?"

Gaara felt surprised that the rosette did seemed worried for her, but not feeling anything but minor pain, she replied, "N-No… I am alright… t-thank you…" She was still too new at this, but she does know how to be polite.

Naruto then claimed, "Aight then! Let's go back! We need to get to yo siblings Gaara, so you can get the fuck out of here before you get caught."

Gaara stood up but questioned, confused, "Why would you let us go? We are invading you, I was supposed to destroy your village."

Naruto smiled brightly at her, making her blush a little as he replied, "Because we're friends, fool!"

Despite not knowing how, despite not knowing why, Gaara smiled, she understood, somehow, her almost too far gone mind understood what he meant, so she could not stop the small warm feeling spreading into her body, not that she wanted to, she liked the feeling, even if she didn't knew what it was, she liked it a lot.

With that, the group made their way back to the village, Naruto did felt powerful chakra signatures coming from the Arena, he had a slight inkling at who the two familiar presences belong to, thanks to Kurama that is, and despite the small nervousness creeping his body, he could not stop the excitement of knowing that finally, he will have a go at him.

* * *

"I'm sorry about this Hiruzen." The voice of the reanimated corpse of the First Hokage said after he tried to punch the old man in front of him.

"Yes…" The Second then added as he started parrying the strikes of Cloud's two jinchūriki, "Had I known my technique would be used for something as vile as this, I would've never created it." He then added, now understanding why it was that when he created Impure World Reincarnation he received a lot of criticism.

Hiruzen blew a huge fireball at the First and after, said, "Yes, I am sorry too, it is my student after all, the one that disturbed your rest." He then grabbed his staff and made a run towards his predecessor. He and the rest of his allies were currently engaged in combat with the reanimated corpses of the past Hokage and the fearsome Red Hot Habanero, the Sarutobi was just glad that they managed to catch Orochimaru off guard and move the battle to the Arena's field, where it was more comfortable for everyone to fight.

"It is good to see you haven't let age get to you, my rival." A platinum blonde male said as he parried the attacks of his long-time rival, the Raikage A. The male was tall and had a slim body covered by a blue jōnin gear with a white coat and flames at the bottom over it, the coat had the words 'Fourth' written on the back.

A laughed wholeheartedly before he replied, "But of course Minato! I knew we would meet each other again one day, how could I not be ready for then?" He then tried to use his hands coated with lightning to pierce the Fourth Hokage. The Raikage was fast, probably the fastest man alive, but his rival has always been faster, he proved that when he disappeared in his signature yellow flash and reappeared behind the Raikage to try and smash a rasengan on his back, but the Raikage quickly stepped aside and avoided the hit.

"You don't know how much I want to hold you in my arms right now, my little girl." A silky voice that belonged to a beautiful redheaded woman said to the purple-haired ANBU in front of her. The woman had hair red as a tomato and had it tied in a long ponytail while two long braids cascaded beside her porcelain face, she was wearing the standard Leaf jōnin outfit and was currently using a sword to try and cut the female she just spoke to.

Yūgao had to stop her tears from coming out of her eyes, she had miss her sensei and surrogate mother so much, she needed her, more so now than ever after her beloved was just killed moments ago. It wasn't a well-known fact that Kushina did not only took the purple-haired swordswoman as her apprentice, she actually took her in as a surrogate daughter, raising her ever since she was 7, her parents died when she was younger so she was an orphan, but the Red Hot Habanero offered her a chance to learn under her and as time passed on, she could only think of Kushina as her own mother, a sentiment that was reciprocated by the redheaded Uzumaki.

Yūgao parried the strike and replied with a broken voice, "M-Me too mom… I've… I-I've missed you so much…" She then tried to kick her mentor on her feet to brake her balance.

Kakashi was fighting the four guards and Kabuto who were standing in the way of everyone and Orochimaru, he was just glad that they had this contingency plan set, it was only thanks to that warning that Naruto gave them that they were able to even the odds and to avoid a slaughter, he just hoped his son and students were alright. Though, he was a little afraid that Naruto might see his parents here, he couldn't deny the fact that he wanted his son to remain as his son.

Orochimaru was cursing under his breath, things were not going as they should, somehow, the old monkey knew he was planning an invasion and prepared for it, the snake summoner was planning on keeping Hiruzen alone and secluded so that he had to face the three Hokages and the Red Hot Habanero by himself, but the thought that not only the ANBU were able to stop him from secluding him in time, but that the Raikage and his people will actually help in the fight never crossed his mind. He could also hear the battle raging on all over the village, but it did not sounded like his side was winning.

The snake had to break his pondering though, because after hearing a roar in the sky, he had to jump when his senses warned him of danger once a voice screamed, "Kirin!" A powerful bolt of natural lightning then hit where he previously stood, the hit was powerful enough to harm him but otherwise he managed to leave with his life intact.

"What t…" Orochimaru was saying before he grunted in pain after he was suddenly hit by a rasengan on his side, he saw the attack from the corner of his eye but it was already too late to move. He was further surprised when instead of seeing the Fourth as he thought, he saw his offspring, standing there with narrowed eyes while holding the Lightning Sword in a backwards grip.

Everybody stopped their fight for a moment to look at the one that managed to hit Orochimaru, with Kushina and Minato immediately gasping once they recognized the young man standing there proudly alongside a boy who they knew was an Uchiha.

"Well, well, well…" Naruto said with a fierce smirk as he saw Orochimaru getting on guard, "If it isn't Orochi-bubu! I have to say thou, I'm surprised Child Services haven't caught yo pedo ass, fool!"

Orochimaru stood there, completely aghast, he did not know how the fuck does the kid gets under his skin so easily, "Kukuku… my, how lucky am I… Sasuke and Naruto, my two favourite shinobi…" He then said, regaining his eerie demeanour.

Naruto was about to say something, but a whisper then caught his attention, "N-Naruto?…" He turned to look at the beautiful redhead that spoke. He knew who she was, his biological mother, and while he was indeed somewhat nervous to face both her and his biological father, he was surprised to see that he felt nothing, no anger, no happiness, nothing, only respect for those two.

"Yo." He acknowledged them with a lazy greeting, like his father Kakashi.

Orochimaru thought that the silverette was unaware of his lineage, so thinking on a plan that might rile the brat up, he said, "Kukuku… Minato… Kushina… kill your son."

Everyone then froze after those words, both Leaf, Sand and Sound ninja were shocked to hear that the Fourth and the Red Hot Habanero had a son. With the Leaf shinobi feeling dread at the thought that that son was the boy that has been mistreated for most of his life.

Naruto cursed, not for fear or the like, but because that snake fool has just revealed his heritage to the world and once this is over, he was damn sure that a huge storm would be coming his way.

Minato and Kushina tried, the tried harder than ever to stop their bodies from moving, but they couldn't, they could only obey that snake bastard, "S-Son…" Minato said once he stood in front of his son with kunai ready. He knew that they only had to hold on until Hades, the God of Death, realises that someone took their souls from him, he will come for them soon, but for now, he had to use all his will power to hold back as much as he could so his son stands a chance.

But both him and Kushina felt like a knife has been stabbed in their hearts when they saw their son's eyes, he held no hate, no aggression, no anger, no love, no joy, only a little bit of resentment, surely for the burden they placed on him, but mostly, his eyes carried excitement, not the excitement of seeing his parents though, but of fighting strong opponents, that was a huge blow for the Fourth and his wife.

Naruto looked at the both and said, "Minato… Kushina… I'm sorry that that snake-pedo perturbed your rest, but no worries…" He smirked fiercely and after a glance at his brother, added, "We gon kick yo asses so hard that you gon be sent right back to heaven! Because dis one's for mah man Killer Bee! Yo, ya hear me ninja!?"

At the distance, a 'Weeee' was heard coming from a buffed male currently kicking the shit out of the Second Hokage as the man then screamed back, "I hear ya son! Kicked them ninja's asses!…" The Mighty Killer Bee then went back to his fight with the Second while shouting, "Oi, come here and let me kick yo dead ass, fool! Ya fool!"

Before Minato and Kushina could say anything, the former had to jump back when a rasengan suddenly hit where he once stood, Kushina had to draw her sword to stop a slash coming from the blackette's sword, "This ain't time for chats!…" Naruto claimed while sending a strike of his lightning sword to the blond Hokage, "Now bend over and lemme kick yo ass!" He added as the man parried his strike with his distinctive three pronged kunai.

As much as both parents wanted to speak to their son, they had to focus on the fight, their boy and his friend are no fricking joke. Sure, neither of them were going all out, they had that small amount of willpower to stop themselves from going all out on their son and his friend, but they were starting to think that the way things were going, whatever was controlling them will surely push them to that limit.

 ** _"Naruto…"_** The voice of the mighty dragon god said inside Naruto's mind and once the beast heard the hum in response, he said, **_"Come here for a second, let the fox fight for you."_** Naruto and Kurama were both confused, but they did as told none the less, after all, when the Absolute God of End orders you to do something, you fricking do it without complaint.

Both Minato and Kushina gasped when they saw their son suddenly being surrounded by crimson flames, Ddraig was allowing his power to flow out in order to suppress the fox's presence, after all, they did not wanted the knowledge that she was sealed inside Naruto to be known for now, if not ever.

As Kurama continued fighting her old friend and her husband, Naruto appeared beside the god and said, "Yo D! Waddup boi!? I wanna go fight 'em fools!"

Ddraig just sighed at his container's infinite excitement for a fight before he replied, **"Listen to me well hatchling, I am going to revive your biological parents."**

Naruto was shocked at that, so shocked he could only tilt his head and whisper, "W-What?…" He then regained a little of his composure to question loudly, "What for!? Didn't ya told me that I can only bring people back to life if I have a damn good reason!?" He was confused because he could not see any reason to bring them back, if there was no need for that, then he might as well bring his beloved Mikoto back to life.

Ddraig just smirked as he replied, **"I'm not doing it for them. When they called for the Death God Hades' help, he took their souls with him, their souls belong to him and he is a greedy skeleton."**

Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion as he said, "Yeah I know that, you told me, but, I don't see your point, fool!"

Ddraig sighed and explained, **"I want you to anger Hades, he has something that belongs to me and I want to give it to you, but he will only appear if you strike a deal with him or if you anger him."**

Naruto widened his eyes at that as he concluded, "Ooo… so you want to draw his boney ass out, huh?…" He massaged his chin and added, "I see where yo going… plus, I could repay mah debt to them that way, ya know? Giving them a second chance to live and all…" He did felt indebted to them for giving him life after all, even if he already lost it long ago, "Aight! Let's do dis!… thou… how do I do it!?…" He then inquired with his head tilted to the side.

 **"I'll be the one doing it, you still don't have the power to cheat life…"** Ddraig said before he explained, **"I can do it now, but I know you want to fight them, so have some fun and once you feel like it, let me know."**

Once the Namikaze heir returned to his body, he realized that he was currently in a lock with the Fourth who said, "I'm so sorry about this, son…" Minato then tried to kick Naruto's stomach but the boy managed to avoid the hit, "About everything we did to you." He then added while trying to thrust a rasengan at the silverette.

Naruto cursed but quickly sidestepped and jumped towards Kushina who was trying to cut Sasuke in half. He deliver a kick on her side and sent her skidding towards Minato's side before he replied, "Don't worry about it, fool! Really, I respect ya both but, I have a father, and his name is Kakashi Hatake…" Naruto looked straight at them when he said that, he knew that it will hurt them both, but they needed to know the truth, if only to understand that he did not grew up all alone, "And a mother whose name is Hanare, so even if I did wanted to at least have the chance to say no, I was able to live a happy life none the less." His relationship with Hanare has been growing greatly for the past month since she started dating Kakashi, they were ninja so they usually left the courting and all those things aside since as a warrior you had little time to enjoy your life, the woman was really sweet and loving to him, so he couldn't help but think of her as the mother he never had.

Both Minato and Kushina stood there, frozen with wide eyes, it hurt, a lot, but they couldn't blame their son, they chose their village over him, they realised that at the very last moment and they've regretted it ever since, even if they loved him more than anything else, they never gave him a chance to choose, so the only thing they could do is look at the silver-haired Hatake who was fighting Kabuto and the guards and send a grateful glance at him, at least, Minato's student made good on his promise to take care of their son.

Before anything else could be said though, Orochimaru gritted his teeth and pouring all his strength in his jutsu, he screamed, "Fight!" He was getting frustrated because all of his reanimations were losing the fight, he could only curse himself for not perfecting the Impure World Reincarnation because as it is right now, he could only summon them with barely half of their true strength.

Minato and Kushina stiffened their bodies, they could feel their bodies trying to obey the snake summoner's commands but they were trying to will themselves not to do it, they knew that it was only a matter of time for Hades to appear and take them back to hell, but they couldn't stop for much long as Minato grabbed his three pronged kunai and threw it at his son, disappearing in a yellow flash soon later.

Naruto narrowed his eyes once he saw his biological father appearing right in front of him with a rasengan in hand, he could hear everyone screaming his name while Minato had his eyes wide in horror, telling him that he could not stop. But instead of a frightened look, Naruto actually smirked and shocking everyone but his team and father, he disappeared in a red flash and reappeared right above Minato, with a vermilion rasengan that was quickly thrust on the back of Minato, pushing him violently against the ground.

"H-He knows the Thunder God!?" The Raikage screamed with shock, he could not believe his rival's son was capable of doing such powerful technique while still being so young, heck, he was still having trouble believing his rival had a son.

"Weeeeeee." Bee just claimed excitedly, he could not stop the pride of seeing his protégé kicking that blond ninja's ass, fool!

Before anything else could be said, Naruto started feeling Ddraig's divine aura running through the arm that held Minato down, signalling him that the Red Dragon Emperor was reviving the man. He wasted no time as he saw his brother taking advantage of Kushina's shocked state to make a run at her, so he charged his lighting sword and threw it straight at the redheaded Uzumaki.

Kushina was so proud and happy to see her little boy pulling off his father's most famed technique, so shocked that she barely registered the lightning sword thrown her way, she was about to draw her sword out to parry the strike but was shocked when the sword was suddenly replaced by the Uchiha boy that she knew was Mikoto's son.

Sasuke understood his brother's plan so he waited until the very last moment and quickly substituted himself with the sword, making sure it reached its real target. He then appeared right in front of Kushina and quickly thrust his blade into her stomach, releasing all of the lightning stored in it into her.

Kushina could not feel pain, she was already dead of course, but she could still feel her body going numb due to the lightning, she knew that she and Minato have been defeated but she couldn't help but feel incredibly happy right now, _'Miko… our boys… they are so good…'_ She then smiled at Sasuke who smiled sadly back at her.

Right as she fell, Naruto appeared on top of her and put his arm above her, feeling the essence of Ddraig starting doing its magic. The silver-haired swordsman then heard Orochimaru curse, "Dammit! Kabuto, let's go!"

Orochimaru could not believe what it was happening, for some fucking reason neither Minato nor Kushina were standing up again, even though they should. He could feel that he was no longer in control of them and worse, the other summons and his guards were getting cornered by the Leaf-nin, so he knew that he needed a plan to get the hell out of here.

* * *

"Dammit!…" Danzō cursed as he showed a rare moment of emotion, he could not believe that the old monkey saw the invasion coming. He knew that Orochimaru was losing the fight and the traitor's army fighting inside the village were getting slaughtered like pigs by Jiraiya and his summons, somehow they managed to evacuate the people from the village and reduce casualties greatly, even though some villagers and Leaf-nin did died, it was not going to be enough to set the silverette jinchūriki on a rampage. And worst of all, for what his Root agents were informing him, the damn Twelve-Wings brat is not only Minato and Kushina's son, but he also knows the 'Thunder God Jutsu', "Ryū!" He then screamed at his most trusted agent.

The female immediately appeared by her leader's side and asked, "Yes sir?"

"Detonate the tags near the Arena…" The old war hawk said in between gritted teeth, "That damn snake failed miserably, I rather help him get out of here than risking him getting caught, Ibiki is clever enough to get the truth out of that fucking snake."

Ryū nodded at her leader's words and immediately disappeared to head straight towards Terai to start setting off the tags to facilitate Orochimaru's escape, all the while feeling thankful that her dragon mask was covering her small smug smirk plastered on her beautiful face.

* * *

"Kabuto! Let's go!" Orochimaru screamed at his most trusted man, he knew he has to get out of here otherwise he was going to get caught or killed.

Naruto just muttered, "Oh no you don't, ya fool."

Kabuto appeared beside his leash in an instant, he was about to ask Orochimaru how were they going to escape when suddenly, he saw the lightning sword buried right behind Orochimaru, where in a blink, a red flash appeared that soon later was revealed to be the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki with a black rasengan in hand, "Lord Orochimaru behind you!" He screamed, trying to get in the way but he knew it was too late.

Orochimaru managed to sense the danger so he quickly turned behind and put his arms forward, he coated them with earth chakra in order to parry whatever the annoying silverette had to attack him. But the snake traitor was horrified when the moment his hands came into contact with the ominous pitch black rasengan, they were pulled into it with incredible force, "W-What… w-what is this!?…" He screamed in genuine fear and pain as he could not move from his place, feeling his body being pulled into the rasengan as well.

Naruto jumped back as Kabuto tried to strike him, he landed some steps away to say with a smug smirk, "That, fool, is none of your business, the only thing ya need to concern yoself with is that you can say goodbye to your arms, as they are never coming back." Sure, he could always implant new arms into his sockets, but Naruto's power of destruction does not only sucks flesh, blood and bones, but it also sucks the very soul as it consumes the target, pulling it/him/her into the darkness itself, where they could not escape. It would take either a medical miracle of divine proportions or years of rehab for Orochimaru to gain movement on his arms again, hopefully though, he will be sucked into the rasengan completely.

Just as Orochimaru was screaming in pain, a huge blast was heard coming from around the Arena, throwing everyone off balance. The Uzumaki heir cursed when he saw Kabuto cutting Orochimaru's arms off and quickly reverse-summoned themselves away to Great Red knows where, escaping along with his guards.

"Kakashi, now!" Sarutobi screamed at the silver-haired jōnin while he held both the First and the Second in place with the Raikage and his two jinchūriki's help.

Kakashi nodded and quickly grabbed two seals from his pockets, the seals were made by Jiraiya and were supposed to relinquish the hold Orochimaru had on the reanimations since apparently, the only way to release the jutsu was by sealing their souls away or to get rid of the controls placed on them so they could move on freely back to the afterlife. He was only glad that after being tipped off of the invasion, they checked the whole village and found that the bodies of the deceased Hokage were fake, someone replaced them with fakes and stole the real ones. It didn't took too much to relate such thing to one of Orochimaru's captured notes that told how he was studying the Second Hokage's most criticized technique after that, thus, Jiraiya made sure to make the seals in case such thing happened.

Kakashi jumped at the First and slapped the paper on his chest, he then did the same to the Second and after some moments, both Hokage stopped their on guard stances, with Hashirama saying, "Ah, I can feel myself in control again."

His younger brother, Tobirama, added, "Me too, seems that we can go back to the afterlife now…" He and Hashirama started to crumble as they will themselves to go back to their resting grounds. Tobirama though, turned to look at the silver-haired boy carrying his sword and said with a smile, "Boy, take care of that sword, alright? She can be a handful." With a nod and a smile from the boy, he finally disappeared, living only the corpse of the sacrifice made to call him here.

Hiruzen then jumped towards where both Minato and Kushina were and was about to seal them too when he was shocked to find that they were breathing, "W-What?…" He whispered shocked, it shouldn't be possible. He turned to look at Naruto since he saw that he did something to them, his surrogate grandson seemed to understand his inquisitive gaze as he silently told him to keep quiet until he could explain. He did just that and made a show of sealing their souls,¿ but in reality, he sealed them in a scroll.

"Uff…" Yugito released a tired sigh after the invasion was apparently over, she could steal hear some fighting going inside the village but by the looks of it, it was merely Leaf-nin finishing off the remnants of the Sand and Sound forces, "Is it over?" She then asked those present, still quite shocked by everything that happened.

The Raikage chuckled and said, "Yeah, I thi…" He was cut off however, when his younger brother claimed excitedly.

"Weeeee!…" One Killer Bee appeared next to his new protégé and after giving him a hard slap on the back that sent him crashing against the ground, he said proudly, "Yo, that was dope, ninja! You show'em stiffs how to move like a king, baby! I'm proud of ya!"

Naruto immediately stood up and with tears in his wide eyes, asked hopefully, "R-Really!?"

Killer Bee then took off his shades and wiped some tears from his eyes as he replied, "Really fool."

Naruto whimpered a little before he screamed a lot like a certain green spandex clad ninja, "M-Mighty-sensei!"

Killer Bee opened his arms wide as he said, "Come here fool and give me some love!" He was then hugged by his apprentice as the two shed manly tears of joy.

"W-We…" Yugito said with a horrified look on her face, she did not know why she liked the silverette, even stranger was that after seeing this embarrassing sight she did not found herself feeling less attracted to the boy, "We h-have to get t-the hell out of here."

"A-Agreed." Samui said beside her with equal wide eyes, she was sad that she had to go since she wanted to spend some time with the silverette, but she did not wanted her sensei to corrupt him more than he already has.

With that set, everyone shook their heads and quickly scattered around to begin the reconstruction of whatever was destroyed during the failed invasion. Sure, many have a lot of questions regarding what was revealed that day but they knew that Naruto was going to have a whole lot of work once everything gets back to normal, the revelation of his true heritage will surely bring a storm to him, so everyone wisely left the boy be for now.

* * *

"Yo, ya hit me up once you get to Cloud aight!? We gon be recording the new album and I want to introduce ya to mah boi, B.I.G." Bee said to his apprentice. He was standing at the village's gates alongside the rest of the Cloud group, they were leaving now and were currently saying their goodbyes.

"Fou shou, baby!" Naruto replied while doing a complicated set of handshakes with his idol and new mentor.

Both Kage chuckled at the view before the Raikage said to his equal, "Well Lord Hokage, I am happy to know that we have made our first step towards an alliance today." A was genuinely contempt with it, as his intention was always that.

Hiruzen smiled at his equal as he replied, "Yes Lord Raikage, it will be difficult to bury all those foolish hatreds, but I am confident that somehow we will pull through."

With a handshake between the two, the cloud group waved their goodbyes and began their trek back to their home, with Samui looking back at her crush over her shoulder. She was sad to leave, but she was also happy that he took her to say goodbye in private, he promised her that he would find some way to go and see her soon, and her gut was telling her that he was a man of his word, that's why she smiled at him honestly and gave him a kiss on his cheek, threatening him to make good on his word, to which he nodded furiously.

Once the Cloud group were out of view, Hiruzen turned to look at his grandson, they weren't the only ones here as Jiraiya, Kakashi and Shikaku were also there, knowing that those three were his most trusted man, he said, "Alright my boy, it's time for you to explain."

Naruto sighed at that as he saw that the other three men present shared the sentiment, he knew they already know about Minato and Kushina being alive, but knowing that he would have to explain, he replied, "Aight, let's go to somewhere safe."

Jiraiya nodded and after urging them to grab each other's shoulders, he flickered them towards a small house outside the village, "This is my safe-house here in the Leaf, nothing comes out of here, I assure you."

They all nodded and Hiruzen took a scroll from his pocket, he placed it on a bed and after channelling chakra in it, a poof of smoke covered the bed where after receding, two sleeping forms appeared.

"Now son, how did you brought Sensei and Kushina back to life?" Kakashi asked his son, all worries of losing his son gone after he heard what he said back at the Arena, which, even if it pained him to admit, made him really happy that he said those words, he loved the boy and he sure as hell didn't wanted to lose him to anyone, not even his biological parents.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he answered, "Well Pa… to be honest… I… umm… don't know… hehe…"

Everyone sighed at that, they all knew that the boy had a lot of power and it was not too farfetched to believe that he had an ability he had no idea about until he unlocked it, but this was way too abnormal, he just brought two people back from the dead, "I believe you son, but this is too frightening to be honest, that you apparently have the power to bring people back from the dead, that's something terrifying." Kakashi then said as he placed a hand on his son's shoulders.

The silverette Namikaze nodded at that, he was having trouble coming up with lies and excuses since he couldn't tell them the truth, instead, he bend the truth a little when he said, "I don't think it was MY power…" The men tilted their heads at those words, prompting him to explain, "I already told you that the Twelve-Wings is no Tailed Beast…" They nodded at that, already privy of such information, "Well, I think it's his power, since he does have the capabilities of using that Ying Yang Release thingy that the Sage of Six Paths used."

Everyone nodded at that, it wasn't too far off of what they all deducted as it was widely known that Ying Yang Release held those capabilities, well, at least according to the legends, "Did you asked the dragon about it?" Jiraiya then asked his godson.

Naruto nodded and as he looked at the sleeping forms of his biological parents, he responded, "Yeah, but in truth, it was kinda my fault, I wanted to know how to release their souls from the jutsu, he explained that the only way he could think off was by keeping their souls here, bring them back to life…" He looked back at the other men and continued, "I didn't know there was another way to do so, so I guess, it was a slip from both of us."

They sighed at that, he could see that the boy did felt bad, probably for disturbing his parents' souls in such way, so Kakashi said, "It's okay son, you didn't know back then." He patted his son's head.

Naruto nodded and replied, "Well, I like to think of it as my way of repaying them for giving me life, they didn't had the chance to live their lives and enjoy a family together, so maybe this time, they will."

They all smiled sadly at the boy as they understood his words. The sadness in their smiles though, was due to the fact that clearly Naruto had no intentions of being part of said family, as he already had one with Kakashi and his new partner.

But before anything else could be said, Naruto added, "Though, he did told me that they are not entirely 'alive'."

"What do you mean?" Shikaku asked what was in everyone's mind.

"Well, as you can see, they are in some sort of coma…" They nodded at that, prompting him to continue, "Bringing their souls back to life was quite violent to them, so they fell under a coma, they will require medical treatment, a very, very good medic and good luck to wake up from it, as their new bodies will have to adjust, the chances of them waking up are high, but there's also a chance that they won't." It was only half of the truth though, as Ddraig explained to him that the damage was already done and Hades will start looking for him soon, so it didn't mattered whether they died or not. However, Ddraig told him that after someone heals their bodies, he will connect him to their minds so he can ask them whether they want to live again or not, as both him and Naruto thought that it was better to give them a chance to say no, in case they no longer felt the need to live on.

Hiruzen massaged his chin and said, "I already know the best person for the job…" The old man looked at his successor and added, "Hopefully, Minato wakes up again and takes this damn hat from me, I am too old for this shit."

They all chuckled at their leader's words but nodded in understanding, they could see that Hiruzen was indeed too tired of the post, "Well Naruto, why don't you go and rest? We will take it from here." Kakashi said to his son.

"Yes boy, go and rest, we will discuss about the medic for Minato and Kushina and once we get back on our feet, we'll look for her." Hiruzen then commented, already knowing who he was going to reach for the job.

Naruto nodded and after waving goodbye, he headed back to the village, feeling the droplets of water hitting his body as he realised that it was raining heavily. After the silverette walked through the gates, he was about to jump to a roof to head home but the voice of one of his mates caught his attention when she said.

"Naruto!" Ayame screamed as she approached him, panting after stopping in front of him, no doubt due to her running all over the village searching for her mate.

Naruto tilted his head at his lover and replied, "What is Aya? You aight?" He wasn't so worried about his mates back when the invasion was happening because he made sure that the ones not participating in the Finals were already in the bunkers behind the Hokage Mountain.

Ayame breathed in a little and said with a sad voice, "Tsubaki…"

* * *

Tsubaki was devastated, she was crawled up into a ball in the corner of her living room, hugging her knees as she cried rivers of tears while remembering the events that happened hours ago over and over again.

The Civilian Council's representative has her home close the village's walls, so it was no surprise that she was one of the first affected by the invasion. She could not evacuate soon since her daughter was nowhere to be seen, so she ignored the orders of the Leaf's shinobi and went looking for her daughter since she was still in the Academy and was no ninja.

That turned out to be a mistake on her part because she was soon surrounded by a group of Sound-nin, she managed to fight a few of them since she has never stopped training her body and ninja skills in case she might need them someday, however, she was quickly outclassed by the Sound-nin as a kunoichi slashed a deep cut on her thigh, rendering Tsubaki useless since she could no longer move. But before the kunoichi delivered the final blow on the single mother, Tsubaki's worst nightmare occurred right before her eyes when her daughter Kimi suddenly appeared, stabbing the kunoichi in the head and killing her immediately, she then started to fight off the other three ninja and somehow she managed to kill them all, but it came with the cost of her own life as Kimi was stabbed in her heart by the last ninja she killed.

Tsubaki just recalled how she stared wide-eyed as her daughter told her 'I was once a foolish little girl that wanted to be a ninja just to impress Naruto, but he made me understand that we fight for those we love and I am glad that I died protecting the person I love the most', after those words, Kimi closed her eyes for the final time, leaving Tsubaki to scream in despair as she hugged her baby's body close to her.

Since then, Tsubaki could not stop crying, how could she? She just lost her baby, her young little girl gave her life to protect her, HER, a middle-aged woman with nothing more to live for. The pain was so great that she considered offing herself the very moment she stepped inside her house but she refrained herself from doing it once she realized that it would be like spitting over her daughter's sacrifice, so even if it was killing her inside, she decided to honour her baby's sacrifice and live on, "B-But it's so damn painful…" She whispered to herself as she continued to cry, with no end to her tears in sight.

Suddenly, a knock on her door made her lift her head to look at it, she was going to ignore it but a voice she longed to hear said, "Tsubaki? It's me, Naruto, please, open up." She was surprised that he was here and she was tempted to ignore him, but somehow, for some strange reason, her heart told her to let him in, into her home and heart, so she stood up and walked towards the door.

Tsubaki breathed in and opened the door to see a completely soaked Naruto, he was looking at her with those beautiful eyes that showed how worried he was for her, it was so overwhelming that she couldn't stop herself from crying harder while she crashed her body against him to say in his chest, "I-It's so painful… N-Naruto… it's… i-it's s-so da-damn painful…"

Naruto just hugged the woman tightly as he rested his chin over her head and sighed sadly, he was really saddened to hear that Kimi died in the invasion, but he was proud that she died for what she believed and loved.

As Naruto was whispering soothing words, he scooped up Tsubaki in his arms and was about to step into her apartment when out of the corner of his eyes, he saw on a nearby roof the figure of the dragon masked female that has been tailing him for a while. He knew that she was the one that tipped him off, he didn't knew why, but he knew that she was in danger, that's why he whispered, "I promise you, I will do everything I can to get you through this." He was promising that to both women, but for now, he had to focus on the one crying her heart out in his arms, but he was going to make sure that soon, the girl that helped him save so many lives stays out of threat, because he knew she will soon be in danger.

* * *

 **A/N: Bet you didn't see that one coming did ya!? Before you lose your shit, let me explain why I did what I did, the truth is that it's not that hard to understand, it is basically what Ddraig told Naruto, I needed to anger Hades in order to do something, so this is how I thought of doing it. Now, I know many of you have wanted me to add Kushina to Naruto's harem, I don't really care about incest, neither do I like it nor dislike it, so I have no problem with adding her, though, I really have no reason to do it, other than just deliver fan service and as I've said, I want each girl to have a purpose. With that in mind, I made this little plot twist to give you guys the chance to decide what you want, I will put a poll on my profile with three options, one will be that both of them decide to go back to the dead, other one will be that both of them decide to accept Naruto's gift and come back to life and lastly, Kushina decides to live again while Minato decides to die, I have good ways to bring those three scenarios into the story but bare in mind that if you guys decide to have only Kushina back in the world of the living she will be paired with Naruto eventually, it will take time, but it will happen, simply because I doubt you'll want her to just fade into the background as a non-important character, that way, I'm sure I'll be able to find a good reason for her to be. With that said, like last time, you are going to have to wait for at least three weeks since I will be revising what I want to touch in the next arc, which let me tell ya, it's going to blow your minds. I also want to write one or two chapters of my other story, but don't worry, I don't think the hiatus will last over a month, anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the finale of the second arc and I'll see ya lads on the next chapter, cheers!**


	22. How To Save A Life

**A/N: Yo waddup! Thank you for your patience, but now we're back with the new arc 'Bitter', but before we begin, some words.**

 **This chapter, ODAD and TBE are dedicated to a dear friend of mine who died in the recent shooting in Las Vegas, he was one of my loyal readers and I practically started writing fan fiction due to him and some other friends. I also based this chapter a little on the show we used to enjoy when we were younger, I trust some of you will manage to guess which series I'm talking about. But anyway, I will finish those stories in his memory and I hope that they're good enough for him to have enjoyed, cheers to you my friend, wherever you are now.**

 **I have received some words saying that they found the invasion too easy to deal with, well, it was. Remember, Naruto informed the Hokage of the invasion, they weren't caught of guard, I didn't showed any fighting inside the village simply because there wasn't any, only some fighting in the districts by the wall but that's it, Orochimaru's plan was countered and he was the one ending up caught off guard, hence why it was so easy to deal with.**

 **This is the arc where the story starts to get more serious since as the chapters come, the events of the story will get darker and more troublesome. But rest assured, while I will touch some dark subjects in the story later on, I will not lower myself to misuse rape in the way the people in this site do, I have no clue why people in here are so obsessed with it, it really doesn't adds anything, on the contrary, it destroys a story. It will be mentioned of course as I cannot act as if it doesn't exists, but that will be just it. From there on, you will see some dark themes later on, but I have better ways to deliver shock or pain than falling into such things, that's why the story will still remain for the most part light.**

 **A reminder too, the poll for Kushina and Minato's situation is still up and will remain so for at least the next chapter, so be sure to make your preference known because once I close it, whatever you fellas chose will remain without a change, so make sure to vote because I will not listen to complains about the decision later on.**

 **I apologise if there are more mistakes in this chap than normal, but the damn thing dragged on too much and I just want to get it over with, I will check it later in case it's bad.**

 **Without further say, let's get to it.**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **How to Save a Life**

The rain poured down heavily over the slightly damaged Village Hidden in the Leaves. It has been two days since the attempted Sound/Sand invasion and people were already back in their homes, trying to at least rest for the coming busy days as even if a full invasion was averted, damage to the village's walls and some properties were still severe.

Those who lost relatives could not close their eyes to rest of course, they were currently grieving their loved ones as their funeral was being prepared by the village's government. The casualties, while not severe, were indeed numerous, with sixty-two active shinobi perishing alongside five civilians, who did not made it into the shelters on time. They were all just grateful that somehow their leader was capable of seeing the invasion coming, as it was thanks to his contingency plan that a more horrible outcome was averted.

But the thing that had the people talking nonstop was the huge revelation that took place in the epic clash of the Hokage against the Leaf's traitor Orochimaru, that being that the village's greatest hero, Minato Namikaze, actually had a son with his wife, the Leaf's greatest heroine, Kushina Uzumaki. It was the fact that said son was none other than Naruto Uzumaki that was driving the whole village into a frenzy of apologies, looking for said silverette in order to apologize for so many wrong doings that were done to him, whether they were honest with said apology or not did not mattered, as the fact that Naruto Uzumaki was the actual Prince of the Leaf could not be questioned by anyone, after all, Minato Namikaze was the strongest Hokage they've had since Hashirama and everybody was sure that had the blond Hokage lived through the Twelve-Wings' attack, he would have surpassed said man in a couple of years and as for Kushina, she was, alongside Mikoto Uchiha and Tsunade Senju, the epitome of what a kunoichi should be, not to forget the fact that she was the last of the Uzumaki, one of the world's greatest clans, making her a Princess in all aspects, even if said redheaded woman found that annoying. Hence, it was hard to deny the fact that their son would be considered the Prince of the Leaf and now that the village heard that it was him and Sasuke Uchiha the ones that ended up driving Orochimaru away, made the whole village gasp in unison, most of them feeling guilt, while some already plotting to side with the boy in order to get a good place in the country's political plane, with most of the wealthiest merchants of the village already writing their marriage proposals to the Hokage.

Said Prince of the Leaf could not care about it any less than he already is though, as he had no intention of accepting any apology from the villagers. He knows that it may seems hypocritical of him to be preaching about a global understanding when he seems to be unwilling to accept that people change, but that was not why he won't accept their apologies, it is simply because they were born out of a shock, when everyone was still confused, scared and tired of such tense experience. So, while Naruto is not willing to accept their words, he is willing to accept their actions, because Naruto was no longer the small boy who dreamed to be acknowledged, he was no longer the boy who dreamed to rid this world of darkness, he was a man, a man that understood that this time, it was the Leaf the one that had to earn Naruto's acknowledgment, and they knew it too.

But all that was of no importance for the silverette Namikaze right now, what mattered to him at this moment was the sleeping woman curled into his embrace, "She looks so… pained…" He whispered as he watched Tsubaki's sleeping face, which was contracted into an afflicted furrow as she thrashed in his arms slightly.

"… n-no… d-don't… K-Kimi…" Tsubaki mumbled in her sleep as she started thrashing even harsher now, obviously having a painful nightmare about her daughter's death.

Naruto sighed as he couldn't really do much right now for her, he could only tighten his embrace on the woman as he rested his back on the wall in Tsubaki's living room. He has been with her for the whole night, allowing the woman to cry her heart out on him, even allowing her to hit him weakly on the chest, knowing that the woman needed to tire herself out in order to have some sleep. It really hurt the silverette to see the woman so broken, he really likes her and even if they haven't had much time to know each other, he knows that the woman is a wonderful human being, despite her past hatred for him, she learned the truth and was capable of own her mistake and help him as much as she could, even if she did it from the shadows.

It was for these exact moments that Naruto vowed to carry out his goal no matter what, because he was sure that had the dragon-masked Root woman chose not to tip him off, the consequences of the invasion would have certainly been much, much graver, he wasn't even sure that the Leaf itself would have survived. That's why he was now more aware than ever that a global change was needed, no, scratch needed, it was urgent, the world was spiralling into a constant loop of hatred at an alarming rate, even now he could feel the hatred sprouting in the Leaf's inhabitants directed towards Sand and Sound, he was the successor of the God that rules darkness so he could easily distinguish such feelings in a heartbeat, and while Naruto completely understood why they felt that way, he couldn't stop wondering when will it stop? Who was going to be the first brave man or woman that actually stops hating the other?

Sand was driven into this point due to the Wind Lord preferring the Leaf's services over Sand's, inside their own territory at that. Naruto could completely understand why Sand agreed to this, it was easy for Orochimaru to utilize the village's desperation in order to manipulate them for this, after all, he did posed as their Kazekage. And now that they have failed, he couldn't stop wondering what will the Leaf do? Will they retaliate? Will they let their hatred drive them towards war? Because he, being the next in line to oversee all that it was the End, knew where it all leads, exactly to his very title actually, it all leads to the end, there's nothing beyond that, there's no paradise, there's no heaven, those who die do not go to 'heaven', they go back to Great Red where he uses their energy to create new life, over and over again. Those like Naruto's parents are able to remain as souls because they were chosen by a god to serve them, or in Minato and Kushina's place, they gave their souls to one in order to get something in return.

He also knows that what he just thought was a half-truth, because it made no sense to him that if souls are actually recycled over and over again, then why are angels, fallen angels, devils and demons necessary? After all, the only reason for their existence is exactly to watch over the souls of those who've perished. He couldn't exactly ask Ddraig about it because it was Naruto's job to figure this out, he has been believing that souls get recycled for quite some time as he couldn't really come up with anything else to explain why there was nothing beyond death. But his perspective changed when he remembered a little thing that Ddraig told him on the day the god explained everything to him, it was a mere sentence and he was sure that the Absolute God of End did it on purpose.

 _Cruach forced Albion and I to act, our fight was brutal and it cost the existence of the first civilization_

The 'First Civilization', that sentence has been floating around Naruto's head ever since he finally revisited his talk with the red dragon, that simple word made Naruto believe that perhaps, there truly was no 'end', perhaps everything was just a cycle, life, the universe, maybe everything is an infinite cycle that repeats itself over and over again. Hence, he now also has the belief that his civilization was not the first one to lay life in the universe, who knows how many civilizations have been before his, if his theory is correct that is. But that also left him with a big question, probably the biggest of them all, why? Why is this 'cycle' repeating itself over and over again? Is it because Great Red it's simply bored? After all, Naruto knew that he, Kami and the Absolute Gods were the only beings who lived outside this cycle, so the probability that the one that created it all was simply bored was not so hard to believe.

But Naruto couldn't really sustain that that was the case, something in his draconic gut was tingling, telling him that there was another reason for why this possible cycle continued, he just couldn't grasp it, he could not find a reason why, "Perhaps…" He muttered as he realised something. Thinking over everything he's been told about the universe, life and the existence itself, he knows there's always a constant, he doesn't know what that constant is, but he knows there is one, so maybe, "We need to break that constant?" He theorised, feeling like for the first time in his whole life, he has actually stumbled upon a tremendous truth. And had the silverette been more attentive to his mindscape at this very moment, he would've noticed the proud smirk plastered on the Absolute God of End's scaled face.

But his concentration was shattered however, when the brunette middle-aged woman in his arms muttered with tears falling again, "N-Naruto… d-don't… a-alone…"

Naruto immediately tightened his grip on her more and kissed her forehead, whispering, "Shh, I'm not going to leave you alone Tsubaki…" He caressed her back as he added, "I'll stay here with ya as long as you want."

Tsubaki seemed to have calmed down a little after his words, as she suddenly stopped thrashing around violently, but he was surprised to see that it was actually because she was awake, as she looked up to him and asked with some tears still gathered in her eye-sockets, "Y-You promise?"

Naruto just smiled tenderly at her, caressing her cheek while he replied, "I promise."

Time seemed to stop for the two as they lost themselves into each other's eyes. For some moments there, Tsubaki could start to feel that nothing was wrong, those deep blue eyes carried so much worry for her that it almost made her forget everything. But, reality hit her once again when a sudden flash of her daughter's death assaulted her mind, making Tsubaki feel a huge need for comfort, hence why she lunged towards his face in order to claim his lips in a sloppy and needy kiss, gripping the young man's jacket as if her life depended on it.

Naruto was shocked at first, he knows that usually in this kind of moments one tends to lose oneself in the first emotion that helps you forget about it all, so he reciprocated the kiss as he held her close to him, intertwining their tongues as Tsubaki began to moan into his mouth, moving her hands over his chest in order to feel everything of him.

Naruto couldn't stop his hands from responding, as they have seemed to grow a mind of their own when one travelled towards her butt in order to squeeze it while the other hand found its place on her right breast and tenderly squished it, earning more lustful moans from the woman as she too brought her hand towards his clothed member, rubbing it while pressing her body over his.

But the silverette immediately turned back to normal as he pushed her back gently, earning a surprised visage on the woman that soon turned into a hurt one, probably thinking that he does not desires her. But even so, Tsubaki pleaded, "P-Please Naruto… I… I k-know I'm n-not desirable… b-but… I n-need you… p-please…" She gripped his jacket tightly as she cried heavily and begged more, "…j-just for tonight…"

Naruto sighed and while he caressed the woman's cheek, he responded, "Tsubaki, I do desire you, a lot…" He saw that the woman beamed slightly at that, but he continued, "But even forgetting the fact that you're doing this out of grief, you need to understand that with me, there is no such thing as a one night stand."

Tsubaki felt confused, but the feeling of having Naruto caressing her cheek reminded her of her current emotional state that begged to be taken by this man, thus why she declared, "T-Then I'll b-be your woman, for the r-rest of our days, y-you can do anything to me… j-just please…" She leaned on a little as she added with such necessity that it almost made Naruto give, "Make lo-love to me."

Naruto was really tempted to do so, after all, the woman was accepting to be with him for the rest of their days. But still, he knows that she has no idea what that actually means with him, she also has no idea of his plan and what it would entail for her to become his lover, so he said, "It's not that simple, Tsubaki."

Tsubaki started breathing hard as she asked with some anger slipping into her words, "W-Why not!? Just take me now! Treat me as a w-whore if you want! J-just… make me f-forget…" She broke down as she rested her forehead on his chest, tears falling freely from her eyes to the teenager's pants.

Naruto frowned at that, he felt anger at the idea of Tsubaki willing to be treated so lowly just so that she could forget about her current pain, but he couldn't really blame her, despair does tends to make you do such stupid mistakes, he was just glad that she said that to him because he was sure that most men would easily take advantage of the woman who was willingly giving herself to such treatment.

Still, Naruto could tell that right now the woman was in need of comfort, so he said, "Tsubaki, I won't make love to you, not now…" He could tell that the woman was about to protest, so he quickly followed, "But I will ease your pain and after that, we'll talk about what's next."

 **Lime**

Tsubaki was confused at the Uzumaki's words, so she asked, "W-What do yo… _ow_ …" She had to moan though, as the silverette started fondling her right breast while he squeezed her left ass-cheek, forcing the woman to rest her body against his before he pulled her into a passionate kiss that she quickly returned.

Tsubaki was about to bring her hand down to his pants in order to free Naruto's penis as she wanted to stroke it and slid it into her velvet folds, but almost as if sensing her intentions, Naruto lifted her up and carried her towards the couch, not braking the kiss at all but forcing the woman to lock her arms around his neck in order to steady herself.

He placed the woman with her back on the couch and started trailing butterfly kisses as he lowered his head slowly, unbuttoning her shirt and quickly shredding her bra to free her gorgeous mounts of flesh that he wasted no time to devour like a hungry child, nibbling her right nipple with his tongue watering the pink button as his left hand was pinching the woman's left breast, eliciting cries of pleasure from the woman.

"Ah… N-Naruto… d-don't stop… e-ever…" Tsubaki pleaded as she threw her head back while hugging the young man's head close to her breasts, as if trying to melt him into her bountiful mammary.

Naruto had no intention of stopping as he released her breasts, Tsubaki was about to complain but couldn't voice said whine as he suddenly took off her pants and panties with a single movement, leaving her defenceless against his attack.

"N-Naruto… p-please…" Tsubaki begged as she brought her fingers to her vagina and opened her lower lips to show him how wet she was right now, she wanted his penis, badly.

But Naruto was not going to give her that right now as it was not possible without her knowing everything. Instead, he grabbed her right leg and lifted it up over his shoulder as he started trailing kisses, leading him straight to her sex where he inhaled her scent with hungry eyes.

Tsubaki moaned at the mere image of Naruto sniffing her core, she was about to complain at the lack of penis inside of her but she suddenly moaned loudly as he dined on her cunnie, licking the outside tentatively first before he invaded her cavern without question.

Naruto then brought his hand towards her breast and with his free hand he started caressing her clitoris, eliciting a harsh moan from the woman as she lifted her body while arching her back, trying to give the man she has feelings for as much of her vagina as she could.

This continued on for some minutes, with Tsubaki being surprised that Naruto was making even a better job than her ex-husband with only his tongue. She started feeling the tell-tales of her release when she was forced to grip the surface of her couch as Naruto continued dining on her sex before he suddenly pinched her clitoris, making the woman scream her release while she arched her back as much as her body allowed, filling the Namikaze's mouth with her sexual juices which he eagerly drank without wasting a drop.

 **End Lime**

Tsubaki fell back on the couch while she basked herself in her release, she felt some of the pain and despair she was feeling before fading away, it was still there, but Naruto made such a fantastic job at driving her towards the greatest orgasm of her life that it was enough to calm her down a little. But seeing that he still had no intention of penetrating her, she asked, "N-Naruto… w-why won't you stick it i-in me?"

Naruto crawled towards her face and while he caressed her cheek tenderly, he responded, "Are ya a little calmer now?…" The woman nodded at that, with less clouded eyes that Naruto took as the right chance to begin, "Then let me tell you why…" With that, Naruto started telling Tsubaki everything about him, his goal and his family.

Tsubaki was without a doubt shocked about everything she was hearing, it seemed so surreal but she could see it in the man's eyes, Naruto was not lying at all. She was now also able to understand why Ayame has been so pushy with her feelings for the silverette ever since they became friends. For a moment, she felt angry that Naruto was seeing her as just a pawn to move his ambition forward but as he kept going on she could see how honest he was with his commitment to the women he takes as lovers, since he made it very clear that his duty was solely to them, not to anything else.

It took the silverette some time to finish, but once he did, he was glad to see that Tsubaki's lust was almost completely gone, allowing the woman to think more clearly about this decision because it was after all, the biggest decision she will have to take, something so life altering cannot be taken lightly.

Tsubaki remained below the silverette in total silence, looking straight at his eyes, almost without blinking, she was piecing everything together in her mind as she studied the man above her carefully, trying to dissect even the smallest hint of deceit, she was happy to see that he was being completely honest. But even so, such decision was enormous, she has just lost her child and only purpose in life and while Naruto was now offering her a new purpose, she knows that her mind is still haunted by pain and despair, so she knows that she has to think this through, carefully.

"C-Can you…" She started saying before she gulped and finished, "…g-give some time to think?"

She could see that her words pleased the young man, as he smiled at her tenderly while lovingly caressing her cheek to respond, "Of course Tsubaki, this is something you must consider seriously."

Tsubaki smiled at the man as she leaned on his hand, closing her eyes while enjoying the warmth the silverette's body on top of hers provided. She suddenly felt a hit of fear that spread through her body, prompting her to say shakily, "C-Can you stay w-with me?… t-today?…"

Naruto smiled at her while he changed their position, placing the semi-naked woman on top of him. She quickly rested her head over his chest, enjoying his heartbeats that lulled her to sleep as the silverette said with eyes closed and arms around her form, "For as long as you need me, Tsubaki."

* * *

The sounds of grunts and yells reverberated throughout the training field, a wooden dummy suffering a relentless and fierce barrage of fists and kicks as a purple-haired female vents all of her frustrations over the poor unanimated object.

"Gah!" Yūgao screamed as she delivered a powerful kick to the dummy that surprisingly was resisting her onslaught of rage.

Yūgao continued this on, ignoring her bloodied fists as well as her hot tears. It has been three days since the failed Sound/Sand invasion occurred, three days since her fiancé perished in the line of duty. She sure felt proud of him because it was thanks to his sacrifice that the Leaf uncovered Sand's participation but even so, it didn't lesser the pain that his death left her with at all, leaving her completely heartbroken.

"Dammit!…" She cursed when she punched the dummy again, resting her forehead against the wood object while tears streamed down her eyes. She could no longer sustain her body as her depression soon took the strength out of her feet, forcing her to slump on the ground to hug herself and mutter, "M-Mom…"

The fact that she had to fight her surrogate mother, Kushina Uzumaki, made it all the worse for her as the moment she saw her walking out that coffin Yūgao couldn't help but feel the need to run towards her mother and burry herself inside her arms, basking in the motherly love she could only receive from the redheaded Uzumaki.

Even now she could still feel a small glint of happiness as she remembered the very first time she met the Fourth's wife.

 _Flashback_

 _A seven years old Yūgao was looking outside her window as the sun shunned brightly over her home village. Ever since her parents died five years ago she has been living in the orphanage and while everybody in the place are nice to her, she couldn't help but feel so lonely, so out of place. She had a home, a family, two loving parents, but it was all taken away from her so soon._

 _Her parents were both killed in a reconnaissance mission carried out in Mist, even if she was too young at the time, she was still clever enough to understand when the Third told her that unfortunately her parents were not coming back home. It took the sadness and reality some time to hit her, but it did when she turned three, where she could easily feel her mind going crazy with pain._

 _Due to her depression, she ran away from the orphanage, wandering aimlessly through the village, feeling scared because she had no idea where she was going or where she was. It wasn't until a beautiful redheaded woman saw her clearly scared and lost, so the woman walked to her and picked her up, asking if she needed help._

 _The purple-haired child just nodded shyly at the woman's words, who smiled warmly at her and took her for some ice cream. The two spent the whole day together, talking about each other, with Yūgao opening up to the lady and telling her story, the woman simply hugged her tightly and cooed her to sleep._

 _After the Uzuki orphan woke up again, she found herself in the orphanage, inside her room, she was confused but the care-takers quickly ushered her to rest, saying that she had a long day and needed a good sleep to recover her strength. She did as told and was surprised to realise that the whole time she slept, she dreamed of coming home to the gorgeous redheaded lady that treated her with ice cream._

 _Time went on like that, with her constant dreams of the redheaded lady who actually came occasionally to visit her but Yūgao was too shy to receive her. Even with the refusals, the lady didn't stop coming, so Yūgao felt curious and sneaked out of the orphanage to go and look for the woman._

 _It was easy to find her as she was the only one with such vibrant hair in the whole village, so anyone who she asked quickly knew who she was talking about. She was directed by a handsome blond blue-eyed male to a training ground, where she soon heard the sounds of grunts and hits. Yūgao hid herself behind a tree trunk and watch mesmerised as the kind lady swung her sword with a beautiful and delicate technique, almost as if she was watching a ballerina performing her masterpiece._

 _That became a regular for Yūgao as she tried to sneak up as much as she could so she could watch the woman from afar. Though, she never had the courage to talk to her since after her parents died, she became very shy and she couldn't really find the strength to open her heart to anyone. But now that the sun was beginning to set, she quickly sneaked out of her room and headed towards the training ground she knew the woman was training._

 _As predicted, the woman was there, training her sword play as her hair flowed in harmony with the strong winds, adding to the already hypnotic sight that always seemed to take Yūgao to another world, where she would come running down towards a cosy house where the woman was eagerly waiting for her, arms wide open as the purple-haired girl happily crashed inside those arms._

 _The tiny Yūgao was suddenly brought out of her fantasies when the woman stopped training and said as she looked towards her direction, "It's been almost one year since you started watching me train in there, when are you going to come down and talk to me?" Kushina had a loving smile as she tilted her head a little to see behind the trunk where the tiny girl was hiding._

 _Yūgao eeped cutely as she was startled to hear that the kind lady knew she has been watching her for so long, she wanted to run, but as she shyly peaked her head from behind the trunk, she felt her heart aching at the sight of the woman kneeling and opening her arms wide, as if telling her to ran into them._

 _Uzuki just walked coyly towards the woman, her hands tightly grasping her white dress as her head was aimed down. She suddenly found herself standing just some steps away from the woman who has yet to close her arms, "Come here Yūgao, I know you're shy but I want to hug you, won't you give me a hug?" Kushina urged with a motherly tone._

 _Yūgao nodded with a small shy smile, walking slowly until she found herself embraced by the woman, making Yūgao close her eyes as she brought her small arms around the woman's torso, burying her little head on the Uzumaki's chest._

 _"There, there, it's alright…" Kushina whispered lovingly as she cooed the girl who was now crying quietly, surely missing the feeling of a mother's embrace. Ever since Kushina saw the small girl two years ago she couldn't help herself but to fall in love with her, she is so beautiful, cute and full of potential, and hearing that she lost her parents made her feel a connection to the girl since she too lost her family when Whirlpool fell, though Kushina felt her heart breaking when she went to visit the girl in the orphanage but she refused to see her over and over again, Kushina was so depressed about that that it was starting to affect her work. It wasn't until Minato encouraged her to not give up, telling her that he was willing to be there to help her help the girl but that she had to give her time as Yūgao probably has trust issues. Imagine Kushina's happiness when Minato told her that Yūgao was looking for her, happiness that grew as she realised that she kept doing it over and over again. But Kushina was no longer willing to wait, she didn't know why she was so eager to call on her but now that she had her in her arms she could easily say that she wanted her around, "There's no need to feel shy with me." She added as she kissed the girl's head._

 _Yūgao eventually calmed down, she was now seven so she could understand that the feeling she was now basking on, a motherly embrace, was something she's been missing more than anything else, "T-Thank yo-you… m-miss…" Uzuki whispered, head still buried in the lady's chest, refusing to give up the warmth._

 _"Kushina…" The Uzumaki Princess introduced herself, caressing the girl's hair before she grabbed her by the cheeks to force her to look at her as she offered, "Hey honey, would you like to learn how to wield a sword?"_

 _Yūgao widened her eyes at that. Before seeing Kushina train, she couldn't find herself wanting to become a ninja, not after what happened to her parents, but seeing the redhead's delicate movements she couldn't stop falling in love with the art, it was almost like dancing, "R-Really?" She whispered, hopeful eyes shining brightly at the prospect of learning._

 _Kushina smiled widely at the girl and replied, "Really…" She then stood up and offered the girl her right hand, saying, "Come."_

 _Yūgao grabbed the hand and while tilting her head, she asked, "W-Where?"_

 _Kushina just led her out of the training grounds when she responded, "To pick your stuff from the orphanage, silly, where else?"_

 _Yūgao felt her eyes widened as her tears started falling, she understood what the lady was saying and couldn't stop the happiness from sprouting in her pained heart, feeling that perhaps this time she was going to have a chance at a happy life._

 _End Flashback_

As time went on, that was exactly what happened, Yūgao began her training with Kushina a week after she got accustomed to her new home in the Uzumaki household, falling even more in love with the art as she proved to be a genius in it. But her relationship with her mentor deepened in a matter of months, when the purple-haired swordswoman hopeful without thinking called Kushina 'mom' as they ate dinner. Understandably, Yūgao froze and was about to apologise when she saw Kushina crying, the purple-haired eight year old was shocked when Kushina suddenly stood up and hugged her tightly, saying that she would be happy if she could become that to her.

Yūgao of course was shocked for some moments before she too broke into tears as she hugged her 'mom' tightly, conveying all the love she felt for the woman she now admired and cherished above all.

Thus why after she heard the shocking reveal of Naruto's parentage, she couldn't avoid the guilt in her heart, she hated that she was the one that enjoyed the woman as a mother instead of her real child. The guilt then turned into self-hatred as she remembered that for a moment after the Twelve-Wings was defeated, she actually hated Naruto when it became known that the dragon that killed her mother was sealed in the boy, but said hate quickly disappeared when she met the boy, who was exactly as she imagined Minato to be at that age.

Of course, the Hokage told everyone that the child of Minato and Kushina died along with them on the attack, including her. She was mad at first but then realised that her father figure had a lot of enemies and if word got out that Naruto survived, they would surely not rest until he was dead.

So, Kushina's adoptive daughter kept the illusion that she had no idea about Naruto's true identity since she did not wanted to bother the old Hokage with more headaches. Her shock at Naruto's parentage reveal was not because of his heritage, but because she knew that a storm will be coming his way now that it became known.

Her self-loathing then receded though, as it was now replaced by the sorrow of her loss, both of her mother and lover, she was lost, she had no idea what to do with her life now, "There's nothing more." She muttered as she stood up.

Yūgao breathed in heavily and began hitting the wooden dummy again. After all the pondering she just did, the only solution she could find was to throw herself into her work and try to become as emotionless as she could, killing every feeling currently living within her, with the exception of her love for Naruto of course, as she vowed herself to become the silverette's protector, no one is going to hurt him, of that, she was going to make sure.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he cleaned his forehead from the sweat that gathered, he looked at the plants he just watered and soon found himself deep into his own thoughts, mainly revolving around the problem of his heritage being now public.

Just as he thought, the whole village it's into a frenzy of apologies and ass-kissing, wherever he goes, everybody's bowing to him and calling him 'Lord Namikaze', something that bothers the hell out of him, not because of the last name mind you, as he was actually happy to finally use his real last name. No, the thing that bothers him was the attitude of the village, most of them were being so painfully hypocritical that Naruto couldn't believe they were able to even live with themselves, the things the village was doing for him were borderline outrageous, he even felt like a deity, though he is, but they don't know that and even so they are making him feel as such with all their fake reverence.

But as annoying as the Leaf civilians are, they are not Naruto's main concern right now, no, that spot belonged to Rock Village, who surely already got wind of his heritage and while Hiruzen assured him that Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, was not going to plot a revenge on him since even if he did used to bear hatred towards the other villages and is still a stubborn, boastful and proud man, he has lived long enough to understand that he was in the wrong for past actions he sanctioned, such as the betrayal of the Land of Water he plotted. The Hokage had also told Naruto that the Tsuchikage was not the one who held vendetta for Minato, mainly because he was no fool and understood that the Yellow Flash was only doing the same thing Ōnoki was back then, which was fighting for their home, hence, he most likely had no intention of plotting anything against the newly announced Namikaze.

The problem were his underlings though, as it is the people of Rock the ones that hold hatred for Naruto's biological father. Naruto at first thought they hated the man religiously, but his godfather Jiraiya had explain that it was not the case, Minato was indeed hated, but not to an extent that covered all of the population, as it was mainly the families and friends of those who died by the blond Hokage's hand the ones that held desire for vengeance and as such, they would be the most likely to carry out a plot against Naruto, something that he was sure the Tsuchikage will do everything in his power to prevent as Rock was apparently facing something similar to Mist, division, though not as much as in the Land of Water, but Jiraiya did caught rumour that the whole of the Land of Earth was currently divided into two and it was just a matter of time before the land breaks into civil war, so it was obvious to deduce that the way too old Tsuchikage had his mind set on that instead of a petty revenge.

Naruto was only relieved that him knowing the Thunder God jutsu was suppressed from the public, meaning that only the people present in the Arena knew about that, no more than twenty people. That took a huge stone from his back as it was the thing he feared the most because one thing was his parentage being revealed, but another thing was his knowledge of his father's most famed technique and at such young age to be spilled out in the Bingo Book as it will surely attract way more attention than him being a Namikaze.

It was apparently something that Hiruzen and A managed to do as they immediately suppressed such knowledge, declaring it an S-rank secret to all those present, Leaf and Cloud ninja alike, making it punishable by death if such secret was spilled, immediately quieting everyone present.

Naruto however, knew that Orochimaru and his lackeys know about such thing too, as he used it rather loudly in the battle. He recognises that he might have been somewhat hasty at using it but the truth is that had he not, Minato would've surely killed him, well, not really, since he can't die by the hands of a mortal, but he would have to play dead otherwise people might start to wonder too many things. Knowing that, he could feel that such knowledge will spread fast after Orochimaru recovers somewhat, more so when it was Naruto the one that delivered the maiming blow, so the silver-haired genin was sure that Orochimaru will hold a big grudge against him, prompting him to release such sensitive information to the public.

The other thing that was worrying him was Tsubaki, it has been two days since he spent the night with her and he hasn't heard or seen anything from her. He wasn't so nervous about that because the woman herself asked for some days to think over his proposition, but the thing that worries him is the fact that Ayame has seen her and she told him that she looked awful, ready to kill herself at any moment, probably carrying on only to not spit on her daughter's sacrifice, there was even talks of her being removed from her seat as the Civilian Head Councillor, something that no longer mattered for the silverette as his only concern right now was the woman's wellbeing. The fact that he had no idea how to help her get through such unbearable pain was driving him nuts.

He was suddenly brought back to the world of the living when he felt two arms snaking around his neck, a soft body pressing on his back followed by a chaste kiss on his neck as a feminine voice said, "What's got you so out of it, babe?" Ino was starting to get worried as she saw her new mate staring at the flowers intently, lost in thought as a small frown adorned his handsome face.

Naruto snorted as he recalled how he was currently helping Ino in her family's shop, her parents were out on the fields collecting fresh flowers and wanting to spend some time with his newer mate, he quickly offered his help, which she accepted without a second thought. Naruto still remembered how Ino had come to him after the Prelims, telling him that she was sure now of what she wanted, him. He was surprised and stated as much when he questioned why, as he had thought that she wanted to experience more before she committed herself to him for eternity.

He couldn't help but smile when he recalled her words, 'I do want to experience everything this world has to offer and for a time I had thought that I needed to be free to do so, but I now understand that you are my freedom, you are the one that steals my breath, my dreams, my desires, it is you with whom I want to experience it all, no one else', he felt touched by those words but he also knew that it was a huge responsibility for him, as not only Ino, but Hinata, Akeno, Ayame, Tsunami and Koyuki as well were giving him their whole lives as a leap of faith, trusting their hearts, something that made Naruto conscious more than ever that he will always, no matter what, do right by them, even if it costs him his own happiness.

Naruto kissed the blonde's hands before he replied, "Tsubaki…" He saw her frowning, sharing his concern as she was quickly informed of the woman and her terrible problems, "I just don't know how to help her, ya know?" He added, standing up as he turned around and brought Ino close to his body.

Ino sighed happily as she closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest, enjoying his heartbeats that seemed to always be in rhythm with her own. She stayed quiet for some moments, gathering her thoughts in order to say, "I understand you, babe…" She looked up in order to lock her light-blue orbs to his dark-blue ones and added, "But there isn't really much we can do right now, I can't even imagine how she feels but I think that she needs some time to be alone."

Naruto caressed the kunoichi's back as he lowered his face to take her lips in a loving kiss that she happily return, stealing her breath before he broke it to say, "I know that…" He sighed again as he added, "The thing is what do I do after? How do I help her even if she doesn't agree to join us?"

Ino looked at her mate for some moments, not really able to respond. The Yamanaka heiress suddenly felt her eyes wander towards her flowers, losing herself in them before she said, "You know, my mother once told me that before she met dad, she had a boyfriend…" She turned to look back at him as she continued, "She was even sure that he was going to be the one whom she settles with, she already knew my dad too but he was just a good friend…" She then led him by the hand towards the counter and as she sat him on the chair, she placed her butt on his lap and kept talking, "Her boyfriend though, sadly died in the line of duty, crushing my mom's heart so bad that she even considered suicide."

Naruto was surprised at that, caressing her legs as he took a guess, "I take it that your dad pulled her through that depression?"

Ino smiled as she leaned on her mate's body to respond, "Mhm… she told me that my dad at first was genuinely concerned for her as a friend, since at the time he still had no romantic interest in her…" She sighed as she added, "She told me that he one day came to her apartment and without even asking, he dragged her towards the forest behind the Hokage Mountain, where he showed her the flower field we use to stock our store."

"And that helped her?" Naruto asked, a little confused.

Ino hummed in yes before she explained, "It wasn't the field itself though, it was the fact that daddy gave mom a hobby…" She looked at Naruto and continued, "He told her how every time he feels down he would always go there to pick some flowers up, allowing the breeze and the scent to wash all his troubles away. At first, she was incredulous at that but after some nagging from dad, she relented, and ever since, she has freely admitted that it was the greatest decision of her life, as not only did that hobby got her out of her depression but it also led her to my father."

"A hobby, huh?…" Naruto muttered as he massaged his chin. He could see something like that working for Tsubaki as it was obvious that her problem was that she no longer found a purpose for her life, so something like a hobby could definitely benefit her with a distraction until she found something that gets her through the day. The thing though, was what hobby could work for her? It left Naruto pondering for some moments, trying to find something for her to do, training and things like that were definitely out of the picture, but he smiled when he thought of something he knew will be to her enjoyment, "I'll follow yo advice, babe." He declared as he eyed the blonde.

"As you should." Ino said smugly as she licked an ice cream that she apparently got out nowhere.

Naruto just raised an eyebrow as he inquired, "The fuck did ya get that ice cream from, fool?"

Ino licked it sensually before she responded with a spoiled tone, "Secret." She winked at him cutely.

She suddenly squirmed and took the hand holding the ice cream out of her mate's reach when he tried to grab it as he said, "Gimme some!"

Ino whined like a child as she responded, "Nope! It's my ice cream, get yours!…" She giggled though, when he started tickling her exposed belly, prompting her to threaten, "N-Naruto s-stop!… hehehe… I-I'll s-scream if you don't!… hehehe…"

Naruto laughed along with her, saying, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!"

Ino just giggled louder as he assaulted her lips and brought her even closer to him, melting her will to fight and happily bringing her cone of ice cream towards her love's mouth, both licking it as they intertwined their tongues sensually.

Naruto knew that the coming days were indeed troublesome, but as long as he had his girls, not to mention, as long as he could help Tsubaki and the Root agent that helped him, he was sure that it'll all be worth it in the end.

* * *

"And thus, I suggest we attack now that Sand is weak and without its leader." Danzō Shimura said with his grave voice as he eyed everyone in the Council Room. Now that the village was up to its feet again, an urgent council meeting was called to discuss which actions the Leaf will take against both Sand and the newly formed Sound. Naturally, some of the civilian side along with Homura and Danzō were eager to retaliate, but save the Aburame and the Hyūga, there was no one else voting in their favour.

Hiruzen sighed as he eyed everyone in the room, the heads of the Aburame, Hyūga, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Nara and a representative from the Kurama, along with six civilian members and their head councillor who seemed to be in another world right now as she was paying absolutely no attention whatsoever, and the three Elders of the village, were all present to discuss the attempted invasion.

The Third knew that this vote was coming, as it was clear to see that many in the village were calling for retaliation. He wasn't surprised to see the Aburame agreeing, mainly because it was their district the one that got more damaged, hence why they weren't asking for military retaliation but for monetary compensation instead. It was five of the civilians and two of the Elders the ones calling for war, something that annoyed the old Hokage who wanted nothing more but to retire already.

"There will be no retaliation, there is no need…" Hiruzen was saying and as he saw that some of the civilians were going to retort, he quickly added, "Sand has already offered their surrender and claim to have only followed their Kazekage's words, which is what they are supposed to do, it is not their fault that Orochimaru managed to kill the true Kazekage and pose as him."

Homura stood up and said scandalized, "You cannot expect us to believe you will not order military action against such uncalled attack against us, Sarutobi."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at his old teammate and replied, "It's 'Lord Hokage' for you Homura and I do not care what you expect…" He flared some of his aura to remind everyone that even in his old age, he was still the strongest around, "As for the 'uncalled attack' you speak of, need I remind you that it was you, Homura, the one that made the deal behind my back with the Wind Lord? If you want to locate a guilty party, than you don't need to look further than yourself, as it was because said deal that Sand was pushed to such extremes, they are barely able to stay on their feet because of that."

Homura did gulped as he received some harsh stares form the shinobi side, they were not informed of such a thing, only the civilian side knew about it because said deal was made so that they could augment their profit by establishing a trade route with the Wind Capital, bypassing Sand completely and quickly driving them towards a tight spot.

Hiruzen wanted to avoid any more of the subject, so he declared, "With that said, there will be no retaliation, none of us, not Sand, not Cloud, not Rock, not Mist and even us, are capable of withstanding a war right now, as much as you all think we are the strongest village around, it doesn't mean he have recovered from the Third Great War, so this matter is adjourned."

Danzō gritted his teeth unnoticedly, annoyed that it seems as if all of his plans are falling apart, he was counting with a war in order to secure the Hokage post but something happen to Hiruzen, he wasn't the same old kind man he was before. In the past two years, the Sarutobi had become the leader he used to be, a fierce and harsh man that will not take anything from anyone, the Leaf is governed, like the other shinobi villages, by a dictatorship after all, so the leader's words were absolute. It pissed the old war hawk that now it looks like Sarutobi was no longer going to allow to be talked back.

But stowing that for now, there was one other matter he needed to discuss, "Then let us tackle our next topic…" The Root leader stood up and continued, "Naruto Namikaze."

That immediately brought everyone's attention towards the old warmonger, that was the main topic of today after all. Since the revelation of his parentage there has been none stop talk about the boy's future, everybody wanted to get a piece of said future, hence why one of the civilian councillors quickly stood up and declared, "Yes, we demand that he is put under the Clan Restoration Act immediately."

Danzō was annoyed that the stupid fool spoke as it immediately ruined his plan, but trying to salvage something, he added, "It will be a mistake not to restore such powerful clan as the Uzumaki, given that the boy is already a genius, I can only imagine how strong his children could be, it will be a perfect replacement for the Senju clan."

Homura seeing an opportunity, spoke, "That also has to be applied to Sasuke Uchiha, his mental stability has already been proven, if we put those two in the CRA, we will recover our full strength by the next two decades."

The shinobi side felt really annoyed by them as it always ended up like this, with Danzō trying his best to get either a war or a new weapon, the civilians always trying to get as much money as they could and Homura aiding them relentlessly. Elder Koharu however, never seemed to care about anything, she usually stayed quiet unless her input was required. The only reason why the civilian side was even allowed to be in such meetings was because the Second Hokage made the mistake of giving them more power, hence why the Leaf was the less militarized village of the Five Great, it was only lucky for them that their representative, Tsubaki Amari, was a level headed woman and always had the village's best interests first, but as of right now, she hasn't even showed a single emotion.

Tsubaki did woke up a little when she heard the name of the man haunting her head being mentioned. She felt her blood boil a little as she heard them demanding him to be put into the CRA, probably so that the civilian councillors could marry their daughters to him in order to get a piece of the legendary Namikaze/Uzumaki fortune. Despite all the doubts she had right now for the silver-haired male, she genuinely felt something for him, thus, she could not allow her fellow civilian councillors to treat him like a breeding machine.

Tsubaki was about to speak when she suddenly gasped as an ANBU appeared right behind the civilian that spoke and in a second, locked his arms behind his back and pressed his tantō on the man's throat, pushing it just enough to draw blood.

Before anyone could say anything, Hiruzen spoke with a tone they have only heard back when it was the Third Great War, "Pardon me Councillor Tanaka, but did you just demanded something from your leader?"

Everybody froze at those words, not able to stop the sweat from falling down their foreheads as they felt the incredible pressure the usually kind old man was releasing, with the Tanaka man speaking in between gulps, "I-I'm… te-te-terrible sorry… m-milord…"

The ANBU saw his leader nod at him but instead of disappearing, he violently crashed the man's head on the table, almost cracking it as the councillor quickly lost consciousness. The ANBU saw that the message was clear to everyone in the room now and immediately disappeared.

Hiruzen sighed deeply before he declared, "Regarding the CRA, I must remind you, dear councillors, that it is not mandatory, if Naruto and Sasuke wish to be put under it, then they will be, if not, then it will not be forced upon them."

Tsubaki released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She knew it wasn't because feeling jealousy since after all, he did invited her to become his, she was just worried that he might be force into it and such a thing will surely damage his ambition, as he will probably be locked into the village until some heirs are produced. Even if she decides not to join him, she didn't wanted to see his wonderful dream to fail, it was for everyone's benefit after all.

Another civilian stood up, this time more coyly and with a voice full of respect, she said, "L-Lord Hokage, p-pardon my w-words but… i-isn't in the v-village's best in-interest to…"

Hiruzen cut her off however, when he spoke, "Keep those two as loyal shinobi, which they are, if I force them into anything, it will only lead them to feel betrayed…" The old man leaned back on his chair to continue, "And even if I decide to force the CRA on them, none of you will have a say in it, it is Naruto and Sasuke's choice which women will they marry."

Homura once again spoke, "Lord H-Hokage! The act s-stipulates that they must produce at least one heir by the age of fifteen in the case of males, you cannot just say…"

Hiruzen once again cut his old teammate off as he responded, "I can do whatever I see fit Elder Homura, in fact…" He leaned forward and continued, "As I saw my shinobi fighting during the invasion, I couldn't help but notice how weak our ninja are right now in comparison to how they used to be, the fact that I have let the Civilian Council amass so much power and meddle with shinobi affairs has been bothering me for some years now, particularly when it comes to Naruto's treatment, you know, the way you used to treat the boy you are currently trying to suck his penis off to get on his good grace…" He had to bite back a chuckle as he saw everyone widening their eyes in shock at such explicit words, but Hiruzen couldn't hold his anger back anymore, it was his mistake that Naruto's attackers were treated with such leisure just because the Civilian side had too much power, but Hiruzen was now a different man, it took him all this time to see that he has been lacking in his job, seeing Orochimaru again and all the atrocities he committed reminded him that it was because he was too soft that it all happened, but he was going to correct that now, starting with his council, "With that said, I will dismantle the Civilian Council…" He ignored the gasps to continue, "Only your representative, Tsubaki Amari, will be allowed to attend these meetings from now on, of course, if said meetings are not military related."

Homura immediately recovered from his shock and said, "Hiruzen! You can't d…"

"I can do whatever I want Homura…" Hiruzen focused his aura over all of them to add, "This is a military dictatorship, not a democracy, not a monarchy, my word is the law, you have been pampered for far too long, I won't allow that to happen anymore…" He turned to look at the stunned civilian councillors and commanded, "With that said, everyone in the civilian side, except Councillor Amari, leave this room immediately, you are no long required."

Before any of the civilian could protest, they all felt someone's hand pressing on their shoulders. Turning behind them, they saw a group of ANBU pressuring them to leave in peace or face the consequences, which they all quickly agreed to and did as told.

The Shinobi side had no idea what happened to their Hokage, but damn were they happy that he finally remembered what kind of leader he is. The civilians were starting to gain a lot of power and as such, their greed was starting to damage the village itself, it was good to see that the Sarutobi was now actually doing something to prevent any further damage.

"To finish the CRA subject, Naruto and Sasuke will be required to produce an heir but it is their choice to decide when to, not ours, if they want to be put into the act, they will decide their concubines too, not us…" Hiruzen explained, leaving no room for debate. He was glad to see that everyone now understood, so moving on, he tackled the last subject of the meeting, "Now, onto the last subject, I have decided to retire from the Hokage seat as soon as I find my replacement."

Everyone was shocked about that, sure, he was old and all, but he just proved right now how much of a good leader he is and can still be, they thought that what they just witnessed was a testament of how he is still the best for the job, "B-But Lord Hokage, I had the i-impression that…" Inoichi was saying before his leader explained.

"I understand you might have believe that my actions just now was me telling you how fit I still am for the job, and me retiring has nothing to do with feeling like I can't do it anymore…" Hiruzen inhaled some of his pipe and after releasing the smoke, he continued, "I just don't want to do it anymore, it is time for the Fifth to rise."

Danzō gripped his cane tightly, this put a huge damper on his plans since he was counting on still having Hiruzen as a Hokage, it would be much easier to take the spot from him than from a new Hokage who will surely be even more stubborn than the old fool before him or her, "I take it you already have someone in mind?" He said, managing to hold his anger back, he was just going to have to move his plans quicker than he expected.

Hiruzen eyed his old rival, knowing that he was pissed off. The old Hokage was no fool, he was very well aware that Danzō was plotting something against him, probably to take the seat of the Hokage for himself, this is exactly why he wanted to choose a new Hokage now as it will surely put a stop to his plans. He was just thankful that his surrogate grandson saved him from dying at Orochimaru's hands since had he not tipped him off of the invasion, he wasn't so sure he would have survived it.

"Yes…" The Hokage replied but before anyone questioned who he had in mind, he quickly said, "And for now, it is not of your concern who I chose, you will be informed when the time comes." He stood up and called the meeting off, leaving nothing more to discuss whether they wanted or not.

Everyone breathed in as the meeting came to a close, the ambient started really tense but as they saw their invigorated Hokage, they couldn't help but feel secure once again. But just before everyone left, Hiruzen said, "Tsubaki, I need to speak with you."

Tsubaki gulped at that, not knowing what her leader wanted, but not wanting to anger the man, she nodded and walked towards him to ask, "Y-Yes, milord?"

Hiruzen softened his demeanour at the woman, replying as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I understand it's an extremely difficult time for you, I am not going to try and soothe your pain with words that I know are more for formalities than anything else…" He saw the woman lowering her head, nodding at him as a thanks, "That's why take a week off from all your duties, I want you to rest and recover your strength because if I see you behaving like today again, I am going to choose a new Civilian Head Councillor, understood?" He didn't wanted to be insensitive, but it was important for her to remember that she held a key spot in the Leaf's politics, he couldn't allow mistakes in such positions.

Tsubaki gulped at the threat, she panicked immediately thinking that if right now she was feeling like there was nothing else for her, she didn't know how she would feel if her job is taken by someone else, so promising herself and her late daughter to at least try, she replied, "I u-understand, L-Lord Hokage, t-thank you for being s-so kind."

Hiruzen smiled a little at her as he replied, "It is the least I can do for the people that suffered for my failures as a leader."

She was about to tell the Hokage that he was wrong but she suddenly found herself alone in the room. She understood how he must be feeling, being a leader was the hardest thing one could be as you are the biggest responsible for everything and everyone, but she did not blamed her leader at all, such were the risks of her old line of work after all.

With that, she shook her head and walked out of the room, heading straight to her home in order to think over everything in her life right now, mainly her decision on Naruto's offer that despite being so enticing, she still couldn't find herself wholly agreeing to.

* * *

"Oooo…" Naruto moaned in bliss as he tasted every little bit of the delicious food he was currently enjoying, "Ma, this is so goooooood, fool!" He praised his surrogate mother.

Hanare developed a tick in her eyebrow and as she hit the silverette with a pan on his head, she chided, "Mind how you speak to me, young man!" She couldn't help but smile widely though, it felt so good to receive the young man's praise, more so when he so happily call her 'Ma'. Sure, it took some time to get used to the idea and it was actually she the one that encouraged the boy by calling him 'son', but she immediately fell in love with him, he was kind, funny and so honest, it reminded her of the man she's in love with, something that was obvious since he is Kakashi's son.

Her relationship with Naruto has been growing greatly with each passing day, with him opening up to her exactly like a son would to his parent. She knew that it must have been quite confusing for him to feel so eager to receive her love, but she could understand that it was because for all of his life he never really had a mother figure, he only had Kakashi, and while a father's love is as important as a mother's, the kind of love a mother gives is different, as it usually is more loving and delicate, something she loved to pamper the young shinobi with as much as she could.

Naruto whined as he massaged his sore forehead, "Ow!… why yo did that fou, fo…" He was going to say but stopped as he saw the woman lifting the pan over his head, forcing him to quickly add, "Okay, okay, okay, okay! S-Sorry!" He chuckled nervously as he scratched his scruff.

Hanare smiled smugly at that, enjoying how she was probably the only one capable of subduing the troublesome jinchūriki, "Good, now finish your dinner." She ordered before she walked back to the kitchen.

"Troublesome woman." Naruto muttered, now understanding why Shikimaru always complained about how nagging his mother is, but Naruto wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted his lover as he suddenly walked inside his home, an honest smile plastered on his face as he managed to witness the previous exchange between Hanare and Naruto, it really made him happy to be able to give his son a mother, even if he was already a teenager.

Hanare beamed as her lover leaned on to kiss her, she closed her eyes as she returned the kiss and once he broke it, she greeted, "Hello honey, welcome home."

Kakashi hummed at that, feeling really good to be here with his family. It has been a couple of very stressing days with everything that happened, it was only today that he returned the spot of ANBU Commander to the official ninja since he had to make a detailed report over everything he saw, did and heard from the attempted invasion.

Kakashi then locked his gaze to his son as he finished his meal, nervousness starting to creep up his body as he knew there were still some bad news he had yet to break, "Hanare, is Naruto okay?"

Hanare tilted her head at that, feeling confused for a while until she understood what her silver-haired lover meant, "Oh… he still doesn't know, right?…" Kakashi nodded at that, prompting her to add as she eyed her adoptive son, "W-Well, I don't think it'll do any good to keep it hidden from him any longer, better that he hears it now from you than from somewhere else."

Kakashi just sighed as he nodded, knowing it to be true, so he walked towards Naruto and sat right next to him, confusing the boy as he greeted, "Yo Pa! Waddup!?"

Kakashi ruffled the boy's head before he replied, "Nothing much son, just got done doing the invasion's reports, what about you?"

Naruto slurped the last of his food before he responded, "Nuffin much! Just chillin, ya know!?…" He then remembered something, so asked, "Yo Pa, have you seen Hayate-sensei? I wanted to try some new moves with Nex that I saw in the scroll the Old Man gave me, but I can't find the fool!"

Kakashi winced, knowing that Naruto is not going to take said man's death well, he was one of his senseis after all and Naruto did grew attached to him, just like Sasuke, though the latter to a minor degree, "There is something you need to know, son." He stated, leaning back on his chair as he sighed heavily.

Naruto felt confused for the Hatake's strange demeanour, his confusion growing even more when Hanare stood behind him and placed both hands on his shoulders, rubbing them as if trying to comfort him, "Ma?…" He questioned, feeling strange for the sad smile the woman sent him. He then turned to look at Kakashi and asked, "Pa, w-what's going on?"

Kakashi shared a look with his lover, who nodded at him to proceed, he breathed in heavily before he said, "Naruto, I'm afraid that Hayate died the day of the invasion, he was killed after he discovered Sand's involvement, it was thanks to him that we confirmed their participation."

Naruto widened his eyes at that, feeling disbelief washing over his body as he whispered, "W-What?…" He started shivering, refusing to believe that his sensei was dead.

Hanare saw Naruto's eyes getting teary as she also felt his body shivering, breaking her heart at seeing him losing his cool, "Oh sweetheart." She whispered as she held the now sobbing boy close to her, caressing his head while she whispered soothing words.

Kakashi sighed painfully at the sight of his son breaking down, it was harsh for him to see the usual goofy and lively boy lost in sadness, it reminded him too much of the time when Itachi killed the Uchiha, granted, it wasn't as bad as back then but Naruto was visibly suffering from the loss of his beloved sensei.

It took Naruto some minutes to recover, it hurt him so much to know that the man that forged him into the swordsman he is today died in the invasion. It really hit Naruto because he still had this idea that Hayate was invincible, because not even now was Naruto capable of beating him in pure kenjutsu, so to him, Hayate was his final goal to reach in his swordsmanship, more so when his whole fighting style revolved around swords.

The Namikaze immediately felt the comfort Hanare was giving him, hugging the woman tightly as he allowed his tears to fall. It wasn't until he calmed down a little that he thought, _'I… I c-can't cry… H-Haya-sensei d-died as a p-proud shinobi… t-that's all that matters… it's up to me to c-continue his legacy…'_ He then released the hug with his mother and cleaned his remaining tears his shirt's sleeve. Turning around, he locked his eyes to his father's and asked, "W-Why didn't you t-tell me before?" He couldn't stop the little bit of anger from spilling into his words.

Kakashi sighed and after he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, he replied, "Because after everything that happened I know you've been under a lot of stress. I know you well son, I know that the world knowing about your true heritage is putting a lot of pressure over you…" He ruffled his hair and added, "I just wanted to be sure you were a little more relaxed before I told you."

Naruto looked down after that, he couldn't blame his dad as he was totally right, Naruto has been feeling a lot of stress for said revelation, he sure wanted to be known throughout the continent and the world, but not so soon, he was still not ready for it. Plus, the Tsubaki situation was also adding to said stress, feeling nervous at not knowing what will she decide, "I… u-understand…" He whispered, cleaning the tears that managed to fall again.

Hanare immediately brought him close to her again, not able to withstand seeing her usually eccentric son so down in the dumps, "It's okay sweetheart, let it all out." She whispered, lowering herself so she could embracing him more.

It took Naruto some moments to calm himself again, now finally feeling somewhat better after his surrogate mother comforted him, he couldn't help but feel so relieved to finally have that, it just felt so good to have a woman showering you with her unconditional love, as a mother that is.

He suddenly widened his eyes when he asked his father, "O-Oh shit… Y-Yūgao…"

Kakashi just sighed sadly at those words, saying, "She's as bad as you might think, she has spent the last days completely isolated from anyone, she won't even talk to Hana and her other friends…" He traced his hand over his gravity defying hair and continued, "For what I could see, she will probably throw herself completely into her work, something I know very well is not going to help her at all."

"Damn…" Naruto muttered, feeling his worry for the beautiful purple-haired kunoichi growing as much as his worry for Tsubaki.

The Hatake family stayed quiet for a while, not really knowing what to say. Hanare feeling suffocated for the gloomy atmosphere, said, "W-Would you like something to eat, honey?"

Kakashi eye-smiled at her, replying, "Yes Hanare, thank you."

The woman smiled slightly as she walked towards the kitchen to prepare her lover's meal, sending a quick worried glance to her surrogate son who had yet to say something or move from his seat.

Naruto was currently working his brain overtime, trying to find a way to help Yūgao, he knew that she could get herself in danger if she isolates completely. Usually, people who do that tend to lose all regards for their lives, throwing themselves into the first S-rank mission they can get, looking for an easy yet unintentional way out, that was certainly something he did not wanted for her.

As Naruto tried to think of anything to help her, something she said back at the Arena when she was fighting Kushina flashed in his mind, _'She called her 'mom'… why?…'_ He lifted his head and as he looked at his father who was now eating, asked, "Pa?"

"Hm?" Kakashi hummed, acknowledging his son.

"Back at t-the Arena, when the invasion was happening…" Naruto saw his father looking at him, prompting him to continue, "B-Before me and Teme attacked Orochi-bubu… I… I h-heard Yū calling Kushina… 'mom'… i-is she related to her?"

Kakashi sighed, cleaning his mouth before he answered, "Not by blood…" He saw his son's confusion growing, so he kept talking, "You see, Kushina adopted Yūgao when she was seven years old, her parents were killed in the line of duty when she was two, so she grew up in the orphanage…" He ate some more before he added, "I really don't know the details, but for what Sensei told me, Kushina at first saw Yūgao as her apprentice, but as time went on, she fell in love with Yūgao as a daughter, something that Yūgao reciprocated, so the two formalized their relationship with Kushina officially adopting Yūgao."

Naruto was shocked at that, he had no clue that something like that happened, "B-But… w-why is Yūgao's last n-name 'Uzuki' then?… shouldn't it be 'Uzumaki'?"

Kakashi replied, "Well, that is because her official adoption was two days before the Twelve-Wings' attack, so establishing her as an official Uzumaki, or Namikaze at that, was not possible since both Minato-sensei and Kushina died the second day of the dragon's attack."

Naruto nodded, looking down at the floor as he sighed, feeling really surprised that such a connection existed between his biological mother and the cat-masked ANBU, "Pa…" He then muttered, earning Kakashi's attention again as he questioned, "D-Do you think that… s-showing her Kushina w-will help?"

Kakashi widened his eye at that, feeling shocked that his son would propose something so dangerous. Stating as much, he replied, "Naruto, I know you want to help her but I don't think revealing to her that Kushina is in a coma will help, not when we don't know whether she'll wake up or not."

"But… I t-think that it w-will at least help her get t-through some of the pain." Naruto countered, feeling like there was really nothing else he could do. Or, there actually was, something in his mind just clicked after he learnt Yūgao's connection with Kushina, he now knows exactly what to give her in order to help her if just a little bit, something that Kushina left in the wrong hands.

Kakashi was about to counter his son, but his lover suddenly interjected as she sat on the table, "I'm actually with Naruto on this…" Hanare saw that her lover was about to protest, so she explained, "Listen Honey, I know that it might not be a good idea due to the fact that you want to keep their revival as a secret…" She of course knew about Naruto's biological parents return, she also knew how they came back to the world of the living, though, they were in some sort of coma. She knows all of this because Naruto himself told her, warming her heart as she realised how naturally he trusted her with such delicate things, "But I think that having her mother at least breathing is something that will give this Yūgao girl a huge relief, simply because she will at least have her mother to listen to her problems, even if she's not able to answer, the very idea of having her mother alive and with a chance of waking up will surely give her enough strength to pull herself out of her depression."

Kakashi nodded at that, not able to deny such thing, but he still countered, "That is true, but what if Kushina doesn't wake up? Don't you think she will feel even worse after she loses her mother again?"

Naruto winced at that, he did not thought of that and now that he was, he could see why it would be a bad idea. But before he could even dismiss it, he was surprised when his mother said, "I actually don't think so…" Hanare seeing her lover and son's confusion, explained, "She lost her the day of the dragon's attack, right?…" Kakashi nodded at that, "Then I take it that she had no time to say her goodbyes?" Hanare then questioned.

"Not really, I mean, the Twelve-Wings' attack transpired over the course of four days…" Kakashi replied and seeing his son's surprise, he explained, "I forgot you didn't know this, but the dragon's first strike wasn't on the Leaf, it actually was on Tsurui Village, near the Fire Capital, from there the dragon rampaged through the Land of Fire until he finally got here, where we managed to fight him back for almost two days until Minato-sensei sealed him in you, that is why they managed to write those letters to you and leave your inheritance locked, since they knew what to do a day before they did it."

Naruto nodded at that, he always found it strange that his biological parents managed to wrote him letters and seal his inheritance since he thought that Ddraig attacked spontaneously, _"Why didn't you told me that, D?"_ He asked his successor.

He could picture the mighty god shrugging as he replied dryly, **_"You never asked."_**

Naruto just ticked his eyebrow, annoyed at the uninterested response he got, but focusing back on the now, he heard his mother saying, "Well, knowing that, I imagine that she had no closure, now though, even if her mother dies, she'll have the chance to prepare herself and have some."

Kakashi thought that over for some moments, finding it to be true and a really good way to put it into perspective, so sighing in defeat, he looked at his son and relented, "Then I guess there's no reason for her not to know, you can take her to Kushina whenever you feel ready, Naruto."

Naruto nodded at that with a small smile, already having a good idea of what to do to help the woman he holds so dear, "Aight then, I'll go and take a walk, I…" He said as he stood up and after sighing, continued, "I wanna clear mah head a little."

Both Kakashi and Hanare sent him a worried look, with Hanare saying, "Alright dear, just please, be careful."

Kakashi then added, "We will always be here for you, okay?"

Naruto smiled honestly at that, feeling very happy to have his parents' love. Nodding at them, he grabbed his jacket and walked outside the Hatake home, knowing exactly what he needed to do now with both Yūgao and Tsubaki.

* * *

Tsubaki sighed tiredly as she closed the door of her house, feeling incredibly drained after all the bickering of her fellow councillors who cornered her the moment she stepped out of the Council Room, probing for details and demanding her to do something about the Hokage's decision.

She chuckled as she remembered what she told them while she headed to her couch, it made her feel so good to see their shocked faces when she told them that there was nothing she could do. They obviously tried to push her to the corner but she immediately reminded them that the Leaf Village was not a civilian village, it was a shinobi village and as such its form of government was a military dictatorship, she even had to go as far as to tell them that every person living in the village had to do as the Hokage said, even if he asked them to eat the dirt of the ground, they could do nothing but to obey.

They of course countered that Hiruzen haven't behaved like that in years, prompting her to counter back that it was probably because he slipped into a more peaceful persona, but recent events had obviously pushed him back to the military leader he truly is, hence why he will no longer allow anyone to push him around.

Not having enough, the other councillors quickly threatened to go to the Fire Lord and demand a change of Hokage, which she shrugged it off and explained them that it wasn't a hidden fact that the Fire Lord was not pleased with the Leaf turning more and more into a civilian village, as he already had dozens of those in his country, he needs a shinobi village, so he will undoubtedly back Hiruzen in his turn of attitude.

Finally after what it seemed like forever, they relented, lowering their heads in defeat, she could tell that some of them were starting to consider moving somewhere else as it was obvious that from tomorrow onwards, the village will return to its origins, that being a military village.

She honestly couldn't care less about what they do, the less greedy people in her home the better as it was becoming a constant fight with her fellow civilian councillors. They wanting to turn more and more the village into a civilian paradise in order to attract more tourism and thus earn more money, her constantly blocking their greedy plans at the price of having to stand their complaints, and lately, their probing of one Naruto Uzumaki, who at first they wanted to sentence to death, then after the village started turning their view of him they wanted to demean his hard earned work, and now that he was revealed to be the village's Prince, trying to get a piece of his power by throwing him into the CRA to prostitute their daughters to him. She couldn't describe it any other way as there was really no other word to use, even if she knows that probably any female in the village will gladly open their legs and allow him have his way with them with a happy smile plastered on their faces, that's what fame, power and riches do.

Now that her mind wandered to the handsome silverette boy, she couldn't stop the delicious shiver that appeared in every bit of flesh subjected to his touch, the feeling of his lips pressed against her sexual organ, the way he caressed her breasts with such delicacy yet fierceness that she was sure he was capable of giving her an orgasm by merely touching her mammaries, but more importantly, the way he made her feel.

During their foreplay, he never once asked her to please him in any way, he completely focused on giving her the pleasure and comfort she greatly needed, even though it was painfully visible how hard he wanted to free his member and penetrate her, even when she tried for more, he stopped her, knowing that at that moment she didn't really wanted to go that far. She was really happy that he convinced her as she later learned how the mere contact with his pre-cum will bound her to him for ever, though, her more carnal side quickly berated her for not accepting right there because she will not deny that there was no other man she desired but him, but the rational side of her reminded her that it was a life changing decision, literally, so she was glad that he was foremost thinking of her needs and desires.

"A-Am I really h-helpful to h-him?…" She muttered to herself the question that plagued her mind once he told her his ambition. She will freely admit that she admired the young man for trying to bring unity to the world, something that she was sure was the hardest thing one could dream of because he was not talking about unity within the Leaf, nor the Land of Fire, heck, he wasn't even talking just about the Elemental Nations, he was talking about bringing unity to the whole world, she was even shocked when he told her that in some years, he will travel to Europa and perhaps the other continents as well.

It shocked her how honest he was being with his desire, because even if he wasn't the first man or woman dreaming of such thing, she could honestly say that he was the first one actually doing it for selfish reasons. Every great man or woman who tried that wanted to do it to bring peace to the world, to build a world where no one will have to worry about watching over their backs in every corner. Those that led the way were always kind, unrelenting and selfless people, driving everyone towards a common goal, but even if they all had the greatest intentions, even if they had ultimate power such as Hashirama Senju himself, they always failed.

She hasn't really put much thought into that before Naruto explained his dream and the reasons for why he wanted to achieve it, but it dawned on her the moment she thought over all the heroes before him and she quickly found what it was missing in those old heroes, it wasn't willpower, it wasn't strength, it wasn't courage nor wasn't the lack of leadership, no, the thing that was missing on those heroes was one of the most basic of emotions, which was selfishness. She knows it doesn't make much sense, but every creature is selfish by nature, no exceptions, as selfless and noble an action might seem, it's done with the purpose of self-gratification because even doing something as romanticised as giving your life for some else, said sacrifice leaves a satisfaction within yourself that its everything but selfless. The fact that those heroes that tried to unite the world before steadfast refused to acknowledge their own selfishness is exactly the reason why the never managed to achieve their dreams, because in the end, they never truly gave it their all, as it was impossible to do so without that drive only selfishness can give. Naruto wasn't fighting for unity for the sake of the common good, he was fighting for unity because it will give those he loves a world they can happily live on, a world where he will not lose the woman he loves by the hands of his own older brother, it was the fact that he acknowledges his selfishness that tells her that he might actually succeed in his ambition.

But even so, she really didn't know if she had any value to him for his goal, she knows that with her spot as the Civilian Head Councillor he will gain a powerful voice in the village's say, but she wasn't even sure if she will be able to maintain said spot now that it's being scrutinized by her own inability to move on. She honestly didn't know if she will ever be able to move on, that's why she was hesitant to accept his proposal because she was afraid she might not live up to his expectations and if she doesn't, she really doesn't want to think what he might do to her.

She wasn't implying that he will hurt her in any way though, she knows him, he might be a terror to face in battle but with those he cares about he is the most loyal friend you could ever get, she is just afraid that he might not cherish her as much as he says if she's not capable of holding said spot. She knows she was being unfair to him but she attributed her hesitance to the fact that she has never considered how a polygamist relationship might be, she wanted Naruto, badly, but she wanted him for herself, hearing that he currently has six lovers, and one close to join too, made her understandably jealous because she had this nagging voice in her mind telling her that if she does not lives up to his expectations, she will fall behind the rest of his lovers in a second, to where she will eventually be forgotten.

Tsubaki released a long sigh after all that pondering she did, massaging her temples as she muttered, "M-Maybe I s-should talk to Ayame, o-only she'll be capable of telling me how it works." Despite all that she believes about love and relationships, she would be acting as a fool if she even dared to deny the fact that Ayame seem happier than ever. Not just her though, as the times she has seen Ino, Hinata or that girl that works with Ayame, Akeno, the happiness radiating from them was sometimes blinding even.

"Huh?…" She hummed as she noticed a small sheet of folded paper placed over the table before her. Confused because she was sure that it wasn't there when she left the house, she grabbed it and after opening it, she read aloud, "If you ever need me don't hesitate to call for me, we will not discuss my proposal if you just want a shoulder to lean on…" She smiled as her eyes watered slightly, feeling touched by Naruto's heart-warming words, "As for said proposal, I will be waiting for you in the location marked on this paper in four days, if you accept, I will be there after nine P.M., if you don't show up, I'll take it as a refusal, but don't worry, I will always be there for you whenever you need me, love, Namito Narukaze."

Tsubaki just giggled at the obvious alias, feeling really happy that even now he was putting her feelings before his own, it did helped her decision a little but until she was able to speak with Ayame about how their relationship work, she will not be able to commit to anything.

So sighing, she stood up from her couch and headed up to her room, wanting nothing more than to rest the day's stress by sleeping as much as she could, tomorrow she will look for Ayame and she will get the answers she's looking for.

* * *

"Argh!" Yūgao grunted as she delivered a powerful slash towards one of the practice dummies she was using that was obliterated the moment her attack made contact. It was late at night and she has spent all of her day right here at the training ground, venting her pain and frustrations since the ANBU Commander urged her to take a week of mourning, which she quickly declined before he made it an order that she could no longer refuse.

As she breathed in, trying to recover her breath, she eyed the destroyed dummy before she tossed her sword at it, imbedding it in the broken wood as she fell on her knees looking down at the ground, trying not to break down. Throwing herself into her work and suppressing all forms of emotion was turning out to be such a complicated thing to do as everything seemed to remind her of her lover and her friends.

She has been avoiding everyone in these past days, not even her best friend, Hana Inuzuka, was someone she talked to as she couldn't find herself opening up to anyone. The only one she might consider speaking to is Naruto but she refrained from doing so because he was her most delicate spot, so seeing him will surely make her walls break and she could not allow that.

A part of her kind of wish that he would come to her and ask about his biological mother, she felt that speaking about Kushina, recalling all the happy memories and adventures she had with the person she's loved the most, might help soothe her pain, after all, even if she did lost her surrogate mother, she had nothing but happy memories of her years with her. But she quickly pushed that wish aside because she knows that Naruto simply doesn't care about his biological parents, he made it painfully clear back at the Arena when he fought them, it almost killed Yūgao when she saw the pain in her mother's eyes. A part of her felt angry at her supposed-to-be-brother for saying such things at such a moment, but she quickly understood why he said it, he just wanted to ease the guilt both Minato and Kushina obviously felt for leaving him all alone by telling them that he does have a family, it might have stung, but she could see that her mother and father figure did felt relieved to hear that, as they sent a grateful glance at Kakashi.

She stiffened however, when she felt a presence behind her and just before she turned, a recognisable voice said, "Working yoself to the ground ain't gon help ya at all, ya know?" She turned to look at Naruto who was walking towards her with a small sad smile, she could also see that his eyes were a little bit red, probably he just learned that Hayate is dead.

Yūgao just huffed at that, taking on a sitting position as she replied, "I don't care what you think." She winced inwardly at her own cold tone, she didn't wanted to be awful to the only person she would give her life for, but she couldn't allow him to break through her, she wanted to watch over him from the shadows but she was only going to be able to so if she drives him away, no matter how much it killed her to do so.

Naruto did not relented his walk, not even reacting to her obviously rude remark, he sat right before her and spoke, "I don't care that you don't care…" He knows what she's doing, he did the very same thing after Mikoto died, he tried to shut himself from everyone, focusing on getting stronger just so that he could bring Itachi to justice, but it was a huge mistake on his part as he could feel his own darkness feeling happy at his decision. It sickened him that such side of him was encouraging him to move on in such way, hence why he immediately stopped and allowed himself to be helped by those that care for him, something that made his escape from darkness' grasp possible. He did not wanted to see someone he loved falling into the same mistake, thus he added, "But I did the same thing you're doing, back when Itachi went mad, you were one of those who tried to reach me, even after I continued to push y'all away, you didn't relent, in fact, I recall very well one night that you found mah ass almost unconscious after a nasty training session, I was so beat up that you went to me and embraced me… do ya remember that day? What ya told me?"

The purple-haired ANBU winced, dropping her head slightly as she did recalled her words, but wanting to be stubborn, she replied, "No."

Naruto just sighed at that, knowing that she was lying, he didn't cared as he said, "Then I'll remind ya…" He combed his hair with his fingers before he spoke again, "You told me that I couldn't keep doing that to mahself, you told me that driving yoself into your own darkness will only lead to pain and more suffering, you told me that Mikoto would feel devastated to see me like that, you told me, no, begged me to let you into my heart, to let you help me…" He saw his words were somewhat reaching the woman, as she hugged herself as if trying to hold her walls up, so taking advantage of that, he added, "And I did just that, I let you into my heart and you, along with everyone else, pulled me through my pain, so why are you not following your own advice, Yū?"

Yūgao just hugged herself tighter, finding it almost impossible to keep her walls from crumbling, the reminder of such moment stung her like a thousand bees as she held such moment dearly close to her heart since it was the day he finally opened himself up to her, the day the two of them became as close as they could without walking into lover territory.

But even so, she proved how stubborn she could be when she whispered a reply, "I-It's not the same…"

Naruto just shook his head in exasperation at that, snorting as he thought that this is how she must have felt that day when he acted just like that. But knowing that she was starting to walk into a dangerous path, he continued his verbal assault, "Ya know, Haya-sensei once told me that beyond anything else in your life, you wanted to be worthy of your mother's sacrifice…" He saw that she gazed at him with clear anger in her eyes, the reminder of her lover still too painful for her to bear, but not caring for that now, he kept going, "I was really confused by that, as I had no idea who yo mom was, I knew you were an orphan so I thought that maybe he was talking 'bout your biological mother."

"What's your point?" Yūgao whispered in between gritted teeth, not happy with the silverette mentioning her late lover, feeling somewhat betrayed that he was apparently trying to use him to convince her to relent.

Naruto did not winced at all at her harsh tone, knowing that right now her emotions were getting the best of her, "My point is, that I just find out who your mother was…" He saw her eyes going wide, obviously shocked by that, "Yeah, Pa told me that Kushina was the one that raised ya, and now that I think 'bout it, I can certainly see that she did since you do act a lot like her, well, at least for what Pa, Pervy Sage and the Old Man have told me about her."

"Naruto…" She whispered, feeling her walls crumbling down at the mention of her surrogate mother, not really knowing how to feel as he said those words.

Naruto stood up and continued, "It all got me thinking about the words she wrote to me in her letter…" He looked up at the sky as he spoke again, "How she wished she could be here to see me grow, to become the fine and sexy young man I am today…" Despite the moment, Yūgao couldn't stop her snort from coming, "But most importantly, she wanted to see her legacy reaching its full potential…" He looked back at Yūgao as he opened a scroll that after a poof of smoke, revealed a dazzling white scabbard covering a katana that had an equal white grip with a golden Uzumaki swirl etched in it, drawing a gasp from Yūgao as she immediately recognised the sword since it belonged to her late mother. Seeing that the woman recognised it, he continued, "But I think she actually made a mistake, you see, she left this sword to me since she wanted me to continue her legacy, to keep frightening the world with her sword, but the more I think about it, the more I realise that she left this sword to the wrong hands."

Yūgao stood up shakily as she eyed the handsome boy in front of her, "W-What do you mean?…" She whispered a question, not able to stop her tears any longer.

Naruto walked towards her, shocking her when he placed the sword on her hands before he responded, "What I mean, fool, is that this sword belongs to you, you are her legacy, her child, her pride, you are the one that will continue to frighten the world with her sword, you are the one that carries her will but more importantly…" He placed his hand on her cheek as he added, "You are Yūgao Uzumaki, daughter of the Red Hot Habanero, it's time for you to embrace that title and to make your mother proud."

Yūgao couldn't believe it, she could not believe what she just heard, it warmed her heart that he was acknowledging what she always wanted, that she was the daughter of Kushina Uzumaki, the one that wanted to carry on her legacy. She just gripped the sword tightly as if not wanting to ever let go before she jumped at him and encircled him with her arms, burying her face on his chest as she whispered with hot tears streaming down her face, "Thank you Naru… t-thank you so much…"

Naruto just smiled at her while he tightened his grip on her, allowing her to wail freely as she let go of all her pain, letting her know that she will always have a place inside his arms, no matter what, "Anytime fool, anytime." He whispered, kissing her head as he caressed her back soothingly.

It took Yūgao quite some time to calm herself down but once she finally did, she lifted her face to look at Naruto and whispered, "W-Will you… always be t-there for me?…" She hated to feel so needy of him right now but he has just inadvertently become her touchstone, the one that is keeping her sane.

"Yesterday, now and tomorrow, I have and will always be here for you." Naruto replied as he cleaned her tears with his thumbs, losing himself in her beautiful face as she sniffled a little.

Yūgao felt her body getting hot at the tender touch, feeling her heart beating rapidly as she locked her eyes to his beautiful blues. She looked down after realising what she was thinking, wanting to calm herself unless her hot-headed emotions make her do something she might regret later. She brought the sword in-between the two of them and without breaking the embrace, she looked at it for some seconds before she whispered, "I will make my m-mom proud, I promise you that…" She looked back at him and with a small smile, added, "I just wish she was here to see it."

Naruto smirked at those words, knowing that it was time for her next surprise, "You might actually get your wish, Yū."

Yūgao tilted her head at those words, confused, so making said confusion known, she inquired, "What do y-you mean?"

Naruto just smirked devilishly at that, gently releasing the embrace. He turned around and urged the purple-haired woman to follow him as he said, "Come with me and you'll find out."

The cat-masked ANBU just felt even more confused at that, finding his sudden mischievous demeanour strange. But realising that he was already a good distance away, she shook her head and held her mother's katana close as she started following behind the silver-haired Namikaze, a strange itch in her gut telling her that something big was going on.

* * *

Yūgao was starting to feel really nervous, she couldn't exactly explain why her gut was telling her that something big was about to be revealed to her. The fact that she recognised very well the path they were currently following just sky-rocketed her nervousness to new heights, _'W-Why is he taking me to t-the Namikaze Manor?…'_ She thought, subconsciously tightening her grip on her new sword.

The very thought of returning to the place that served as her home for over five years was sending shivers down her spine. There was a reason for why she refused to go back there after her mother and father figure died, she didn't even took her stuff out of her room as she completely refused to even step foot in the manor for the past years.

She could attribute such fear to many facts, her wish to avoid the painful memories of how Kushina would make her dinner and as she fell asleep on the couch how would she carry her to her room and kissed her good night. How Minato would took some time of his day to train her and answer whatever questions she had, no matter how embarrassing they were for her. The fact that walking inside would only remind her that it was no longer her happy home but an empty space filled with ghosts and nothing more.

But she could pinpoint her biggest reason very well, it was the guilt, the guilt of not trying harder to take care of Naruto, even if she had valid reasons to watch over him from the shadows instead of giving him a home. One, not wanting to alert the Hokage that she knew who he is, another one was knowing that just like his godfather Jiraiya, having an orphan so protected, even a jinchūriki, would certainly raise too much suspicion of the boy, it was the same reason for why Kakashi didn't approached him when he was a young child, but he then completely ignored the risks and stepped forward to become Naruto's father, making her regret the fact that she didn't had the courage to do that first.

But even with such good reasons, she knew that the main one was her own guilt, the guilt of for a moment, for a couple of days, she was like the rest of the village. She hated him, to her, even if he was her foster brother, he was the reason why her mother died, for some horrible days she wondered why her and not him? Even to this date, she loathed herself for thinking that. Said loath made it impossible for her to face him, the guilt was too painful, as painful as it was when she realised just how much of a fool she was for even thinking that. It wasn't until Hayate himself pushed her to approach him, not as his foster sister, but as his friend, it was then that she gathered the courage to approach him and told him the truth, well, without revealing her relation to his mother and father, or mentioning them at all. It made her guilt even greater when he didn't even batted an eye, shrugging as he only replied saying that he was already used to it, what mattered to him was those who truly regretted it, and she truly did, so he just held her hand and dragged her to the park, where he almost begged her to play hide and seek.

Even now she couldn't stop her tears and smile from showing at the memory, it was probably her most cherished one, "N-Naruto?…" She whispered, earning a hum from the boy who was now opening the Namikaze Manor's gate, "W-What are we doing h-here?" She inquired, gripping her mother's sword tighter as it acted as an anchor for her emotions.

Naruto closed the gate back and after reapplying the barrier seals, he walked past her and replied with a cheeky smirk, "Just trust me, fool! I promise, you gon love this."

Yūgao just sighed but relented, deciding to just go with it as there was no way for her to get answers right now. She walked inside her old home after he opened the door for her, stopping right in the middle of the living room as she gazed around nervously, finding herself lost in her happy memories as a wave of melancholy soaked her completely, "I-It's… so c-clean…" She muttered, noticing how the place barely looks decayed, it seems as if the owners of the house were currently on a month long vacation.

Naruto once again walked past her and as he walked through the stairs, replied, "Yeah, I have no idea how he did it, but for what I read in one of Minato's scrolls, the house has a special seal that maintains the place habitable, it doesn't cleans the house as a whole, but it does get rid of any sign of deterioration…" He looked back at her and added with a smirk, "Yo dad sure was a genius."

Yūgao smiled at that, feeling pride over those words, even if she really hadn't the time to take her relationship with Minato that far, he was the closest thing she had to a father and she had no doubt in her mind that had he survived the Twelve-Wings' attack, she would certainly grow to love him as much as she loves Kushina. But for now, she will allow herself to feel good when someone praises her parents, even if said praise came from their biological son who sadly held no love for them.

Naruto suddenly stopped once he reached the door to the master bedroom, making Yūgao confused as he said, "Now Yū, what amma 'bout to show ya is going to probably make you lose yo shit…" He could see that his words were confusing her even more, so he continued, "But I need you to promise me that you'll do everything you can to keep calm, aight?"

The adopted Uzumaki tilted her head in confusion, stating as much when she asked, "N-Naruto w-what a…"

Naruto didn't let her finish though, as he placed one hand on her shoulder and as he locked his icy blues to her black eyes, he stated with utmost urgency, "I mean it Yūgao, all jokes aside, what I'm about to show ya is a triple S-rank secret, only Pa, the Old Man, Pervy Sage, Shikaku, Teme and I know 'bout this, so you must understand the gravity of this secret."

Yūgao gulped at that, not able to recognize the seriousness her usually goofy friend was showing right now. But seeing that it was no joking matter, she gripped her mother's sword tight and replied, "Y-Yes Naru… I… I u-understand…"

Naruto smiled at that, saying, "Aight then, now take a deep breath…" He saw her doing as he said and after he opened the door of the room, added, "Come inside."

Uzuki turned Uzumaki gulped as she walked inside the master bedroom, feeling another wave of melancholy as she remembered all the times her surrogate mother would bring her here to comb her hair. She took some time to look around until her ears picked up the distinctive sound of medical machines, making her go wide-eyed as she dropped to her knees when she saw two sleeping forms on the bed, forms she knew belong to Minato and Kushina Namikaze.

She immediately ran towards the bed, looking over her mother as she shakily brought her hand to the redhead's face, retracting it with a gasp after once she touched her, she felt her warm. She started touching Kushina's body more, finding it equally warm, she did the same to Minato and found that he too was warm, something that should not be possible since they were supposed to be dead, "H-How?…" She barely whispered, noticing her river of tears as she kneeled beside her mom and held her hand tightly, not ever wanting to let go.

Naruto smiled at the scene, he had to admit that he did felt guilty for bringing them back to life only for them to know that he had no intention of accepting them as his parents, but now seeing how much love Yūgao held for them, he felt relieved that if they do decide to come back to the world of the living, they will at least have her to pamper until they procreate another child.

But turning his attention back to the question, Naruto walked towards her and kneeled beside her, holding her free hand as he replied, "When we were fighting on the Arena, I was cracking mah brain up for a way to free them of Orochimaru's control…" He looked at Kushina and couldn't help but admire her beauty, "The only way I came up with was to use my chakra to try and overpower Orochimaru's hold, but as we discovered after the fight, turns out mah chakra, or Ryū's power, is capable of bringing people back from the dead."

Yūgao was shocked, her mouth wide open as she looked at the handsome silverette, she couldn't help but feel extremely confused at how is he capable of that, it defied every bit of logic she could think of, but now that she thought about it, her world defy most logic thinking, after all, she was capable of lifting a wall of mud from the ground with as much as a couple of hand-seals, something as illogic as it could get.

But still, the power to bring people back from the dead was something completely divine, it was a terrifying power and as she looked into Naruto's eyes, she could notice the boy's guilt, probably for feeling that he had disturbed their eternal rest. Yūgao just tightened her hold on his hand and said soothingly, "Hey, don't feel down, y-you didn't know you had this power."

Naruto felt a little shocked that the purple-haired beauty managed to discern his guilt, it was genuine after all, he did not felt all that okay with disturbing someone's rest. It was why he feared telling Sasuke about it because he feared he might demand him to bring Mikoto back, but much to his surprise, Sasuke had similar thoughts, stating that the dead are resting and should not be perturbed.

But shaking his thoughts away, he replied, "Yeah… I guess you're right…" He looked at the two comatose people and sighed.

Yūgao turned her eyes back to her foster family and asked, "B-But if they're… alive… why are they…" She tightened her hold on her mother's hand and finished her question, "…sleeping?"

Naruto stood up and walked towards the front of the bed, he placed his hands on the footboard and as he leaned his weight on them, he answered, "According to Ryū, the process of bringing them back to the living world was quite violent, since these are not their original bodies their chakra is slowly turning them into the ones they originally possessed, hence why the fell into a coma…" He looked at Yūgao and warned, "The reason for why I showed ya this is because you have all the right to know, they are your family after all, but I want you to understand that there is a chance they might not wake up, it is more likely that they do, but the possibility they don't does exist."

Yūgao widened her eyes and gulped at that, feeling dread over the thought of once again losing her mother and father figure, but despite knowing that, she allowed her experience as an ANBU Captain to help her qualm her fears, looking at her mother with a loving gaze as she muttered with tears of gratitude in her eyes, "Even i-if they don't, you at least g-gave me the chance to s-say goodbye…" She looked back at him and with the most warming and loving gaze she has ever showed, said, "Thank you, N-Naruto."

Naruto felt his heartbeats going erratic, finding Yūgao to be incredibly beautiful as she looked at him with those adoring eyes. He knows that now there was no obstacle for him to charm her, but he respects Hayate enough to let some time pass as well as to let her focus solely on getting back on her feet and enjoy her time with her family, "There's no need for that, fool!…" He basked in her soft giggles before he spoke again, "The Old Man said that he will send me and Pervy Sage on a mission to find the perfect medic for them, they do require top notch care to make it through this, so ya don't worry 'bout a thing!"

Yūgao once again widened her eyes, stating without leaving any room for argument, "I'll go with you!" She had a very good idea who her Hokage had in mind and she knew that there was no one better than her to pull her family through this, so there was no way in hell she will let this opportunity pass.

Naruto sighed at that, he thought this might happen, "Well, you gon have to speak to the Old Man 'bout that…" She nodded at him with an untameable fire burning in her eyes, making Naruto smile at seeing that she was willing to push herself through this tough moment for the sake of those she loves, "Well, for now, you spend time here, aight? I'm pretty sure they will be listening to you all the time." He added with a smile as he walked to the door.

Yūgao wanted to ask him to stay with her but she could tell that he did felt uncomfortable around them and this house, it saddened her but she could understand that he already had a family waiting for him back home, so she only said, "Yes, I'll talk to you soon, okay?…" He nodded at her with a grin but just before he left, she said, "Thank you for pulling me through this… I… I l-love you Naruto…"

Naruto stayed there with an impassive look on his face, processing her words. He could tell she did not had the courage to look at him at the moment, so he just snorted and left the room whispering, "I love you too, Yūgao." He was sure she heard him, so he left the room and soon the house, heading back to his apartment in order to bask himself in the comfort Akeno's arms provided.

* * *

Tsubaki was a nervous wreck right now, she could feel her heart going as such speeds that she was starting to worry about a possible heart attack hitting her the moment she arrives at her destination, not even the cold breeze of the calm night in the Leaf was able to calm her nerves down.

But even so, as she walked through the still busy streets of the Leaf, she couldn't help but smile when she remembered the talk she had with Ayame a day ago.

 _Flashback_

 _"So…" Ayame said while she cleaned the counter of the stand, "You want to know why I am so happy in a relationship were I have to share my mate, right?" She then asked the woman sitting right at the other side of the counter._

 _Tsubaki had come to talk to Ayame about Naruto and his offer, she just couldn't grasp her head around the idea of sharing since the mere thought right now certainly provoked sentiments of jealousy. She won't deny the fact the for some time after Naruto told her the truth she had thought of him as a narcissistic asshole, only interested in gathering women under his belt to make himself feel as an Alpha, but after the shock and anger wore off, she realised that she couldn't be more wrong about him. Harems are not really that uncommon, they are usually created in order to maintain a precious bloodline, of course, there are cases were they are created to feed the ego of the head, a case being the Lord of Tea Country, which is a woman who rose to power some years ago. The woman is widely known as an egotistic ruler who currently has the largest Harem in the Elemental Nations, a total number of seventy-two lovers, male and female, it is even said that some of them are being forced into her Harem, sons and daughters of wealthy families in her country, all in the name of her ego._

 _But there are also known Harems where there is in fact a mutual relationship, such as the Harem of the Lord of the Land of Swamps, who has five wives in his Harem and it is widely known that they are all quite happy, at least that's how it looks on the outside._

 _That's the reason she started doubting her initial thoughts about Naruto, as she immediately went to observe the four females in the Leaf that she knew were in his Harem, Hinata, Ino, Ayame and Akeno, and she couldn't deny the fact that they look radiant, happy, at ease with their choices and not a single drop of doubt coursing through their bodies. It was then that she started thinking that perhaps, he was indeed telling the truth about putting his relationships first before anything else._

 _"I just don't really understand…" Tsubaki responded since she still felt conflicted at the idea, "How are you so… happy… with the arrangement?" She questioned._

 _Ayame giggled as she answered, "Well, firstly, because I love Naruto, I love him beyond anything else in this world, so I'll do whatever I can to be with him, even sharing…" She then rested her chin on her palms and continued, "As to why am I comfortable with sharing? Well, at first, I certainly wasn't."_

 _Tsubaki tilted her head at that, confused as she asked, "What made you change your mind?"_

 _"Well, the mark for one, as it draws your animalistic side to become more dominant, making you kinda forget all about morals and such, it basically makes you follow a more simplistic way of life, fuelled by your most honest desires…" Seeing the frown on her fellow brunette's face, she quickly added, "I know it sounds as if he is forcing you to be okay with it, but it really isn't that way, you see, I am a hundred percent sure that if a felt like Naruto wasn't really in love with me or cared for me as much as the others, I will definitely break our bond, because while he does has the chance to control our actions, he doesn't have the power to control how we feel, but the thing is, after more girls started to join us, I started understanding what is it that makes me so happy about my new life."_

 _Tsubaki leaned on eagerly, anticipating her answer, "What?" She urged._

 _Ayame smirked at the middle-aged female's eagerness, knowing that she was already entrapped in her mate's charms, "Many things really, for one, the warmth of the mark and all the presences that I can feel there makes me feel happy every day, is a constant reminder that I am not alone, I have my sisters and my mate to fall back on whenever I need to…" She replied before she stretched and continued, "Another reason, and I think the most important one, is that I understood that I am not only in a relationship with Naruto."_

 _Tsubaki was really confused at that, so questioned, "What do you mean?"_

 _"It's obvious really…" Ayame shrugged as she explained, "I am also in a relationship with Hinata, Ino, Akeno, Tsunami and Koyuki, as I will also be with the women that follow…" Seeing her friend still confused, she further elaborated, "What I mean is that they are not only my sisters or the women whom I share my mate, they are my mates too."_

 _Tsubaki widened her eyes at that, her jaw almost hitting the floor as understanding hit her, "Y-You mean…" She whispered, not able to finish her thought due to the shock and sudden strange arousal that appeared._

 _Ayame just bit her lips sensually as she replied without a drop of shame, "We go all lesbo on each other…" She resisted the urge to burst out laughing at the shocked expression of Tsubaki, "I know that as more women join us some of them will not be so open to such things, though, I think it will only be a matter of time until they succumb to their primal lusts, just like we did…" She moaned a little as she remembered the first time she made love to one of her sisters, Akeno, it was almost as good as with Naruto, almost, "The thing is, we are all happy because we have each other, physically, mentally and in soul, we all belong to each other."_

 _Tsubaki gasped as a wave of lust suddenly hit her, recalling the way Naruto touched her and unable to banish the wish to feel said touch by the hands of Ayame or the rest of the girls, it certainly painted an enticing picture as she has always been curious about being with a woman, "B-But what if… I w-want to be w-with someone else?… without l-leaving Naruto, I mean." She still had that question lingering on her mind, as she would find it hypocritical of him to deny them such liberty when they are giving him that._

 _Ayame chuckled at the woman's obvious arousal, stowing that for now in order to respond, "If you want to have a relationship with some else, he's not going to stop you, he's not going to like it and he will tell you as much, but he will never force you to do anything, he understands he would be a hypocrite if he does…" She suddenly developed a scary aura that made Tsubaki sweat as the waitress warned, "But make no mistake Tsubaki, if I or any of the other girls find you sleeping around for the sake of it, we will kick you out of the Family, we won't stop you if you have genuine feelings for the other person, but if you're just going to go sleeping around for eternity, we will not tolerate the lack of respect for our mate."_

 _Tsubaki did gulped at the ominous aura coming off from the usually gentle female. She nodded dumbly as she perfectly understood what she meant, after all, if Naruto was respecting your wishes enough to allow you to pursue more relationships while still being with him despite his own discomfort, it would be a distasteful thing to take advantage of his love for you in order to go around whoring your heart out._

 _"You've given me much to think…" The Amari Councillor muttered, losing herself in her own thoughts._

 _Ayame released her scary aura and smiled warmly at the female, caressing her cheek as she encouraged, "Don't worry Tsubaki, just follow your heart and I'm sure you'll find your answer."_

 _End Flashback_

And follow her heart she did as she indeed found her answer, she supposed that she always knew it though, as she really had nothing more to live for, an ambition and a new relationship will certainly change that and she won't deny that the thrill of experimenting sex with the female form was definitely alluring.

Her pondering was interrupted however, when as she close in on her destination, the sound of wood hitting something solid reverberated through the area, making her tilt her head in confusion when she arrived to a large field. The field was shaped in a strange diamond way, mostly grassy green besides some paths of dirt that she could see formed a perfect square on one corner of the field. She was further confused when as she approached, she could see Naruto swinging a strange large stick as some white balls thrown by a modified kunai launcher approached him, hitting and sending them flying far into the field. Naruto was also surrounded by a large cage, leaving only the front open.

She took some calming breaths and once she gathered her courage, she walked towards the man of her fancy and leaned on the side of the cage, admiring his handsomeness accentuated by the moonlight, "So…" She began with a small smile, "I found a note on my table, telling me to come here to meet a… Namito Narukaze…" She giggled as he snorted, "Any reason for why using such alias?" She finished, biting her lip as she controlled her heartbeats.

Naruto lowered the stick and chuckled sheepishly, scratching his scruff as he replied, "Oi! You don't know who might be listening, fool!"

"I guess not…" Tsubaki giggled, a cute blush adorning her cheeks, "What's this place anyway? I've never seen it before." She questioned as she gestured the strange field which was located in one of the corners of the village.

Naruto smirked and while gesturing the field, he replied, "This is known as a 'Baseball Field', where one practices baseball, obviously."

Tsubaki tilted her head at that, greatly confused as she inquired, "I-I've… never heard of that… is it a sport?"

Naruto hummed and nodded, replying, "Yup, I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it thou, mah boi who owns this field arrived here at the Leaf three months ago, he comes from Europa and he says that he once saw some colonists from another continent playing it and he fell in love with it…" He gave the stick some practice swings as he added, "Something I also found mahself doing as well."

Tsubaki just smiled at that, losing herself in admiring the young man. Granted, she still felt depressed, the pain of Kimi's death was as fresh as ever and her doubts about herself still coursed freely throughout her body, but for some strange reason the mere fact of being close to the silver-haired Namikaze made her feel at ease, comfortable, his presence alone was slowly but steadily driving her pain away, and she really didn't had it in her to deny herself from such comfort.

"So…" The voice of Naruto suddenly won her attention back, making her focus on him as he continued, "You're here… t-that means…"

She found his sudden nervousness cute but instead of answering right away, she walked towards him and when she reached him, she locked her arms around his neck and whispered, "I thought that me being here implied my acceptance of you."

Naruto just snorted as he said with a smirk, "Just wanted to be sure, fool." He closed the distance between their faces and captured her lips in a soul-searing kiss that made her toes curl as she caressed his scalp, deepening the kiss that soon lasted for almost five minutes.

They then separated, gasping for air as Tsubaki rested her head on his chest, muttering, "I w-want to be with you…" She looked up to him and added, "I w-want to help you in y-your goal… our goal."

Naruto just smiled at her, kissing her chastely before she moved her body in front of his and after he hugged her from behind, he brought the stick forward and said as he swing it, "This is a 'bat'…" He then gestured the kunai launcher where a small boy was standing beside it with a smile, "That kunai launcher over there was modified to throw the 'baseballs'…" He looked back at her and as he pushed her deeper into him, he placed the bat in front of her and said, "The point of the game is to hit those baseballs."

Tsubaki smiled at that, prompting Naruto to continue, "Now, you have to grab the bat like this…" He showed her by taking her hands and placing them in between his, occupying all the base of the bat from the handle to the knob with the two pairs of hands, "Now Baki, don't strangle the fool, you just wanna shake hands with it, ya know?… _Hello Mr Bat, a pleasure to meet you… No, no Ms Amari, the pleasure's all mine_ …" He chuckled with Tsubaki before he continued, "Okay now, we wanna go hips before hands, we wanna stride forward and turn, kay?…" She nodded with a smile as he grabbed her hip and pushed it inside, saying, "Hips…" He then swung the bat gently and finished, "Before hands, aight?"

Tsubaki smiled, a small pack of tears dropping from her eyes, but they were happy tears, comfort filling her by being inside the arms of the young man, "O-Okay…" She shakily replied before she tussled a little with his hands, saying, "I-I'm in the middle." Settling her hands in the middle of his at the grip of the bat.

Naruto moved the bat around a little as he said, "The reason why I love this sport is because it allows you to hit all your stress away…" He kissed her neck chastely, "You just gotta place all your pain, frustrations and stress into those balls and hit them away…" She nodded slightly, not wanting to show her tears, "Aight…" Naruto knew she was crying, but knowing that it was out of happiness, he turned towards the boy by the launcher and screamed, "Fire away, homeboy!"

The boy smiled and nodded, turning the machine on and immediately a baseball shot at them. As the ball approach the new couple, Naruto whispered while he moved their hands to swing the bat, "Kimi's death." They hit the ball, throwing it at the far side of the field.

Another ball approached, with Naruto whispering again, "Your annoying ex-husband." They too hit the ball.

As the next one came, he continued, "Your backstabbing best friend." Hitting the ball with even more strength as this one left the field.

"Those civilian councillors fools." He whispered as they hit the next one.

"The annoying civies trying to lick yo asshole to get on your good side." He continued, earning a raised eyebrow from Tsubaki as they once again hit the next ball.

"Trying to unite the world under a same cause by seducing the hearts of women who will surely melt yo balls if they ever find out." He spoke, earning a small chuckle from Tsubaki that despite crying, couldn't help but feel her pain slowly fading away for now.

The Amari woman then turned to look at him over her shoulder after they hit the ball, a blank incredulous expression on her face as he said, "Oh, sorry 'bout that… those last two were mine…" She giggled, making her look beautiful under the moonlight. Naruto kissed her chastely after that, saying, "I know it's gonna take time for you to get back on yo feet, but I want ya to know Baki, that as I long as you want me, I will be walking that road with you, you will never be alone…" He kissed her tears away before he finished, "No matter what life throws at us, I will always, always do right by you, believe it fool."

Tsubaki stared at him with adoring eyes, she couldn't believe how happy she was feeling right now, despite all her pain and sorrow, the words Naruto just spoke made the clouds over her head disappear, replacing them with a warm sun that made her know that somehow, someday, she will pull through. She leaned on him and after a passionate kiss, she said with an honest smile, "Shut up Naruto, I'm playing baseball."

Naruto just laughed at that, nodding as they went back to hitting the baseballs. For the rest of the night, the only sounds reverberating through the field were the sounds of the bat hitting the baseballs, along with the giggles and chuckles of the couple playing their hearts out, ignoring for at least some hours all the dangers that still lurked out there, enjoying the fact that for this very moment at least, only they and their new love exists.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya lads go, I hope you liked it as much as I did, make sure to vote and to leave your comments as it is there were I learn of your suggestions, until next time, cheers!**


	23. The Search (Part 1)

**A/N: Hello! We're back bitches! Some words first.**

 **LAST WARNING, this is your last chance to vote on the poll as it will be closed next chapter, after that, whatever won will be cemented from now on, no chances, so if you still haven't voted make sure to do it and make your opinion known.**

 **I know it's really unlikely, but I want to know if there are any female writers reading this story? If there are, please PM as I have something in mind to accompany this story but I want a FEMALE perspective, so if there are any and you are interested, please PM me. Don't even try to pretend to be a girl, trust me, I'll know.**

 **Someone wanted to know when the Rock village will show up, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it will be either in the seventh or eighth arc, this is the third one and each arc will be at least ten chapters long, so there's still some time for it to come.**

 **Sorry about the long wait, but I was having trouble deciding which girls name in this chapter as targets since I also had to do a little bit of research on them.**

 **I think that it, enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **The Search (Part 1)**

Ryū found herself with a frightened shiver running down her spine as she walked through the tunnels that formed the Root HQ. She was called by Danzō and she would be a liar if she said she wasn't a little afraid right now.

She couldn't help but wonder if her leader found out that she was the one who leaked their plans, it wasn't really outside of his possibilities as the old warmonger was resourceful as hell, probably as much as the Hokage himself, so while she was sure that Naruto only informed the people at the very top, she couldn't deny that perhaps, one of those people at the top were in league with the Shimura Elder. If so then, even if, and Ryū was sure it was that way, Naruto hadn't revealed his guess at who was the one that tipped him off, it wasn't that hard to pinpoint it to her since out of all the people that knew about the plot, she was the one closest to the jinchūriki, so if there was a spy amongst the Hokage's most trusted men, they wouldn't have much trouble connecting the dots as she was the most logical suspect.

But despite her own fears, she couldn't really find herself feeling remorse for her actions, she actually felt good, it made her feel amazing to save the village she calls home, as bland as it may be, it is the place she grew up and lives. She still remembers the day that after her conditioning treatment was over, she was ordered to live amongst the populace of the Leaf in order to have more ears out there in the streets, that is where the most useful information lies after all. She was trained to behave as a normal civilian, even exchanging small talks with her neighbours, putting on a façade of content with her life, she couldn't really pinpoint when said façade became her true feelings as it was said satisfaction with her home that drove her to betray her organization.

She could probably say that it was after Naruto did whatever he did to her, the same thing that made her emotions come forth once again, but she could feel that it wasn't true as the pleasantness of living in the Leaf has been present long before she even met her fellow silverette, it was perhaps that whatever he did to her, simply forced her to come to terms with said satisfaction and out of it, the necessity to protect her content drove her to side with the jinchūriki.

But even now that it seems like she won't be able to enjoy life much longer, if Danzō did find out who betrayed them, she felt absolutely no remorse because in the end, she was inducted as a member of the Leaf, even if it was a mere façade to earn more ears in said village, she was still a member of the Leaf and as such, she could still feel the duty to protecting her home. Also, that warm feeling in her heart that she felt whenever she thought of the silverette and how he was safe now, she couldn't deny that she liked it, she really didn't know what it is but it's enticing, like a sweet vice that she somehow found herself unable to not long for, and the fact that it was Danzō's own eagerness that made his plans collapse, made it all the better for her.

The dragon-masked Root kunoichi stopped her pondering though, as she finally reached the door to her leader's personal office where she could feel the old man's chakra signature, gulping as she felt his anger, probably due to the fact that his plans were slowly but steadily crumbling down.

Ryū took a deep breath to regain her emotionless-self and once she did, she knocked on the door and after she heard the word to come inside, she opened it and immediately went to stand before her leader, inquiring, "You called for me, sir?"

Danzō brought his downed gaze up to his most trusted soldier, despite all the scrutiny he fell over all of his men, he couldn't really point the finger at Ryū. He wasn't stupid, he has heard Terai's warning when he said that the silver-haired female was acting differently than the rest of the Root members, Terai went even as far as to claim that Ryū was the most logical suspect of treason, but Danzō paid no mind to those words, not because he couldn't see the change in Ryū nor because he blindly trusted the woman, he paid no mind to those words because Ryū has always been defective, she never accustomed to the ways of Root because she wasn't inducted as a child, she was already old enough to understand most emotions and thus, getting rid of them was all but impossible.

He could still remember how one of his chief soldiers, Rin Asogi, who is leading the conditioning program, proposed to extract Ryū's eggs once she was old enough in order to breed them, using sperm coming from strong candidates. Danzō agreed to it but their hopes were soon quashed when after Ryū turned sixteen, they extracted some eggs from her but the moment the eggs left the woman's body, they died. It put the breeding of her powerful and ancient bloodline into a complete stop since either forcing her to have sex with someone or artificially inseminating the sperm into the woman's womb will put a huge amount of stress on the woman, that was the reason for why breeding programs were no longer utilised anywhere unless the woman herself was cooperating on her own free will, since forcing her, or even him if it was a male, led to disastrous results were most of the time the baby would either die inside the woman's womb, the sperm would be infertile or if the child does lives, they usually ended up with some form of disease or disability, all because of the stress the mother or father were put into, directly affecting the child.

Danzō couldn't really get rid of the girl either, as she turned out to be his most valuable weapon, her strange bloodline along with her natural skills as a warrior were too much of an asset to simply exterminate the girl for not becoming a mindless tool, so he focused on washing her mind in order to turn her will to him.

It worked since Ryū became his most trusted soldier outside his commanders and through her actions, he knows that if she were to betray him, she would've done it long time ago, "Yes…" The Root leader spoke after his pondering, sighing before he continued, "I have received unfortunate news regarding Sasuke Uchiha."

Ryū unnoticedly released a relieved sigh after that, she could tell that Danzō was pondering over her, scrutinizing her every move, the fact that he stopped his scrutiny on her and tackled a different subject let her know that she was off the hook, for now at least, "I see, do you need me to do something, sir?"

"Yes…" Danzō said before he closed his eye and continued, "It appears that Jiraiya is going to check on the Uchiha's cursed seal after he retrieves his teammate Tsunade. Jiraiya's currently the continent's greatest seal master so I have no doubt in my mind that if someone is capable of destroying Orochimaru's seal, it's Jiraiya…" He stood up and walked to stand before her as he spoke, "That means that we have to act now before that happens, if Sasuke Uchiha manages to either get rid of the seal or control it to a point where he will not need Orochimaru, we will lose our chance to strike against that snake."

Ryū immediately killed the disgust she felt running through her body the moment she felt it sprouting, the mere words her leader spoke made her feel like a vile entity, corrupted to the brim, "You mean?…" She trailed off, alluding to a certain leverage.

"Yes, it is time to use our trump card on the boy…" Danzō replied while walking towards the door, followed closely by his subordinate, "Chief Asogi is currently preparing our leverage, it will take her some time, a month even, but we're lucky that Jiraiya's mission may take over a month to complete, by the time he comes back, we'll be ready to enact our plan…" He narrowed his eye while he gripped his cane tightly, muttering, "That snake will not get in my way anymore." He couldn't deny the fact that Orochimaru's failure pissed him off like nothing else, it was because that snake failed that Sarutobi was a new and invigorated man, he has put on a leash on the Leaf and there was no one, not even him, capable of taking it away from the old monkey's hands, so the snake needed to disappear before the fool gets captured and the plot the two of them carried out comes to light, not even someone like Danzō could save face at such incriminating evidence.

Ryū said nothing, surprised at how good she was at hiding her true emotions, she only looked at the front as she inquired, "I understand, milord, what is my mission?"

Danzō replied, "There is no dispute that our little… leverage… will undeniable affect greatly the Uchiha brat, it is a given that he will do as I order…" He continued walking as he spoke again, "But I want to know how much it could also affect the Namikaze, I have heard rumours but they're not enough to tell me whether he'll bend to my will or not, if it affects him as much as the Uchiha, then maybe all of our troubles will be solved with that simple move."

Ryū once again fought a war inside herself, the anger and disgust she felt towards the character in front of her rising to new heights as he spoke about using human lives so easily without a single drop of remorse. But her pondering was cut off however, when her leader spoke again.

"I want you to get close to the Namikaze, become his acquaintance, friend, lover or whatever you need to in order to earn his trust, I want you to investigate how deeply the connection truly was, understood?" Danzō looked back at his subordinate as he stood before a door.

Ryū froze for a second, feeling her heart racing at incredibly speeds after she registered the order her leader just gave her, but knowing that he might pick up on her strange eagerness, she quickly replied with indifference, "It shall be done, milord."

"Very well, now resume your duties, I must speak with Chief Asogi, you are dismissed." Danzō said as he entered a room, disappearing as the doors closed behind him.

Ryū just turned around and started walking through the corridors of her HQ, feeling greatly conflicted since she could feel a warm feeling invading her body at the thought of getting close to Naruto, this time as a normal person instead of a shadow, but there was also a loath aimed at herself at knowing that she has to do it in order to harm the boy, something she couldn't understand why it sent painful pangs to her heart at the mere thought.

* * *

 **Lemon**

Tsubaki giggled in Naruto's mouth as they clumsily stumbled on top of her bed. They have been playing baseball for quite a while but as they saw that it was already past eleven, they decided to call it a night, with Tsubaki asking Naruto to stay with her tonight to which he happily accepted.

But much to her delight, things turned quite steamy as the moment Naruto flashed them into her apartment, he immediately assaulted her mouth, lifting her up by her butt as he took them upstairs to her room, "Ooo… N-Naruto… you're so h-hot…" She moaned as he kissed her collarbone, her top and pants already gone, leaving her only in her bra and panties which she was sure were about to be gone as well.

Naruto stopped right above her breasts to reply, "It's a perspiration ting." Before she could even inquire what the hell did he meant with that, she yelped when he grabbed her bra and tore it off violently, hating the fabric for depriving him of such beautiful sight.

She cooed appreciatively when he immediately latched on her right breast, biting the nipple slightly while he pinched the neglected one, "Ooo…" She moaned when he suddenly groped both breasts and brought them together, sucking them both at the same time while he induced her lust with his dragon aura, sky rocketing her pleasure to almost unbearable heights.

He pulled her breasts by the nipples with his teeth, eliciting a cry from the woman as she felt volts of both pain and pleasure coursing through her body. Naruto then let her breasts go, a retorting moan coming off from Tsubaki's mouth, said retort suddenly turned into a silent gasp as he shred her panties and began rubbing her outer folds, using the first step of the rasengan as a vibrator, "Wow Baki, you're so drenched down here." He whispered huskily as he kissed her neck gently.

Tsubaki wiggled her hips, trying to get as much contact with her lover's hand as she could, stating, "I-It's because… i-it has b-been so long… _mmew…_ m-my body… i-it needs you…" She mewled as she thrashed slightly, not accustomed to such intense pleasure since with her ex-husband she was never capable of feeling such intensity as right now.

Naruto chuckled slightly, not stopping his ministrations, inserting two fingers into the woman's quim who whimpered in delight. He leaned down to her face and whispered right next to her ear, "What do you want, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki moaned as she whispered back, "Y-You."

Naruto smirked devilishly at that, inserting another finger into her vagina, "What part of me do you desire?" He whispered huskily, gently biting her lobe.

Tsubaki arched her back as she whimpered, feeling more incredible than ever, it was almost too much for her but somehow she managed to reply, "Y-Your… _awww_ … your pe-penis…"

Naruto kissed her neck gently, whispering again, "And what do ya want me to do with it?" He loved the way Tsubaki practically whined at his cruel game.

Tsubaki panted, loving the way Naruto's fingers probed her insides, but she was getting tired of the foreplay, she wanted him, dammit!, "S-Stick it in!…" She turned to look at him, half-lidded eyes clouded with lust, a rose tint adorning her cheeks as she begged with such neediness that it made Naruto give, "M-Make love to m-me… p-pleeeeease…"

Naruto chuckled and nodded, stopping his probing as he took off his pants, freeing his hard member, "I did owe ya a good pounding, didn't I?" He said as he rubbed the tip of his penis over her velvet folds, feeling amazed at how wet she was right now.

Tsubaki closed her eyes as flashes of ecstasy coursed through her body, her vagina screaming for his member as it was more than ready for him, "Y-Yes… you d-do…" She whispered, arching her back as she tried to push her core to his penis in order to impale herself in his tower.

Naruto lowered his face to hers, being just millimetres away from her, he caressed her cheek and asked, "This is it Baki, once I'm in, there's no turning back, it'll be you and us for eternity from now on."

Tsubaki opened her eyes, looking straight at the man that was giving her a chance to be part of something grand, she did stopped for a second, considering everything she's been told. It was a mere second but already knowing her answer and feeling her vagina begging for a pounding, she said after she kissed him chastely on the lips, "I-I'm yours Naruto, forever."

Naruto smiled before he captured her lips in a ferocious kiss, pushing his penis inside her vagina slowly as he rejoiced in the feeling of her walls clamping over his member, working over time to adjust to his size and girth.

Tsubaki couldn't believe how full she was feeling, she had barely the time to realise that she had come the moment he penetrated her, "N-Naruto…" She moaned as he starting pumping in and out of her core, her tongue threatening to loll out as she couldn't even comprehend the amount of pleasure her new mate's penis was giving her.

She definitely squealed like a school girl when he suddenly grabbed her by the small of her back and brought her up on a sitting position, impaling her on his meat even deeper, "Ooo… g-gooooood…" She screamed a whisper as she automatically started bouncing up and down his member, her juices cascading on the bed as her core produced lubricant at an alarming rate.

Naruto gritted his teeth, restraining himself from going completely feral on the sexy woman who jumped on his penis with reckless abandon, it came to a point where he jumped out of the bed and unsheathed his member, turning her around in fours. Tsubaki was about to complain but instead, she had to bury her face on the bed as he violently thrust inside her once again, slapping her butt as he pounded her ass with an extreme yet pleasant force.

"Fuck… Baki…" Naruto spoke in between gritted teeth, increasing the speed of his thrusts as he felt his draconic side surfacing even more, "You're so fucking tight."

Tsubaki just whimpered in response, feeling a powerful heat in her stomach that signalled her impending release, an orgasm she was sure was going to shook her very foundations, "N-Naru… p-please…" She pleaded, "I c-can't g-go on…" She added as she looked back at him with puppy eyes, increasing the boy's inner fight as he found the sight of a pleading Tsubaki incredibly arousing for the dominant side of him.

Naruto felt his end too, so he brought the woman close to him, grabbing her by her breasts while he continued pounding her core relentlessly, "It's okay Tsubaki, let it out, I'll mark you as mine right now."

Tsubaki smiled as she continued throwing her hips back to meet her mate's thrusts, "Y-Yes… I'm y-yours… Na-Naruto!" She screamed as she felt the most powerful orgasm she has ever had hitting her.

Naruto opened his mouth and sunk his canines on her neck, mating her fully to him as he injected her with his divine essence. That, along with the injection of sperm she received in her womb, made the pleasure coursing through her body unbearable, losing conscious as her high ended.

Naruto just chuckled as he hugged the woman close, gently placing her back on the bed while he took position behind her. It was almost as if she subconsciously felt him since she immediately scooted close to him with her back pressed against his chest, sleeping soundly.

Naruto smiled as he kissed the back of her neck chastely, bringing his arm around the woman's waist, whispering, "Don't worry Tsubaki, we'll get ya through this, believe it." He closed his eyes then, allowing sleep to claim him, not able to see the small tear that fell from Tsubaki's smiling face.

 **End Lemon**

* * *

"Milord." Yūgao said as she kneeled before her leader who was currently going over some paperwork on his desk. She appeared from the shadows when the old Hokage called for her, feeling her stomach revolving around in nervousness since she didn't know whether he will approve her request or not.

Hiruzen looked over his desk and saw his ANBU Captain, "Everybody else please leave the room…" He waited until he no longer felt the presence of the rest of his ANBU guard and once they were gone, he refocused on the purple-haired woman to say, "I read your request Yūgao…" He saw her gulp, probably nervous for his response, "I understand your eagerness to find Tsunade but, I still don't understand why you don't trust Naruto and Jiraiya to get the job done, or even why would you want to stay away from your parents right now."

Yūgao gulped at that, she knew that her own eagerness to be a part of the search team made it look as if she didn't believed in Naruto, but it couldn't be further from truth, "I… I d-don't want to accompany them because I don't believe in them… in f-fact…" She inhaled before she looked at the ground and added, "I trust them completely… b-but… my parents a-are safe here in the Leaf… N-Naruto… he…"

Hiruzen managed to guess where the Captain was going, stating as much when he deduced, "Naruto won't be safe out there…" She nodded slightly, making the Sarutobi smile as he saw how much the woman truly cares for his surrogate grandson, "You really love him, don't you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

Yūgao looked back at her leader and without a drop of doubt or embarrassment, she replied, "More than anything else, sir." She couldn't even fit her love for the silverette in words, there was no expression, no measurement capable of reflect how much she loved him. He was the best of her years after Minato and Kushina's deaths, always brightening up her days, he then became her confident, the one person who was always truly there for her whenever she needed an ear to listen to her, he brought the two people that gave her life meaning back from the dead, even if it isn't a given that they will wake up, he still gave her the chance to at least have a proper goodbye. And to top it all, he helped her get through the first stage of her grief for her lover's death, giving her newfound determination and cementing his place in her heart as her touchstone, the one thing keeping her alive and sane. She was not going to let anything happen to him, she will break her own limits if she had to.

The woman's strong and confident words shocked the Hokage a little, he knew that she loved the boy but he never thought that said love went this far, it was even difficult for him to dissect just what kind of love she felt for him. But stowing that aside for now, he spoke, "And I am sure he loves you as much as you do…" She smiled at that, an almost unnoticeable blush on her cheeks as she recalled her words the day he showed her Kushina and Minato's breathing bodies, "Well, I really don't see why not agree with your request…" She beamed slightly at that, listening as the old monkey continued, "Naruto and Jiraiya will be leaving tomorrow at seven A.M. sharp, be at the gates then."

Yūgao stood up and bowed gratefully to her leader, stating, "Thank you Lord Hokage, this means a lot to me."

Hiruzen nodded but before the woman left, he said, "Let me tell you some things before you go…" The purple-haired beauty nodded, prompting him to continue, "I need you to have in mind that Tsunade is no longer the woman you might remember, she is currently lost in self-pity, drinking and gambling her heart out, she will definitely be incredibly difficult to deal with, I am completely sure that she will refuse to come the moment you ask."

The cat-masked ANBU winced at that, saying, "T-Then, aren't we wasting time?" She managed to control her emotions, not wanting to lash out at her leader.

Hiruzen shook his head as he responded, "No Yūgao, she is the only one capable of treating Minato and Kushina, we will be wasting our time if we look for some else…" He could understand the woman's urgency since it was her parents' lives the ones they were talking about, but knowing that only his old student could bring them back to the awake world, he continued, "There is a reason for why Naruto is going with you after all."

The woman tilted her head at that, confused, so asked, "What reason?"

Hiruzen chuckled before he responded, "Well, if there is someone capable of changing that woman's mind, that someone is our most unpredictable ninja…" The ANBU female giggled at that, understanding her leader as Naruto does had an ability to change people minds, "You may also be of help with that…" Hiruzen then added, confusing the woman a little. He saw said confusion so explained, "I know it may sound insensitive of me, but the fact that you just went through the same thing that her gives you a connection with Tsunade that no one else has."

Yūgao killed the sprout of anger she felt in her heart, she did indeed felt upset by her leader using her own tragedy in order to convince Tsunade to come, but since it was for her parents' benefit she will relent. Plus, she couldn't deny the old man's words and whether she liked it or not, the Hokage must use his tools as he sees fit and his tools must respond without retort, "I understand, Lord Hokage, I will do my best." She said, bowing so she could hide her slight frown.

Hiruzen sighed, stating, "There is no need to hide your anger Yūgao, it is justified…" Yūgao looked back at him, surprised that her leader managed to read her so well, "But in such desperate situation we must use whatever methods we have at hand, Tsunade is going to be a really, really tough nut to crack."

Yūgao inhaled some air, calming herself as she replied, "Yes milord, I understand."

Hiruzen smiled, saying, "You are dismissed, good luck with your mission." The woman nodded with a small smile before she disappeared in flicker, probably going back to the Namikaze manor to ready her things and stay with her parents for some time before she leaves.

The old Sarutobi went back to his paperwork, thinking, _'I wonder if you will be able to knock some sense into her?…'_ He chuckled as he thought of the silverette's previous feats, adding with an amused smirk, _'What am I even thinking?… of course he will… hehehe…'_

* * *

Tsubaki walked into her house, four women in tow as they made their way towards the living room, "Please, make yourself at home…" The brunette middle-aged woman said with a smile before she added, "I will go and prepare some tea."

But before she could head to the kitchen, the door of said room opened and out of it, a silver-haired male appeared carrying a tray with tea and six cups, "Already got ya covered, Baki." Naruto said with a smile as he set the tray down on the small table placed in the middle of the room, surrounded by the couches.

"My, my, how thoughtful our mate is." Akeno said with an amused glint, giggling alongside the rest of the women who were all part of Naruto's Harem.

Tsubaki had come to the ramen stand and stated that she wanted to introduce herself to Ino and Hinata in order to start getting to know each other better since she understands that they also have to make an effort to get their strange family working, they can't always rely on Naruto to introduce each other and to get them to get along, that is something that they should be capable of doing by themselves. Naruto's job was to provide them with a home, to love them, to protect them and to lead them, kind of like with lions, though they were glad that Naruto didn't spent all of his day napping around while his women do the job, he spent the day getting stronger to ensure their safety.

While Akeno couldn't really claim that she was as close to Ino, Hinata, Tsubaki, Koyuki and Tsunami as she was to Ayame, she could definitely feel the bond growing stronger each passing day since despite the fact that she just recently met Tsubaki, she could already feel protective of her, just like a sister would.

Said thought was shared by every women in the room, with Hinata saying, "No wonder he already has women lining up for his attention." She giggled again when Naruto scratched his scruff sheepishly, a small blush of embarrassment on his cheeks. The women just _aw_ at the cuteness of this moment, feeling amazed that despite all that Naruto has accomplished, he was still a down to earth guy.

Ino pulled Naruto down to the couch right next to her, she kissed his cheek and said, "Not that I don't like the moment, but I don't have much time before I have to go to the flower shop so why did you called us here, Naru?"

The women suddenly changed their demeanour to an inquisitive one, feeling confused as well. Naruto seeing his mates' faces, replied, "Well, I think it's time to actually sit down and plan our next move."

Everyone nodded at that, with Tsubaki saying, "You have any targets in mind?"

The Namikaze nodded, bringing out a small black book from his pocket, he gave it to her as he explained, "That's our little 'Bingo Book', it contains all the targets I could think of for now."

Tsubaki nodded, rummaging through the pages, she found that there were really just a few names, "Kind of short, don't you think?" She commented, finding a lot of names missing there that she believed could be beneficial to his cause.

Ayame, who helped Naruto make the list, said, "Well, we really couldn't think of any more names at the time."

Naruto then added, "Yeah, plus, with all the shit that went down the last couple of months, I didn't had the time to add more names."

Tsubaki nodded, saying as she flipped the pages, "Mm… let's see, Tsume, Hana, Anko and Koharu from the Leaf…" She didn't found the Elder's entrance on the list surprising as she immediately saw the benefits of having her on their side, the problem was how in the hell were they going to tempt the woman? She was as prude as it gets and lately, it has become blatantly obvious that the woman no longer had any interest in anything, is almost as if she was already dead. She had no family as she always focused on her kunoichi career so she never had the time to settle down, it was almost as if being an Elder was the only thing left for her and even that seems to be no longer enough. Setting that aside for now as she was confident that they will find a way, she continued, "You have this Samui girl from Cloud and…" She blinked, surprised to see the last entrance, "Gaara of the Sand? As in the jinchūriki of the One-Tails?…" She saw her new mate nodding at her, prompting her to ask, "Wasn't she a little… umm… you know… loose on her screws?"

Naruto smiled, playing with Hinata's blue hair as he replied, "She was before I had a talk with little ol' Shukaku."

Tsubaki, being the only not in the loop since she was just recently inducted into this little weird family of theirs, tilted her head in confusion as she asked, "Who's Shukaku?"

"That's the name of the One-Tails…" The silverette replied and as he saw Tsubaki widening her eyes a little, he said, "They have names remember? They also have feelings, ya know?"

Tsubaki shook her head to rid her mind of her stupor, feeling a little guilty as she didn't really believed that before, she had thought, like the rest of the world, that the Tailed Beasts were just that, beasts bent on destruction and nothing more. Her current guilt stemmed from remembering that the Nine Tailed Fox was also sealed inside her new mate, he told her about it after they woke up and indulged in some morning sex, they spent the whole morning talking about each other in order to deepen their bond, it was then that he dropped the bomb on her that he also carries the same burden his mother once did.

It shocked her greatly to know that Naruto was indeed Minato and Kushina's son, she always had the suspicion, like most of the Leaf really but they were just excusing the likeness by saying that dragon was purposefully using their beloved Fourth's face to spite on the village, but she never really believed that, not even when she was a closed minded bigot. He himself confided in her of his biological parents' revival, explaining that he used the divine power of the dragon to bring them back to life so he could anger some other god that apparently stole something from the dragon. She won't deny the fact that she felt a glimmer of hope when she heard that, Naruto immediately picked it up and understood why, so he, reluctantly, offered to bring Kimi back.

Tsubaki smiled then and immediately screamed yes but her excitement died down when she saw her mate's expression, that thanks to her being a former interrogator, she managed to see the reluctance. It made her angry as she for a moment thought that he wasn't really all for her happiness, it seemed quite selfish to her that he wasn't willing to bring her daughter back when he already brought his biological parents, but it then dawned on her when she remembered that he had no reason to bring them back, he already had two loving parents so there was no necessity. She finally understood that the one being selfish was her, as she didn't even thought of what her daughter might wish, nor did she thought of how much of a breach of divine rules that single action might be nor did she considered how much of a burden could that be to her lover as the guilt of disturbing his biological parents' rest was as clear as day.

She jumped at him once it dawned on her and told him to forget about, telling him that she understood his reluctance. It made her smile how he reassured that whatever consequences might come, he will face them head on, all for her sake, it just reminded her heart that she indeed made the right choice and that she didn't need to disturb her daughter's rest in order to be happy again, she already has a new family, there was no point dwelling on the past.

"S-Sorry." Tsubaki said after all her pondering, an apology aimed not to Naruto, but to the chakra fox herself.

Naruto could feel that Kurama just humphed indignantly inside his mindscape, but knowing that that was her own way of accepting Tsubaki's apology, he said, "She accepts your apology, fool, no worries…" Tsubaki smiled slightly at that, nodding her thanks. He then continued, "Returning to topic, me and mah team took Gaara out of the Leaf, I managed to get inside her own mind and speak to that raccoon fool, we managed to come to an agreement."

The Civilian Head Councillor tilted her head, inquiring, "What sort of agreement?"

"Well, we compromised that when I manage to free dem fool, he's gon help us with our goal…" Naruto sipped some of the tea and added, "He's also stopped fucking around with Gaara's head so she should calm the fuck down a little bit with that, yeah."

Tsubaki giggled, Naruto's strange speech never stopped to amuse her though it does gets annoying sometimes, but after the invasion he seemed to have tone it down a little, "That's good then, I can only imagine how desperate she must have felt with the One-Tails messing with her head…" She didn't said his name because Naruto told her when he revealed the Nine-Tails' whereabouts that they only let specific people to call them by their names, so she wasn't about to disrespect them by using said names when she hasn't earned the right, but she was going to earn it soon, that's her hope, "With that aside, you are about to go on a mission to search for Lady Tsunade, right?…" Her question was answered with a nod, prompting her to ask, "Then why not add her? For what I could tell from Lord Hokage back in our meeting five days ago, he wants her to be his successor, it would be phenomenal to have the Hokage on our side."

Naruto shook his head at that, explaining to his confused women, "I did thought about that since Pervy Sage did said that same thing about her being the Old Man's successor…" He leaned forward before he continued, "But for what Pervy Sage also told me, she's supposed to be drowning in self-pity, ya know? That old perv even warned me that we gon have a tough time convincing the woman to come to just check on Minato and Kushina, let alone become the new Hokage."

Ino nodded at that, deducing, "So you're saving her for later?"

Naruto nodded as he replied, "Yeah, yeah, if we manage to convince the stubborn fool that is."

Ayame giggled, commenting, "If someone knows about stubborn fools, that is you, honey."

Naruto humphed, annoyed at the betrayal of his mates who were chuckling at his expense, "There's no respect, fool." He muttered with a childish pout.

Turning back to the seriousness required for the meeting, Ino looked at Tsubaki and asked, "Don't you have some potential targets in mind?"

Tsubaki hummed, massaging her chin as she said, "Well, I think we should focus on the small countries that surround the Land of Fire first, if we can get at least some important people in there, expansion to the other big countries will be easier…" She started working her brain out, thinking on names she knew, "You're lucky because as a head councillor I personally know a lot of big civilian names in our bordering countries…" She grabbed the book and a pen and after finding a blank page, she spoke, "From Iron Country, I know a woman named Litchi Faye, she's probably one the continent's best medics and herbalists, she's also well versed in alchemy, thanks to her talents she holds an important place in the Iron Lord's court, if you seduce her, a path to the Land of Rock will be opened…" Naruto nodded at her, seeing the advantage, "Next, we have… umm… ah!… I recently travelled to River Country, the land's Feudal Lord is already old and his daughter is set to take the spot from him, her name is Elizabeth Liones, I spoke little to her and despite looking kind and caring, perhaps even like a usual damsel, she seemed very intelligent and strong willed, she's still young but even so, she knew her country and its needs very well."

"A Feudal Lord? Quite risky tho." Naruto commented.

Akeno nodded at that but countered, "True, but we're going to need to get the governments of the countries in our pocket as well, we can't really shape the world from the shadows by only manipulating the military of each country."

Naruto nodded at that, prompting Tsubaki to continue, "During a travel I did to the Land of Hotsprings, I met the country's most powerful clan's leader, Arata Fuha, his clan is the founder of the country's hidden village but right now there is a division between the land's forces since one half wants to take on the route of turning the place into a vocational spot as it recently has had a boom in its economy due to all the wealthy people visiting the land for the hot springs there, though I could tell that the information that could be extracted from unsuspecting visitors might be the biggest luring factor…" She breathed in before she continued, "The other half wants to recover their ancient traditions of being a shinobi village. Both sides are led by the children of the clan head, the one leading the secret selling movement is the eldest son while the one leading the shinobi movement is the eldest daughter, Tsukiumi Fuha."

Naruto nodded, commenting, "Is the situation serious?"

Tsubaki shook her head at that, explaining, "Not yet, the problem is still in its infancy, that's why I think you should seduce her within the next two years before it evolves into something more violent."

"Or before someone else comes along." Ino added, making Naruto nod in understanding as he too realised that he needed to make his moves soon before someone else comes along and wins their hearts before he even has a chance.

Tsubaki then continued, "Lastly, the only other one I can think of right now is a woman named Saeko Busujima, she's not in an important position per se, but she is Frost Country's Feudal Lord's personal guard. I know her personally because she is the one that receives most of the Lord's guests, from the little I've spoken to her, she seems cold and a little bit cocky, I first thought that the woman might be close to the Lord but she seems to hold some sort of resentment for the man…" She muttered the last part, her confusion clear as she thought of the purple-haired beauty, "Regardless, she's a master swordswoman, one of the best in the continent…" He saw her lover's eyes immediately shining up at that, making her giggle at his childishness before she added, "And adding her to the family will give us bird's eye view over Frost Country's affairs…" She then looked back at her silver-haired partner and concluded, "I think you should focus on Tsukiumi and Saeko first since that will give us a wide open path to the Land of Lightning, regardless of the treaty that Cloud wants to sign with us, there are still many obstacles between us, this can help us bypass those obstacles."

Naruto smirked at his newest mate, feeling incredibly proud and happy to see that the woman has somehow found a new fire within herself, it was still dim but he was sure that sooner than later, with his and their family's help, her fire will burn brightly once again, "Look at ya, I think you should be the one seducing instead of me." The Namikaze commented, laughing along the others as Tsubaki blushed in embarrassment when she broke away from her plotting trance.

"D-Don't tease me…" The Amari woman whispered, fidgeting on her lap as she somehow turned into a shy mess.

Naruto immediately appeared right next to her, gently cupping her cheek as he brought her face close to his, claiming her lips in a loving kiss that after he broke it, he said, "I'm sorry my camellia…" She blushed harshly at the nickname, loving the butterflies that flew in her stomach as he called her by such endearing name, "We were just pissing at ya." He added with a smile, kissing her chastely once again.

The other girls smiled at the interaction before Akeno spoke, "Umm… I actually have someone in mind…" Once everyone's attention was on her, she explained, "Back when I was travelling on my own, I had to deal with some… umm… 'shady' people in order to get by…" She felt the concern and anger from her mate through her mark so she quickly reassured, "Don't worry darling, I merely made some errands or was just asked to stay out of their way…" She could feel that he wasn't wholly satisfied, but ignoring that for now, she continued, "Anyway, before I went back to Sun Village, I stayed in the Fire Capital for some months, I was hired to babysit the children of an important man who later turned out to be a higher up of the local mafia…" Before her mate could say anything, she quickly continued, "Long story short, he somehow felt my hidden power, I got freaked out but he calmed me down when he said that he wanted to offer me a very lucrative job."

Naruto managed to stow his anger, he was feeling frustrated at the remainder of the things his fallen angel mate had to go through in order to survive, but regardless of what she says, if said man tried to do anything improper to her, Naruto was not going to give a fuck about no mafia, "What did he wanted?" He spoke with eyes narrowed, already thinking of all the painful things he would do to said poor soul.

Akeno shook her hands widely, sweating a little as she, along with her Harem sisters, felt the pressure their shared lover was exuding. She calmed him down as she explained, "D-Darling, ca-calm down…" He breathed in, letting her continue, "He asked me if I k-knew anything about enchanting weapons, I admitted that I do know so he told me about his boss, the mafia's leader, the woman was supposedly looking for a magician so she could enchant her sword."

Naruto did calmed down a little after the explanation, knowing that the raven-haired beauty was not lying to him. He wanted to question something though but he was beaten to it by Hinata who inquired, "Enchant? What do you mean?"

Akeno breathed in in relief as she saw her mate calming down, but knowing that he too shared the same question, she responded, "Enchanting a weapon is sort of like magically adding a specific attribute…" She looked at her mate and continued, "Like with Naruto's Gloria, he can channel his chakra in it and the sword gains the specific attribute of whatever chakra nature he uses. There are people however, who are not capable or versed enough in chakra manipulation to use such weapons, so those with knowledge of magic retort to magical incantation, which basically infuses a specific attribute to the weapon, it doesn't require chakra or magic to work as it's charged by natural energy that the incantation itself vacuums from its surroundings."

Everybody nodded at that, with Naruto deducing, "So if I get ya right, an incantation is basically a permanent attribute, it cannot be changed, aight?"

Akeno nodded with a smile, proud of her mate's deduction skills, "Good to see you're not only good looking…" She giggled at his expense before she returned to the main subject, "Anyways, I met this woman and enchanted her sword, her name was Shiki Ryōgi."

"A woman leading the Capital's biggest mafia? That's a first." Hinata commented.

"And quite convenient for us." Ino added, a sly smile on her face as she realised that the possibilities to pull Naruto's ambition off were quite great.

"She's feared by everyone in her gang, after all, she leads with an iron fist…" Akeno said before she turned to look at her draconic lover and added, "I know you might want to avoid that world Naruto, but…"

She was cut off however, when Naruto surprised them all by saying, "I have no problem in diving into the criminal world, I'm not a fool, luvs, I understand that crime will always exist, in a way, it's even necessary…" He leaned on and as he rested his chin on his fists, continued, "It's better to have some form of control over the crime world than just try to either destroy it or ignore it, none of those options sit well with me."

Tsubaki nodded but commented solemnly, "You are correct, I have seen many shady deals done by our village even, crime is very profitable after all…" She smiled sadly as she added, "It's sad but crime cannot be eradicated."

Naruto noticed the gloominess washing over his mates, he understood that their momentarily downed mood is because of the fact that they work for the law and it is their dream to rid this world of atrocities. Sadly, it was not possible, he is the god of darkness and he understands that darkness will always exist, heck, it has to exist, otherwise the lines between good and evil will simply disappear and no one will know what's what then, "Don't get down, fools! It doesn't mean we can't put a leash on it!…" His women did recovered somewhat due to his cheering, it made him feel happy to see that they believed in him this much. Promising to not let them down, he looked back at Akeno and asked, "What do ya know 'bout this Shiki lass?"

Akeno sipped her tea and responded, "Not much, I only met her once and for what I could tell, she has a cold and merciless personality, but I could feel something off about her, as if… umm… I don't know how to say it… as if she was… incomplete…" She hummed for a moment before she continued, "Beyond that, we really didn't spoke much, only what she desired for her sword and the way out of her office…" She suddenly gasped when she remembered something, "I almost forgot! There was this rumour that she has some kind of dōjutsu…" That raised everyone's eyebrows, prompting her to continue, "I didn't heard much because it was between hushes, but apparently her eyes have the ability to show her someone's mortality…" She saw everyone confused but being as confused as well, she shrugged and added a little dejected, "S-Sorry… I… I don't r-really understand either…"

Naruto immediately appeared beside his winged mate, kissing her chastely on the lips as he soothed, "There's nothing to be sorry 'bout, Ake! You made some legit work right now, fool!"

Akeno smiled as she leaned on to get another kiss, happiness coursing through her body as she finally had someone to back her up whenever she felt down, it was a very welcoming feeling indeed.

Tsubaki smiled at the scene as she finished writing the new entrance on their Bingo Book, closing it once done and after she placed it on the table, she spoke, "If only we had a way to scout these women to see how they act and what they like." The rest of the Harem pouted at that, understanding that without beforehand information of the targets, Naruto was going to have a hard time with them.

Naruto however, smirked as he said, "That's already covered!…" His women turned to look at him inquisitively, prompting him to add, "Long ago I helped out a girl that turned out to be an information broker, long story short, if I convince her to join us, we'll have one of the continent's best broker at our disposal."

Everyone gaped at their shared mate's words, it never stopped shocking them how much has he actually though out his plan, he was definitely not joking at all.

Shaking her head in amusement at her lover's resourcefulness, Tsubaki decided to trust in her mate's choice in order to ask about someone else, "Well, with that covered, what about Yūgao? You said she wanted to go with you and Lord Jiraiya on your mission, right?"

Naruto winced at that, looking at the ground as he answered, "True but I…" He inhaled, trying to come up with suitable answer but he just couldn't, "I really don't know, ya know?"

His women pouted at that, they could understand their mate's reluctance since the purple-haired ANBU just recently lost her fiancé, who was Naruto's swordsmanship teacher, swordsmanship was one of the most honourable arts and as such, a student respects his or her teacher almost above everyone else, something that was no different with Naruto, it was obvious that he wasn't totally sure whether seducing Yūgao was a lack of respect towards the man or not.

But Tsubaki being the older and wiser of the group, countered, "I understand that you want to wait for some time to pass, sweetie, but being someone who just recently lost a part of her life as well, I can tell you that having the sort of emotional pillar that only a romantic partner can provide it's really what's keeping me going…" She looked at the silver-haired Namikaze with loving eyes as she added, "We might have just got together a day ago, but the fact that I know there is a warm kiss waiting for me whenever I feel like slipping back into my self-pity, makes me feel incredibly reassured."

Naruto had his eyes wide at the admission of his newest lover, he has never really put much thought into it but now that she mentioned it, he could really dissect the enormous difference between the comfort a friend or relative can give and the one that a lover gives, they are in fact very, very different. He was also happy that so far, he has been able to do right by his women, "Aight then, I'll… I'll see how it goes in the mission…" He looked at his women before he finished, "If I see a chance, I'll take it."

Everyone nodded at their mate with a smile, with Ino asking, "Is this all then?…" Naruto nodded at that, not really having anything else to discuss, so Ino spoke again with a sly smirk, "Well then babe, shu shu…" She gestured him to leave and as she looked at the other females in the room, she added sultrily, "I think it's time for a little bit of… _sister bonding…_ before I have to go back to the shop." She giggled as the women, even Akeno, blushed at the sultry tone, understanding what kind of bonding the naughty blonde was proposing, whether she was doing it for real or just to get a reaction from their man, was not clear.

Naruto felt his member twitching at those words, whining, "Aww come on! Can't I watch!?"

Akeno giggled as she stood up and while pushing her mate towards the door, she whispered in his ear, "Now, now dear, this is our training so we can _please_ you better as a group…" Naruto groaned in total lust at the mere thought since he so far has only been with Ayame and Tsubaki, separately, the idea of something so dirty was definitely sky rocketing his draconic lust, "We can't have distractions now, can we?" The blackette buxom finished, with a kiss on his neck as he realised he was already outside Tsubaki's house, the door closing on his back amongst the giggles of his amused mates.

Naruto just inhaled, calming his lust down as he muttered with a small smirk, "These women gon be the death of me, boi." He chuckled as he put his hands in his pockets, walking towards his apartment in order to get everything ready for his mission tomorrow.

* * *

Yūgao took a deep breath as she eyed the rising sun, she had her mother's katana safely tied to her waist, ready to be wielded at a moment's notice. For this mission, she had forgone using her ANBU mask, leaving her gorgeous face free to be admired by anyone who set their eyes on her, she was still wearing her standard ANBU gear though, as she was already accustomed to fight and move with said attire.

She could feel some shivers of nervousness creeping up her body, despite what she told her leader yesterday, she was indeed feeling somewhat uneasy about leaving her foster parents' by themselves, it wouldn't be a problem if it was for just a couple of days but she wasn't so sure of how much this mission will last since for what she was told, Tsunade was going to be a very tough nut to convince, she just hoped that it won't take them longer than a month.

She was currently leaning on one of the huge gates of the village, waiting for her companions. She felt relieved when she saw both of them approaching, thanking god that her beloved silverette arrived in time this once, "Lord Jiraiya…" She bowed to her superior and this mission's leader, "Naruto." She smiled at the silverette who was somewhat speechless right now.

Jiraiya turned to look at his godson, smiling lecherously as he saw his shocked expression, giggling when he muttered, "Damn, she looks gorgeous…" Yūgao, as expected, blushed incredibly hard at the compliment, more so when it came from him. Naruto seemed to realise that he said that aloud so spoke, "Oh shit! Yo… I… I said that aloud, didn't I?…" His godfather nodded at him, a knowing smirk adorning his face. Naruto ignored that though and turned to look at the blushing woman, shocking them both when he said with a sexy smirk, "Well, can't blame me for speaking the truth, you should show ya beautiful face more often, Yū."

Yūgao widened her eyes as her blush became even redder, sputtering nonsense as she was caught completely off guard. Jiraiya looked in slight awe as he thought, _'Damn… this brat is good…'_ He could not stop admiring how much does that silver-haired lucky bastard attracts women, it's as if they instantly fall in love with him, " _Ahem_ …" The white-haired pervert cleared his throat, knowing that while it was fun to watch the powerful ANBU Captain struggle to regain her wits after being complimented, they still have an important mission to carry out, "Now Naruto, you can tease our beautiful friend here on the road, let's not waste any time."

Yūgao just shook her head to rid her mind of her stupor and nodded, still a cute blush adorning her cheeks. Naruto just chuckled before he declared loudly, "Aight fools! Let's find that she-fool!"

The purple-haired female giggled at the boy's eagerness, turning to look at the legendary sannin to ask, "Do you know where Lady Tsunade is, Lord Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya looked at the female walking by his side to reply, "No, Tsunade has spent the last fifteen years roaming all over the Land of Fire, our best bet right now is to head to one of my spies in Otafuku Gai, there is a Leaf post there so we won't have trouble moving around freely there."

Yūgao nodded at that, happy that they weren't walking into a wild goose chase, she wanted to get the legendary medic sannin as soon as possible so that her parents receive medical treatment, time was of essence after all.

Naruto for his part walked silently in front of the two more experienced ninja, he was currently listening to his predecessor as the mighty god said, **_"Boy, I want you to come here with me every moment you have free."_**

Naruto tilted his head after that, questioning, _"Why?"_

 ** _"_** ** _I'm going to teach you how to summon the Dragon Gate."_** Ddraig replied, feeling that it was time for his successor to be able to call on his kin.

Naruto widened his eyes at that, excitement rushing through his body as he said, _"Ooooo shit! Yo! You mean amma be able to summon dem dragons!?"_ This was a huge thing for him since he has always wanted to get a summoning contract. Jiraiya had offered him the toad contract when he graduated from the Academy, he was all for it but imagine his disappointment when the Absolute God of End told him that it was impossible for him to sign a summoning contract since he was a full-fledged god and as such, he did not required any summoning contract, summons were already obliged to follow his command, but before Naruto could get excited again, Ddraig added that he forbade Naruto from using summons as it would be a direct insult to their species, Naruto did felt incredible dejected after that but he quickly brightened up when he thought of the day he will be finally able to call on his dragon kin, the only problem back then was coming up with a good excuse for Jiraiya since the man might be a huge pervert but whenever he gets serious, rarely anything gets by him. Naruto was able to come up with the lie of Ddraig letting him sign the dragon contract and since the dragons were jealous creatures, they didn't allowed their summoner another contract. Naruto knows that Jiraiya saw through his lie as he was pretty sure the white-haired man knew that such contract doesn't exist, but he seemed to let it go as he never commented on it again.

The mighty god chuckled inside the boy's mind, finding his host and successor's excitement as amusing as ever, **_"Yes boy, but you will only be able to get a partner for now, you need to go through the Draconii's trials in order to gain access to Drakunia."_** He explained, wondering who will become the boy's familiar since the way that dragons are paired with companion is usually done by their perspective personalities, the more they're like, the more likely they are to end up together, he just hoped that there is no fricking rapping dragon waiting for a partner.

Naruto widened his eyes at that, recognising the word, _"The Draconii are real!?"_ The 'Draconii' were a legend known throughout the world, there are many books and tales written about them, principally about the so called 'Dragon Priests', humans who were blessed by the dragons themselves to carry on their knowledge and power, but as far as Naruto knew, they were mere legends.

Ddraig smirked, replying, **_"Oh, they are very real, hatchling, I don't know how many are left but there aren't many since as new religions emerged, those who worshipped dragons slowly started to demean…"_** The red beast sighed before he continued, **_"The Priests might already be dead for all I know, but their bodies will always remain guarding the doors to Drakunia, even if they are mere corpses, they will still be creatures at the same level that your Hokage."_**

Naruto gulped at that, knowing that whatever test he must take to gain entrance to Drakunia will surely revolve around fighting, probably the Priests themselves, fighting IS the dragon way after all.

With that, the silver-haired Namikaze refocused back on the road, feeling eager to get the dragon gate down so he can get a dragon companion. He was also eager to meet this Tsunade woman since he has heard amazing things about her, not to say about his curiosity at seeing how it goes with Yūgao, overall, he knows that he has a quite intriguing adventure ahead of him.

* * *

Sasuke was not an idiot, he might not be as big as a genius as his silver-haired brother, much less Itachi, but he was still a genius in his own right and despite Kakashi's effort to keep him off the loop, he still was able to pick up his older brother's chakra signature, right inside the restaurant that was behind Kakashi when he called him to speak about his training.

Since the last loyal Uchiha has been training daily with Naruto, Sasuke can confidently say that he was the silverette's equal, more so now that he has that damn curse mark Orochimaru gave him in the Forest of Death, it closed the gap between him and his rap-loving brother since he always had the advantage of being a jinchūriki. Sasuke was not going to lie, a part of him felt jealous of that and he could hear a small voice in the back of his head telling him to go to Orochimaru so he could learn to fully use the mark as the power it gave him was undeniable, but again, he was not stupid, he very well understood what Orochimaru was doing, tempting him for whatever purpose the snake traitor had for him, too bad for the snake that Sasuke's own darkness was greater than his and as such, his presence in the curse barely even annoyed him.

Even if he were to heed said voice and run to Orochimaru, he couldn't really say that he would get more stronger with the snake than here in the Leaf, he might not love this place with all his heart, not even Naruto loves the Leaf, but just like the silverette, this was his home, were the people he cares about, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, the Ichiraku, even the Rookie Eleven, they're all here and they all call this place home. If he were to focus solely on his vengeance, he was sure he would've already left the village regardless his brother being here, but vengeance is no longer his number one priority, his number one priority is simply to live, to restore his clan, to get a strong as he could, to not be left behind by Naruto. He will get Itachi, one day, but he will no longer sacrifice everything just to strike him down.

Perhaps the day he will get Itachi is already here though, as he finally managed to pinpoint said man's location. Sasuke knew that he was not strong enough to beat him, the mere feeling of his chakra made his self-preservation senses kick in, urging him to go the other way, but with the other jōnin around, they might have a chance.

* * *

"Dammit…" Asuma cursed as he was locked into a stalemate with the huge shark-like man in front of him. The man keeping him away from Kurenai who was having a really bad time with Itachi was incredibly strong, he was using a gigantic sword with such ease that it seems as if to him, the giant bandaged sword weighted nothing more than a single toothpick, "Kurenai!" He screamed to his girlfriend as he realised that she made the mistake of using a genjutsu on Itachi, who was known as the greatest genjutsu genius the Leaf has ever seen.

"Trying to place an Uchiha in a genjutsu is rather foolish thinking, Kurenai…" Itachi spoke with his impassive tone as he calmly walked towards the trapped Kurenai. The woman had tried to place Itachi under a genjutsu but she was fooled into thinking that it worked, she was about to strike the supposedly stranded Itachi but to her shock, it was her the one under a genjutsu, "You've made your last mistake." Itachi added as he unsheathed his kunai and went to slash the woman on her neck.

"S-Shit." Kurenai cursed herself for her huge mistake as she bit her lip to free herself from the genjutsu, it worked but she realised that she was already too late to avoid the slash. She panicked as she tried to come up with some way to save herself but just as she was about to give up, a katana infused with lightning suddenly stabbed the ground where Itachi stood seconds ago.

Itachi was indeed surprised that someone managed to sneak an attack on him, it was only thanks to his honed senses that he was able to feel an attack coming. His surprise then turned into slight shock when he immediately recognised the sword that hit the very spot he was in before, _'Sasuke…'_ He thought as he saw his little brother suddenly appearing in front of Kurenai, grabbing back their mother's sword.

"Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke spoke as he pointed the sword towards his big brother, surprising everyone there by the incredibly calm and collected demeanour which he was handling himself with, the hatred was there, as vibrant as ever, but the boy seemed wiser and more intelligent, not making the mistake of blindingly charging at a clearly stronger opponent.

Itachi hid the pride he felt for Sasuke right now in order to say with his dead-like voice, "Foolish little brother, it's still too soon for you to even dream of standing against me." The older Uchiha couldn't stop his pride for Sasuke, he was so surprised to see that Sasuke was not only getting really strong, but he now had the mind-set to become an actual threat to anyone, a really big threat.

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" A voice said coming from behind Itachi. The older Uchiha had already felt Kakashi coming up behind him and Kakashi also knew this, hence why he didn't tried to sneak an attack as he was sure that it would be just a waste of time, thus he preferred to know what the Uchiha's slaughterer was doing back here in the Leaf.

Itachi kept his impassive face as his partner jumped to stand beside him, completely uncaring about being outnumbered as he said with a shark-like grin on his blue face, "Ah! More people to fight, eh?"

"Calm down, Kisame…" Itachi said as he looked back at the silver-haired jōnin to answer his previous question, "We came for your legacy, Kakashi."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at that, gripping the kunai tighter as he realised what the Uchiha meant. The Hatake also placed the cloaks those two were wearing as he was informed by Jiraiya of the organization known as Akatsuki, they were supposedly after the Tailed Beasts, "So you came here for Naruto…" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at that, "More specifically, the Twelve-Wings."

"Oh hahaha…" Kisame laughed loudly while patting his stomach, saying, "These worms are certainly informed about us." He started swinging his giant sword around, itching for a fight.

Itachi continued looking without expression, saying, "Yes but it seems that he is not here at the moment, so we'll leave." He looked at Kisame, silently telling him to control himself. It's not that they couldn't handle Kakashi and the rest here, the problem was that they won't go down easily and the fight will certainly drag the Hokage's attention, heck, he was even sure that the Hokage already knew about their presence here in the Leaf, despite the fact that the man was old, he was still a dozen of steps above Itachi and Kisame, that strong the old monkey still is, a fight against him in his very own turf, was not going to end well for the two Akatsuki members.

Just before Kisame complained, Kakashi signalled his colleagues and student, "You're not going anywhere." Asuma and Kurenai immediately separated Kisame, leaving Kakashi and Sasuke alone to fight against Itachi.

"I surpassed you when I was twelve years old, Kakashi…" Itachi spoke calmly as he eyed both his brother and Kakashi, "What makes you think you can beat me now?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the older Uchiha, his lone sharingan flaring dangerously with its three tomoe. Sasuke had his two tomoe sharingan flaring fiercely as well, holding his mother's katana tightly, ready to strike at a moment's notice. The younger Uchiha has decided to stay quiet, knowing that speaking may only lead him to lose his focus, losing your cool against someone like Itachi will surely be your last mistake.

Itachi's hand suddenly appeared from his coat's long sleeves, three shuriken being held in between his fingers. Kakashi only had time to step back as he started doing a set of hand-seals, watching as Sasuke managed to parry the shuriken, sending a wave of electricity towards Itachi with a swing of his katana. Kakashi took advantage of this as he said, "Water Style: Water Dragon!" Kakashi utilised the liquid from the river behind him to create a powerful construct of water, trying to soak Itachi so that Sasuke's lightning would be more effective.

But just as the silver-haired jōnin expected, Itachi substituted himself with a log and avoided the hit. The older Uchiha wordlessly shot a phoenix flower jutsu at Kakashi, forcing the Hatake to create a water wall in order to protect himself from the deadly fire.

Sasuke meanwhile seized his brother's distraction, sneaking up behind him, _'He won't fall with this…'_ Sasuke thought, knowing that it was not going to be enough but not really having anything else, he charged his sword with lightning and lunged at his older brother, feeling surprised when his sword managed to pierce Itachi's back.

"Sasuke jump back!" Kakashi suddenly screamed as he realised the truth. The boy in question also realised that the Itachi he pierced was a simple shadow clone but before he could even do anything, he felt a hand on his shoulder that forcefully turned him around to face a pair of eyes he hasn't seen since the day of the massacre.

"Your hate is still too small, little brother…" Itachi spoke with a chilling tone as his mangekyō went to work, capturing Sasuke in a tsukuyomi, "I shall correct that." He added to the now crucified Sasuke who widened his eyes when he saw the image of his mother and his team appearing kneeling before him.

"N-No… you… t-they're not… real…" Sasuke weakly whispered as he was forced to witness over and over again how Itachi massacred Mikoto, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi, with them looking straight at his onyx eyes, calling him a weakling who could not even protect those he says he cares about.

On the outside, Kakashi gritted his teeth as he saw his student suddenly grabbing his head in pain before he vomited and collapsed, falling into unconsciousness, "So you did unlocked those eyes." The silver-haired copy ninja said as he readied his stance, stowing his anger for now.

"Yes, that is why I killed my clan after all…" Itachi replied emotionlessly, talking about the slaughter he carried out without a single drop of remorse or care, "You might be a little resistant to my Mangekyō Sharingan…" Itachi was saying before he shocked Kakashi as he suddenly appeared right before him, "But it's still not enough." The older Uchiha finished as his eyes locked Kakashi into the tsukuyomi.

Kakashi widened his eyes when he now found himself bound to a crux, the world around him was black and white while the sky was tinted in blood-red, "In this world…" The voice of Itachi suddenly draw his attention to his front, where two Itachi stood with swords aimed to his stomach, "I control everything, time, space, mass, it all falls under my jurisdiction…" He stabbed Kakashi on the gut, making the elite jōnin scream in pain as a second sword pierced him again, "For the next seventy-two hours, you will experience my blade."

Kakashi screamed loudly after another sword pierced him again, _'Calm d-down… it's j-just… an illusion…'_ He grunted when he felt a new pain, though this one felt like a phantom pain. He looked up confused only to widen his eyes in shock again when he saw a copy of himself some steps away from him, enduring the same torture he currently was in.

"It's best not to be optimistic and think of this as a mere illusion…" Itachi spoke before yet another copy of them appeared, "After all, this is no mere genjutsu…" He pierced Kakashi again, who amazingly, managed to calm himself down somewhat, "How long will your spirit hold on, Kakashi? I wonder…" More copies started appearing as he spoke, Kakashi starting to feel overwhelmed by the amount of pain he was enduring, "We will see since you still have seventy-one hours with fifty-nine minutes to endure."

Kurenai and Asuma immediately rushed to their fellow jōnin's side when they saw him fall to his knees, they were confused as to why both Sasuke and Kakashi went down so easily, so Asuma questioned the barely awake Hatake, "Kakashi! What is going on!?" He did not took his eyes off of Kisame either, but the shark-like man seemed to have lost interest in them as he jumped to stand beside the Uchiha.

"T-Tsukuyomi… the most powerful g-genjutsu in ex-existence…" Kakashi answered in between breaths, looking up a little as he immediately warned, "Do not… u-under any circumstance… l-look directly into his eyes."

Both Asuma and Kurenai felt confused, more so Kurenai since she has never heard of such a thing and she was supposed to be the Leaf's genjutsu specialist. But before any of them could ask anything, Kisame said, "I'm bored…" He suddenly sprinted towards the three Leaf-nin, shocking them for the incredible speed the man had, "Let's have some fun!" Kisame added with a wide grin that suddenly turned into a frown when he felt danger, jumping back as something powerful hit where he was about to be.

"Severe Leaf Hurricanes!…" The eccentric voice of Might Guy suddenly said, a powerful kick delivered to where Kisame previously stood. He didn't felt frustrated at missing though, as suddenly Kisame went flying back by a seemingly invisible blow, "Don't underestimate the power of the Leaf's Sublime Green Beast!" He spoke confidently, his fist coated with a strange red energy.

Kisame stood up again, wiping the trail of blood running down his mouth, he did not see the punch at all and he had to admit, that was damn impressive, "I like this guy." The Mist missing-nin muttered, his grin showing once again as he prepared his sword.

Itachi stopped him though, when he said, "That is enough Kisame, we'd only be wasting time if we stay to fight here, remember our objective…" He spared a moment to unnoticedly look at his unconscious brother before he added with no room left to argue, "We're leaving." Kisame just sighed dejectedly before they suddenly disappeared in a flicker, stunning the Leaf-nin at their amazing speed.

The four Leaf jōnin cursed after that, knowing that they were completely outclassed by Itachi and his companion. Might Guy turned back to grab Kakashi's shoulder as he said, "Are you okay, my eternal rival?"

Kakashi kept his gaze down, frustrated at how weak he looked, he couldn't accept that, he had a family to protect, he needed to get stronger as it seems that Akatsuki was finally targeting his son, "No…" He answered weakly, feeling his consciousness quickly fading away, "S-Sasuke." He managed to say before he lost it, falling limp in Guy's arms.

Kurenai sighed as she muttered, "I'll go get him…" She jumped towards where the young Uchiha was, a painful frown adorning his face as he shivered slightly, "What did he do to you?" Kurenai muttered with a frown, not understanding how Itachi could do something like this to his own blood.

"I'll go inform Lord Hokage…" Asuma spoke as he turned around towards his father's office, "Lord Jiraiya needs to know that Itachi is on his way." He disappeared after he received a nod from both Kurenai and Guy, a bad feeling on his gut about the events to come.

* * *

Five days have passed since Naruto, Jiraiya and Yūgao began their search for Tsunade Senju, they have just arrived to Otafuku Gai a day ago and the moment they stepped into the town, Jiraiya quickly made himself scarce, saying that he needed to go and meet his spy to see what she got on Tsunade's location, " _Pft_ … He left yesterday and I haven't seen him ever since, damn perv is probably wetting his prick somewhere." Naruto muttered with an annoyed sigh, he understood the value of brothels as spy networks as they are hotspots for dropping information unintendedly, but Jiraiya didn't had to spend a whole freaking day there.

He calmed himself again as his partner spoke, **_"Focus hatchling, opening the dragon gate is a delicate subject."_**

Naruto tilted his head at that, asking, _"Why? I thought it was sorta like a summoning jutsu."_

 ** _"_** ** _Well, summoning was indeed created by mimicking the divine gates, which call on specific race of gods…"_** Ddraig was saying before he rested his giant head on his front legs to add, **_"But the difference between a divine gate and a summoning, is that divine gates are sentient."_**

Naruto widened his eyes at that, he couldn't really understand how a simple gate was alive, so he questioned, _"Whoa whoa whoa… ya telling me they speak and shit!?"_

The mighty Absolute God of End snorted at that, saying after, **_"Not all of them brat, they are like darkness and light, they just have a conscious and act according to their purpose…"_** Ddraig then changed his voice to a more serious one to warn, **_"The difference between the dragon gate and the rest is that this one's a dragon too, she was the first gate since our race is the oldest so she was created as a normal dragon, a very strange looking dragon…"_** Ddraig sniggered a little before he continued, **_"But if she feels you're forcing her to open, she will attack you regardless of whether or not you're a dragon, and you're not strong enough to survive an attack from Evajduin."_**

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, saying back, _"Evajduin? Is that the gate's name?"_

 ** _"_** ** _Yes, she's the warden of Drakunia, widely known as the 'Living Gate'…"_** Ddraig then added, speaking from experience, **_"Don't tease her about her form though, it's not going to end well for you, I can tell you that…"_** He, surprisingly, shivered at the memory, oh how it hurt.

That definitely made Naruto raise his eyebrow in curiosity, he could tell that his predecessor did teased the female dragon about her form, which he could already picture as a giant scaly gate with a face at the top, and if the god's shivering form was any indication, whatever she did in retaliation was definitely not something he wish to personally experience.

 ** _"_** ** _Now, focus…"_** Ddraig then said, breaking Naruto from his pondering in order to inhale as he sat crossed legged on the ground in the middle of a vast field just behind Otafuku Gai, completely alone as he wanted to get this done in secret, **_"Bite your index finger and draw your dragon signature on the ground…"_** Naruto nodded and bit his index finger to draw blood, he then started using his finger as a brush as he drew with his blood a large upside down diamond figure, with an open slitted eye at the bottom of the diamond, this was the symbol for the 'End', **_"Good, now focus your divine essence in your dominant palm and do the chant."_**

Naruto did as told but before he did the ritual, he questioned, _"Am I gon have to do this every time, fam?"_ It looked cool as fuck yeah, but damn if it didn't take time.

The beast just sighed frustrated, a sigh that was shared by the haughty Nine Tailed Fox that was silently observing her host's training, she has always found the ways of a dragon as the most intriguing of all, they were the first after all, **_"No boy, you have to do this so you can invoke Evajduin, she has to meet you first so that she can gauge your strength and character as she is the one that will find you a suitable partner."_** Ddraig explained with a slightly annoyed tone.

Naruto nodded at that, focusing back on the ritual as he placed his dominant hand over the mark he drew and chanted with a whisper, "Evajriduin ecomui fuortuha, fuori e neidu yoiri fuortuhagi, e sihaoev muysiluf tuo yoi, sio yoi ecajne dimu muy evortuha."

He waited for some moments as everything was calm, that is until the symbol he drew started glowing brightly, forcing Naruto to jump back as a colossal structure suddenly appeared from a strange black portal, "S-Shit… everyone must've realised what I'm doing… damn…" He muttered as he covered his eyes to shield them from the blinding light.

 ** _"_** ** _Relax hatchling, whenever Evajduin is called, the world around you is distorted, you are currently in a space where time moves at speeds beyond what any mortal creature could percept, as well as the fact that we are dealing with divine energy here, your companions will not be able to feel a thing…"_** Ddraig explained before he added, **_"Now pay attention, she has come and she's easily irritable, she's almost as old as me after all."_**

Naruto sweat-dropped at that, gaping as the light and smoke finally cleared to show a colossal gate that could very easily dwarf the Hokage Tower itself, though, he had to stifle a laugh since the female dragon in question was exactly as she pictured her to be, a huge light-brown square-like dragon gate, it kinda looked like the 'Summoning: Rashōmon', but much bigger. It was as if the dragon ate a gate but couldn't digest it since she had tiny legs and arms, as well as tiny wings, well, all in comparison of her size of course, and to top it all, the head of the female reptile stood menacingly atop of the gate. Even from a first glance, Naruto could tell she was one grumpy old lady.

 **"** **Who dares to wake me up from my nap!?"** The grumpy old female dragon spoke, her voice resounding throughout the clearing, powerful, mighty and slightly groggy.

 _"_ _Oh shit… is s-she… speaking human tongue?"_ He asked his god tenant, confused as to why would the old dragon speak the human language, he had thought that he needed to speak the dragon's native tongue to communicate with her.

 ** _"_** ** _She knows that you're still not versed enough on our tongue hatchling, you still speak the humanised version for the most part and she realised that with the ritual…"_** Ddraig then closed his giant eyes and added, **_"She's making things easier for you."_**

 _'_ _Cool…'_ Naruto thought dryly before he replied to the dragon gate who was now looking straight at the tiny ant he represented to her, "T-That was me!… umm… m-ma'am…" You couldn't really blame him for feeling nervous, if she was capable of making Ddraig shiver, then he sure as hell was not going to be a smartass with the dragon.

The female dragon narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her. For a second, she thought that this pipsqueak stole Ddraig's signature but once she focused her senses on him, she could tell very well who this boy was and what he carries, **"So this is where Lord Ddraig has been, huh?…"** Evajduin then added with a small smirk, **"And I also see that he's finally retiring, good for him, he's already too old for this."**

Naruto stifled a chuckle as he heard his dragon mentor growling menacingly inside his mind, it was a shock to him to see that someone that's not him was capable of driving the mighty god nuts, "Y-Yes ma'am, my name is Naruto Namikaze and I am Lord Ddraig's successor." He was not one for using titles but in this sort of situations, speaking of Ddraig as an acquaintance was a grave form of insult. Dragons may not usually take importance on titles as their costumes revolve around respect, they will not automatically respect you even if you are a King, after all, to them, every other species are nothing but mere toddlers, you must earn their respect first before you can demand them to call you by a title. Things change however, when a dragon has earned a title, since the dragon has already won the respect of the community, not calling them by their moniker is a form of disrespect as it is basically you saying that you don't think they've earned their name, creatures like the Absolute Gods and the Mother and Father of all, are the only ones with automatic respect as every dragon was born from them. Not using the 'Lord' when referring to Ddraig in front a dragon you really don't know well, it's basically a spit to their beliefs, something that dragons do not take lightly.

 **"** **Mhm…"** Evajduin hummed, forcing Naruto to kill his laugh as she nodded her tiny head, creating a hilarious sight, **"You have potential, you're still a hatchling, and you certainly are not ready to go on the Draconii Trials, much less walk into our homeland…"** Naruto sighed at that, knowing that while he might be getting famous and respected in the human world, at least his continent, but when it comes to his kin, he's but a mere child barely able to walk, **"But you are indeed worthy of becoming our god…"** That shocked Naruto, Ddraig did told him that she was a grumpy old lady and while she does seemed that way, the dragon was speaking to him softly, encouraging even, **"But that's a talk for another day as I believe you called me to find you a partner, right?"**

Naruto nodded at that, replying, "Yes Warden, if you'd be so kind."

The dragon gate hummed as she studied the hatchling before her, she could feel his determination, whatever goal he had, was well backed by it, his strength was also latent since even if he was a hatchling, his current power was nothing to joke about. She widened her eyes though, when she sensed his blood, she never thought that HE actually had a child, **_"L-Lord Ddraig… i-is this boy?…"_** She communicated telepathically with the red dragon, wanting to keep her discovery a secret.

Ddraig sighed inside Naruto's mindscape, replying, **_"Yes Evajduin, this boy is his descendant."_**

Evajduin just killed her shock in order to avoid the boy picking it up, her belief that this boy was the right successor to Ddraig increased as she now realised the true potential he had. Despite all the power and potential he possesses, she could also feel that the hatchling had a tendency to act as a buffoon, but well, the most powerful beings are usually mad as hell, **"I have gauged you, hatchling, you have certainly impressed…"** The hatchling in question smiled stupidly at that, scratching his scruff as an embarrassed blush adorned his cheeks, **"I will find a suitable partner for you in a couple of days, your mark shall appear in your hand when I call for you."** She added.

Naruto bowed gratefully at the female dragon, stating, "Thank you Warden, I shall await for your call."

The living gate nodded her head at that, noticing Naruto's inhuman effort to not burst into laughs. She would usually obliterate anyone who mocks her but the boy was doing a huge effort to respect her, so she gave him a pass, **"Very well then, I shall leave, farewell, hatchling."** A pitch black portal appeared again behind her before it consumed her, disappearing from view moments later.

Naruto stayed there, frozen at the whole ordeal, he sensed how the world around him went back to normal before he suddenly burst out laughing, "Hahahahahaha… shiiiiiiiit…" He rolled around the ground, Ddraig snickering inside his mind while Kurama softly giggled, "Fuuuuuuuck… she looked sooo freaking hilarious!… hahaha… oooo shit… m-my stomach…" He whined as he held his pained stomach, strained from all the laughter he did.

He rested on the ground as he recovered his breath, his eyes closed while he enjoyed the breeze, "Gotta go back before Yū gets worried." He muttered after he finally regained his composure, jumping to his feet as a wide smile adorned his face, excited to see what kind of partner the Warden will choose for him.

* * *

Yūgao sighed as she allowed the cold water of the shower to wash all of her worries away, she couldn't deny the fact that the past five days she has spent on the road with Naruto and the Toad Sannin have definitely lowered her stress as it helped her clear her head.

Though, the worry for her parents' current state was as fervent as ever, she didn't let it get to her too much because she knew that they were okay, the Hokage was not going to let anything happen to them, nobody but a few knew about their revival of course, so something as an assassination or kidnap attempt was certainly not likely. Her parents' problem was not that, it was time, but while she was eager to find the Slug Sannin, she couldn't really do much as it was up to Jiraiya's spies to get her location, though she wish the damn pervert wouldn't spend the whole day sleeping with some random prostitute.

"At least he controls himself around me." The purple-haired ANBU muttered as she washed her body, thankful that the old lecher knew who to act as a pervert with and who don't.

Her mind suddenly wandered to her other companion, her touchstone, her most precious person. She has never really spent so much time alone with him before and she couldn't deny that she loved it, he was just so fun to be around and the fact that he always puts her before anything, always standing on guard around her, making sure she slept well and such, it made her stomach feel warm and nervous, in an exciting kind of way. She knows that she shouldn't really be feeling like that about him, she was supposed to be his older sister figure, but she couldn't deny the fact that she likes him as a man too. Since he turned twelve, she could freely admit that he was incredibly handsome for a kid but when he suddenly hit a growth spout that made him look like he was her age, it really made her change her view of him as a man, not a little brother.

"W-What am I doing?" She gasped as she realised that she has been teasing her vagina as she thought of him, damn him and his stupid beautiful face. It didn't helped that she could easily understand that the fact that he acknowledged her as Kushina's daughter and that he gave her mother's sword to her really shook her ground. She knows he doesn't even realise but the thing that attracts women the most about him was the way he somehow pulls such affectionate acts without any sort of effort, it was the fact that they were completely honest that really made a girl blush and unfortunately, she was a girl, and she blushed.

But still, her lover just recently died and she didn't wanted to ruin her relationship with Naruto, she hadn't much to offer and he was someone who could have any girl he wishes, even if she doesn't intend to figure out this strange change of feelings she has for him, she knew it would be useless as he will never look at her like that anyway, and she hated that it hurts despite her not even trying.

"Damn you, Naruto…" She whispered with a cute pout when she stepped out of the shower and dried herself with a towel. She looked at her reflection for a second before she went towards the door and opened it, cleaning her hair with another towel, obstructing her vision so she couldn't see that someone was in front of her, "Aw!" She whined as she fell forward, dragging along whoever was in front of her.

"U-Umm…" The unsure voice of someone she recognised by scent alone forced Yūgao to throw the towel on her head away, clearing her view as she saw that the one she bumped into was none other than Naruto, who was blushing madly as he was with his back against the floor, right below her barely covered body.

"N-Naruto." The foster Uzumaki whispered, not moving an inch as she could feel her heat going up too, no doubt a blush on her face right now. She tried, she seriously tried to move away from him but her body was just not responding at all, it just felt so good to have his warmth so close to her.

"Y-Yū." Naruto whispered back, slowly snaking his arms around her waist. Most men would've surely looked down at her naked body which was currently being cover by a lone towel that he could feel had fallen off, but he couldn't find himself looking away from the woman's black eyes, or her lips.

Yūgao cursed herself for two reasons, one being for practically forcing Naruto to share a room with her as she did not wanted to take her eyes off of him, not when Akatsuki was after him. And two, because her body shivered delightfully when she felt his arms around her, she will be lying if she said that she didn't enjoyed being embraced like this by him, she didn't even cared if it was her current turmoil the one pushing her this far with him, she only cared to feel his lips on hers, hence why she boldly claimed them in a deep kiss.

Naruto was definitely shocked, he for sure wanted to kiss the woman as he has always felt a huge attraction towards her, only his mentor stopped him from trying to seduce her and while he still wasn't so sure if it has been enough time or not, he couldn't stop himself from responding the kiss while he tightened his grip on her, using his tongue to invade her mouth as she moaned into his mouth.

His state of ecstasy was cut short however, when he felt a presence nearby, a presence he hasn't felt in a long time, "N-Naruto?" Yūgao whispered after he stopped the kiss and suddenly turned towards the door of the room, she knows she might have made a mistake but her body acted on its own, she just hoped he wasn't mad at her.

Her distress was suddenly augmented when he stood up, dragging her along as he said with a tone that carried both urgency and fear, "Yūgao put on some clothes, quickly."

She understood that something alarmed him so numbly did as told, quickly donning her ANBU gear as she whispered a question, "Naruto, w-what's going on?"

Naruto looked at her over his shoulder to say something that shook her very core, "Itachi's here."

She widened her eyes as fear coursed through her body, she knew that it was such an un-ANBU thing for her to feel but Itachi was on a whole different level, she was sure that the only ones in her village capable of fighting toe to toe against Itachi were the Hokage himself or the Sannin, and Jiraiya was who the fuck knows where.

"S-Shit." She just muttered, preparing her stance in order to defend Naruto, no matter what it costs.

"No…" Naruto said to her as he silently created a shadow clone. She was confused as he walked towards her and led her to the window, saying, "He's with someone and for what I can feel, his partner has even more chakra than me…" The woman widened her eyes at that, dread now fully invading her still hurt heart, "We need to lead them away from here and hope that Pervy Sage senses our fight, he's our only chance."

Yūgao just nodded at that as she followed Naruto when he jumped out of the window, sneaking themselves out of there. She looked at Naruto's back and she couldn't help but feel dread at the thought of losing him, it will certainly be her last drop, so she gripped her mother's katana tightly and reigned herself again, feeling a fire in her heart that prepared her to protect her precious person no matter what.

* * *

"Is this the brat's room?" Kisame questioned his quiet partner as they arrived to a door. They got to Otafuku Gai just recently, it even surprised the ex-member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist how ease it was to both get into the Leaf and slip out of it, though, it might have been TOO easy, which was never good.

"Yes." Itachi replied impassively, stepping in front of the door before he knocked on it.

It took some moments for the door to open, but once it did, Naruto Namikaze appeared behind it, widening his eyes for a moment before he looked down at the ground and said, "Itachi." Even if it was a mere clone, it could still feel the anger, sadness, confusion and a bunch more of emotions coursing through its body as it saw Itachi, hands down Naruto's most important person.

Itachi sighed internally, knowing that his little silver-haired brother was feeling pained by his appearance, he had no idea how much has Naruto endured but even so, even if he caused most of said emotional damage, it was for his own good, doesn't matter if the Namikaze never realises that, "Naruto, you must to come with us."

Kisame eyed his partner critically, he knows that despite Itachi's almost dead-like demeanour seeing his two younger brothers was definitely affecting him and while it might be something of a red flag that he should inform his leader about, the blue man respected Itachi enough to stay quiet because even if the Uchiha was having a bad time, he was still fulfilling his mission without any hicks.

The clone winced as it kept looking at the ground, both out of fear and hurt at his older brother's uncaring words, it made the silverette yearn for the days Itachi would swing him on the park, playing all kinds of games with him. But focusing back on the now, the clone looked up at Itachi and surprised the two Akatsuki when it smirked as it said, "Sorry big bro, but I'm already gone, fool!" He suddenly burst into a wave of electricity, knocking both Itachi and Kisame back as they couldn't avoid the explosion in time.

"Damn…" Kisame muttered while he stood up shakily once again, really surprised that the brat managed to surprise them like that, "The brat is handy, I'll give him that."

Itachi stood up as well, a feeling of pride once again coursing through him as he thought, _'To think that you were able to escape without us noticing… you and Sasuke have certainly grown, Naruto…'_ He killed all emotions then, walking inside the destroyed room before he looked back at his partner and said, "He's not far, let's go before Lord Jiraiya shows up."

Kisame nodded at that, knowing that the Sannin was strong enough to, at the very least, fend them off. So jumping out of the window, he started following Itachi as they made their way through the roofs towards where Itachi could sense the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki, with a wide excited grin adorning the shark enthusiast's blue face.

* * *

" _Sigh_ … I guess it was too much to hope that a lightning clone bomb would stop them." Naruto muttered while he raced through the clearing behind Otafuku Gai, Yūgao by his side as he could already feel Itachi and his partner's presence right behind their tail.

"Well, he is the one that killed the most powerful clan in the world on his own after all." Yūgao commented in between gritted teeth, despite the strong and determined front she was wearing, her heart was beating like crazy with both fear and desperation.

They had to suddenly jump back though, as Kisame appeared right in front of them, swinging his giant sword to where they previously stood, "Hehe… didn't know you had company, brat…" Kisame said with a grin as Itachi appeared by his side, "It's not going to make any difference though." The ex-Mist ninja added, aiming the point of his sword at the two Leaf-nin.

Yūgao narrowed her eyes at the two Akatsuki members while she used her sensor abilities to try and get a grip on Naruto's feelings, and just as she expected, while he was surprisingly calm and ready to fight, deep inside of him the pain and anger of seeing his older brother figure and sensei was definitely present.

Itachi then stepped forward, saying, "Kisame, take care of Yūgao, she's a swordswoman…" Kisame grinned excitedly at the prospect of fighting a fellow swordsmen, even if that chick pose no real threat, though Itachi warned, "Do not underestimate her, Kisame, she may not be stronger than you, but she still has a good chance of killing you."

Kisame did raised an eyebrow at that, the Uchiha rarely talked with such respect about someone, so Kisame decided to heed his word, "Too bad I'm going to take you seriously girly." The shark-like man said to the ANBU Captain while aiming his bandaged sword to her, a maniacal grin adorning his blue face.

Yūgao tightened her grip on her new sword, her teeth tightly grinding against each other as she recognised well who this guy is, Kisame Hoshigaki, the best of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and thanks to his insane amount of chakra reserves, he earned the moniker of the 'Tailless Tailed Beast', fighting this guy was going to keep her completely occupied and Itachi was an even worse opponent, an opponent that Naruto was going to have to fight by himself.

"Naruto…" She whispered, her voice only loud enough for Naruto to hear how truly afraid of losing him she was right now.

Naruto caught on this, so he turned to look at the purple-haired woman and whispered, "Hey don't worry, I know Itachi and he ain't gon kill me, probs he just wants to weaken me…" He looked at his big brother and added with a fierce smirk, "And that's their biggest disadvantage because I only have to hold on until Pervy Sage gets here, he's probably already aware that something ain't right."

The purple-haired female did not felt better after those words but before she could say anything, her survival instincts kicked in as they warned her of danger, forcing her to jump away from Naruto when Kisame's sword hit where she stood, "Hahaha…" Kisame laughed like a maniac as he jumped at the woman, "Let's see if you manage to taste Samehada's full power." He added as he swung the gigantic sword at the woman who managed to parry the strike with Kushina's sword.

As the fight between Yūgao and Kisame raged on, Naruto kept his calm but on guard demeanour when Itachi spoke, "There's no need to fight, foolish little brother, you can just come with me and Yūgao will survive."

Naruto chuckled darkly as he replied, "That may be…" He looked through the corner of his eye at the aforementioned woman and added, "But she'll stop at naught to get me back if a get caught by ya fools, not even her death…" He then unsheathed both of his swords and as crimson flames surrounded his body, he finished, "And I can't allow that, fou shou!"

Itachi was genuinely shocked when Naruto suddenly sprinted out of his view, it was only thanks to his keen and honed senses that he managed to feel Naruto's presence just by his side, ready to slash his waist with the Thunder God sword. Itachi however, managed to take a kunai out and stop the lighting sword, adding wind chakra to the kunai to weaken the strange red lightning of the weapon.

The Uchiha knew that it was not going to be enough to stop the legendary sword, hence why he disappeared in a flock of crows to appear some steps away, saying, "You have certainly grown strong Naruto, just like little Sasuke."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, asking in between gritted teeth, "What did you do to him, Itachi?" He could tell by the way Itachi spoke that the older Uchiha went to Leaf recently, probably looking for him, he might have encountered or targeted Sasuke on his visit there.

Itachi was really surprised by the intensity of Naruto's aura after mentioning Sasuke, he could feel that the silverette was just as protective of his brother as he was of them, it made him happy to see that despite everything he'd done and had to go through, his sacrifice was somehow paying off as both Naruto and Sasuke were growing strong together, keeping each other sane, just like he wanted, "I simply put him under my tsukuyomi…" He had to stifle a drop of sweat when Naruto's aura felt even more oppressive than before, "He made the mistake of looking into my eyes."

Itachi's eyes suddenly morphed into the mangekyō form but the Uchiha knew that it was useless to place Naruto under a genjutsu, not even the tsukuyomi was enough to trap a real god like Ddraig. So he instead muttered, "Amaterasu." He aimed the undying black flames of hell straight at Naruto's feet, trying to burn him enough to force a yield.

Itachi was shocked however, when Naruto interposed his right arm and caught the flames with it, but instead of burning him as Itachi expected, the black flames seemed to coat his arm in a protective manner. Itachi's shock then became the biggest of his life when Naruto seemingly willed the flames to coat his katana, making the blade of the sword to give off a vicious looking black smoke while the vision around the sword distorted, just like when a massive increase of heat distorted the vision around its source.

"Ya fool…" Naruto muttered with an impassive face while he brought Gloria's coated form onwards, the black flames of Amaterasu protecting him and the sword from any harm, "You tried to use Ryū's own flames against me!"

Itachi cursed as he jumped away from where he was, Naruto's Amaterasu coated sword embedding where he once stood. The Namikaze later appeared in a red flash and lunged back at Itachi who immediately proved why he still outclassed Naruto by quite a margin when just as the silver-haired swordsman was about to pierce him with his sword, Itachi whispered, "Izanagi."

Naruto widened his eyes when Itachi suddenly became intangible, phasing through him before he felt a powerful kick on his back that sent him crashing down violently against the ground, "D-Dammit…" Naruto muttered, surprised at how much a single kick hurt.

Itachi landed some steps away from him, speaking with his usual impassive tone, "You are strong, little brother, but you won't be able to surpass me if you don't understand where true strength comes from."

Naruto stood up slowly, cleaning the blood from his mouth before he replied, "I know where it comes from, fool! It comes from the desire to protect those you love!

The Namikaze was surprised though, when Itachi chuckled as he said, "Foolish little brother with foolish ideas…" He looked straight at Naruto to add, "Tell me, why do you fight for those you love?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Itachi, confused by the sudden change of subject, but he still replied, "B-Because I love 'em! What else, fool!?" His danger senses suddenly went haywire, forcing him to subconsciously jump away as a huge fireball hit where he previously stood.

After the Namikaze landed again, he looked at the trees some distance away and saw a clone of Itachi, disappearing after it attacked, "That is exactly why you'll never be able to beat me, because you fight for love." Itachi's voice then won the Uzumaki's attention back, looking confused by the older Uchiha's words.

"Isn't love the strongest of emotions!?" Naruto challenged, feeling that by all of his experience, love was the strongest feeling there was, it's the one that drives you to be better, for the sake of those you love.

"No Naruto, it isn't…" Seeing that Naruto was confused and also wanting to aid him on his journey as well as to allow Jiraiya to get here, Itachi added, "I'll help you out with this one, I am your sensei after all…" Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, anger filling his eyes, "Love is not the strongest emotion, nor is hate or anger, the strongest emotion, is fear…" Naruto tilted his head at that as Itachi kept speaking, "Love, hate, anger, they all have a limit, no matter how much you think they can grow, they end somewhere… fear however, it knows no limits, it's the only emotion that can really cause you physical damage…" Itachi narrowed his eyes as he continued, "It's not out of love that you fight to protect Yūgao, it is out of the FEAR you have of losing her that you fight, the fear to lose the world you know, the life you know, it is not because you love those things that you push yourself beyond your limits, it's because you're afraid of losing them that you do the impossible to keep them intact."

Naruto was shocked, stupefied, he has never felt his bases, his beliefs, everything about himself so shaken as right now. He couldn't refute Itachi's words, they made incredible sense, he felt it right now, he loved Yūgao, dearly, but it wasn't the love he had for her the one causing him to look at her fight whenever he could, it was the fear that she might be dead that did it, realising this, shook him like nothing else, fear WAS the strongest emotion.

So shocked Naruto was the he didn't even felt Itachi's presence right behind him just as he whispered, "So fear me, little brother." Naruto couldn't even move out of the genuine fear that plagued his heart as Itachi's kunai draw near his chest.

Just before the Uchiha could strike however, a tongue suddenly grabbed Itachi by his waist and violently threw him away from Naruto, "Good…" Jiraiya spoke when he arrived with a big toad under him, "I got here just in time." He added as he made some hand-seals and after the toad below him fired a stream of oil at Kisame, he blew a fire jutsu on it, creating a deadly combination attack.

Kisame had to jump away from the gasping Yūgao as a powerful stream of fire suddenly hit where he previously stood. The woman has never felt more grateful in her life as she saw Jiraiya finally here, she was on the brink of losing since all she could really do against Kisame was dodge and counterattack, but she could barely find a time to hit. She suddenly freaked out however, when she saw Naruto at the distance, completely frozen as his mouth was wide open just like his eyes, shocked about something.

Kisame landed right next to Itachi who said, "Lord Jiraiya, I see you found us."

Jiraiya appeared between his godson with Yūgao and Itachi with Kisame, protecting his tired companions as he replied, "Itachi Uchiha, I received a message from the Old Man saying that you infiltrated the village, I didn't thought that Akatsuki were that bold."

Kisame laughed while he rested Samehada on his shoulder, saying after, "You'll find that we are many things, Toad Hermit."

Jiraiya was about to attack but Itachi intervened as he said, "But not today…" He focused on Jiraiya to add, "We are in a stalemate right now, a fight will certainly not benefit anyone here…" Jiraiya reluctantly nodded, knowing that while he could probably send both Akatsuki members away with their tails between their legs, his companions were in no shape to fight and they could easily be used as shields, "So we shall leave."

Kisame just sighed dejectedly but nodded none the less, he might be a battle-maniac alright, but he was not stupid, fighting a Sannin was not going to end totally well for them. With that, Itachi looked at Naruto who was now looking at the ground and said before they disappeared, "Remember what I told you, little brother."

Both Jiraiya and Yūgao watched as the Akatsuki members disappeared before they looked at Naruto, confused by Itachi's words, "N-Naruto?" Yūgao asked carefully while she approached him with a limp, feeling greatly concerned about the strange demeanour of her usually goofy friend.

Naruto looked at the direction of Otafuku Gai and said with a grim tone, "Let's just go back to the inn… I…" He sheathed his swords and after he started walking away, he finished, "I need to think."

Both the Sannin and the ANBU Captain were really confused and worried by Naruto's conflicted expression, it made them wonder just what the hell did Itachi told him to shake him in such a way.

But Yūgao feeling tired and hurt herself, started following Naruto with Jiraiya in tow, both silent as they considered Naruto's attitude, with Yūgao still feeling somewhat conflicted about the kiss the two shared, _'I-I'll have to leave it for o-other day I guess…'_ She thought, looking longingly at Naruto's back as he seemed to be completely lost in his own world, leaving Yūgao afraid at what might have changed in the man she's apparently developing feelings for.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya lads go, hope you liked it, cheers!**


	24. The Search (Part 2)

**A/N: Hey waddup! New chapter here!**

 **The poll has been taken down, your decision has reached me and you'll find out what you fellas voted for on the next chapter. Remember, no complaints, I gave you almost two months to vote, whatever was chosen, will remain so without any chance to change.**

 **To answer something that a lot of you have asked about, Sakura will NOT be part of Naruto's harem, she will be as close to Naruto as she can, like a sister to him, but that's it, there is really nothing that she can bring to the table that someone else can't, I find Shizune to be the more logical candidate for managing the hospital, she has more experience and knowledge, so sorry Sakura fans, but she's out.**

 **Also, I know that so far, this story has somewhat followed cannon, but that is only for the first part of the story, things will start to go on a different direction when Naruto leaves the Leaf with Jiraiya, there will be no time skip there, meaning that you will get to see what Naruto does on his trip, I assure you, you're going to love it.**

 **I think that's it for now, so let's get to it, enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **The Search (Part 2)**

"Hold on, Kisame…" Itachi said to his partner as he stopped once they were a good distance away from his little brother. Itachi tried to hold on his blindness for as long as he could but he couldn't continue anymore, he was no longer able to see with the eye which he used Izanagi from and he needed to stop to fix it.

Kisame stopped after he heard the Uchiha, the blue man turning behind to see his partner sitting on a boulder, placing his palm over his left eye while a pained frown adorned his face. Despite the fact that Kisame should definitely inform Pain about Itachi's personal quest, the Mist missing ninja couldn't really betray the Uchiha because he was actually someone the shark enthusiast considered a friend. Plus, Kisame respected Itachi, so even if it was against his organization's rules, Kisame was willing to give the Uchiha a little bit of help on his personal quest.

But even so, the former Mist ninja thought that using the technique that leaves the user blind was quite hasty, so he commented, "I really don't understand why you used that technique back there, you just lost your sight on that eye." He walked to stand before the Uchiha.

Itachi just snorted, taking a scroll from his coat while saying, "I needed to send a message to Naruto, Kisame…" He smiled a little as he thought of Naruto, he has grown so strong that Itachi couldn't help but feel proud. But he loathed himself for probably shaking his beliefs once again, he could see it in Naruto's face how much it really shook him to hear the truth about emotions but he needed to learn the truth, if Naruto was not capable of conquering fear, he will never be able to achieve his goal. Plus, Itachi could afford losing his eyes once because he had backup, "Now that that's done, I have to change my left eye." The scroll he took out suddenly threw a poof of smoke that after it dissipated, a jar with two onyx-coloured eyes appeared.

Kisame just snorted, not understanding why it was so important to Itachi that the Twelve-Wings brat knew some philosophical truth that frankly to Kisame, made no fricking sense, "Hehehe… I see you're finally going to use those eyes…" Kisame grabbed the jar, inspecting it as he added, "I still remember how we got them… hehehe… that guy was definitely a worthy warrior."

Itachi frowned at that, remembering how he got the set of eyes that Kisame was holding, those eyes belonged to Eisuke Uchiha, Mikoto's older brother. Itachi was certainly shocked when he found out about the existence of an exiled Uchiha, more so when said Uchiha was his mother's half-brother. He never really uncovered much since the Uchiha patriarch of back then, Mikoto's father, definitely made a really good job hiding the evidence that he even had a son, though for what Itachi could uncover, Eisuke was a bastard child, mothered by a clanless woman with whom Mikoto's father had an affair.

Since such a thing could not become known to the public as it would tarnish the Uchiha patriarch's name quite badly, Itachi's grandfather moved sky and earth to cover Eisuke's existence, sending him and his mother as far away from the Land of Fire as he could. Now, Itachi had utmost confidence in Sasuke, he had a ninety-nine percent of his trust set in Sasuke to bring honour once again to the Uchiha clan, but that one percent of doubt still existed and thus, he knew that Sasuke might someday have a really, really bad day and the risk of him losing his way was there, no matter how much he believed in his younger brother, the possibility still existed. So when he found out that he had an uncle who was banished, he thought that he might have found his backup plan, so he tracked Eisuke down immediately after the massacre.

Eisuke turned out to be in Night Country, a faraway island that was closer to Europa that it was to the Elemental Nations. Itachi, along with Kisame, travelled to the country and searched for the man, finding out that he not only had a fully developed sharingan, but he also had a daughter. Itachi saw the young girl as the perfect backup plan in case Sasuke failed, but the girl was still young so she hadn't awoken her sharingan yet, she wasn't even a ninja since her country didn't really needed shinobi, so he plotted attacking Eisuke in front of the girl and hurt him badly just so the girl awakens her eyes due to the shock. He didn't counted with Kisame losing his temper so soon, enough so that he completely disregarded their plan and ended up killing Eisuke.

Itachi felt angry by that but he had to play it cool so that at least the girl awakened her eyes. Itachi remembers how he took Eisuke's eyes with him, knowing that since he was directly related to him, those eyes could be of use, "This is why I took them for after all." He knew best than to say anything about Eisuke, Kisame might lend his help to him once in a while but Itachi still didn't trusted him enough to know everything, so far the only thing Kisame knew about his personal mission was that Itachi wanted Naruto and Sasuke to beat him so that they could be as strong as they could, Kisame being a power maniac himself respected that.

"I wonder if the girl has gotten stronger?" Kisame muttered, remembering the small girl that was with Eisuke back when he killed him.

Itachi just sighed while he stood up, replying, "Probably, hate tends to make you determined."

Kisame grinned widely, "Can't wait to see how determined she's got…" The blue man chuckled and while placing Samehada on his back, he asked, "I thought you had to use both."

Itachi laid down on the ground, his face aimed at the sky as he responded, "No, you can use them separately…" Itachi saw when Kisame kneeled beside him, hovering over the Uchiha with a smirk, "Make sure you do a good job Kisame, or I'll kill you." Itachi warned, knowing that while it wasn't that hard to transplant an eye, there was still room for error. Though Itachi knew that surprisingly, Kisame was well versed in medical ninjutsu, he was a master of silent killing after all, that type of fighting requires you to know the human body to the letter.

Kisame just chuckled, bringing his hand to Itachi's left eye, "Oh don't worry about it Itachi, I know how to do this…" Kisame suddenly pushed his fingers inside Itachi's eye socket, hearing a sickening 'pop' as Itachi grunted in pain, "Shame I know nothing about sedatives… hehe…" Kisame added, grabbing Itachi's blinded eye and placing it in another jar.

Itachi just silently cursed his partner, feeling a lot of pain right now by the rudimentary surgery, but knowing that there was nothing else he could do besides this, the Uchiha ate his pain and endured it all, knowing that while he might be suffering right now, his plans regarding his little brothers were heading in the right direction.

* * *

Naruto relaxed as the breeze of the shore hit him, washing away all of his troubles and recently shook beliefs. While it may seem somewhat dumb that something as simple as what Itachi told him was enough to shake the way he does things, one has to take into account that drawing strength from fear is something really dangerous for him, as it feeds his Corruption Curse.

"I can't believe you're feeling so shaken by those words, Naruto." The haughty voice of Kurama said as she sat by his side, enjoying the cool breeze while she observed her host meditating. She could not deny that she was feeling disappointed of Naruto right now, she understood that seeing his elder brother again was sure to leave a really bad taste in his mouth, but while she could also see why his words confused her host, she couldn't see why was he feeling so shook, it made her wonder if Naruto was really the one her father told her about before he died.

Naruto just sighed, his eyes still closed, he has been relaxing inside his mindscape for the past days, trying to reorder his thoughts and feelings. Just after his confrontation with Itachi, he and his companions went back to Otafuku Gai so they could rest, though Naruto never closed his eyes, he spent the night thinking over what Itachi said. It was the next day that Jiraiya informed him and Yūgao that he had an idea of where Tsunade will be, so they immediately set off to Tanzaku Gai so that they could get there before the Slug Sannin, though they stopped to rest so Naruto seized the opportunity to meditate.

"It's not what you think…" Naruto muttered. Knowing that Kurama was looking at him with an inquisitive gaze, he elaborated, "My beliefs, goals and determination haven't changed in the slightest, I WILL still achieve my goal no matter what."

Kurama looked at her only friend intently, she could feel losing herself slightly as she observed his face so serene, his hair moving along with the breeze while his clothes hugged him tightly, showing her the body she was already so accustomed too, though not in the way she wanted. It was still somewhat troubling for her to know that she liked the young man, she didn't loved him, not yet, but she was sure that she's closer to get there than anywhere else. But while it may be a hit to her pride, she couldn't really blame herself for liking the young man, their relationship started rocky, mainly because of her, but he never relented, he kept showing her that he was not bluffing and that his intentions were true, he genuinely wanted to build a new world for the people, for his friends, his family, her and her siblings, his determination and that amazing fire burning within him draw her in like nothing else, it helped a lot that he was a complete Adonis too.

And something that the silver-haired Namikaze didn't know, was that Kurama had something special prepared for him for when she gets out of the seal, something that will answer all of her questions and sort her feelings for him, "If you say that, then why are you so shaken?"

Naruto opened his eyes, looking at the ocean he created for Ddraig before he brought his eyes to the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, it was amazing to him how incredibly stunning Kurama was. He looked at the ground a little before he replied, "Because it's not the 'what', 'where' or 'how' that changed, it's the 'why' that did."

Kurama tilted her head, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear as she questioned, "I don't get it."

Naruto looked at the distance, answering, "All this time, I thought that it was the love I have for my girls and friends and the love they have for me that pushed me to where I am today, to where I'm aiming to reach…" He balled his fist then, continuing, "But after what Itachi told me, I realised that it was not the love, but the fear of seeing them suffer in any way, it scares me so much to think that I may not be strong enough to protect them and while that fear has always been there, albeit hidden within my mind, the fact that I am now aware of it makes a huge difference."

Kurama sighed after that, she could understand a little of what he was talking about since it was one thing feeling something subconsciously, but when you are aware of said feeling it makes whatever effects said feeling brings more apparent. But she was still finding it hard to get, it frustrated her that she, the mighty Nine Tailed Fox, was feeling like a dumb little kid in need of explanation from the adult, " _Huff._ " She grunted, not wanting to appear like a clueless child.

Naruto chuckled when he saw Kurama's reaction, he knew that she was feeling lost and he could very well make it more understandable, but her cute angry pout was something he loved to see, "What I mean, my beautiful maiden, is that before my chat with Itachi, I had thought that I was supposed to conquer the hate of the world, but now I realise that hate is not the main problem, because said hate comes from the true emotion I have to conquer, fear…" Naruto sighed as he turned towards the sea again, adding, "Fear is endless, it has no limits, so fear it's the perfect meal for my Corruption Curse… if I… if I fail to conquer it…"

Kurama widened her eyes once she finally understood the dilemma, dread filling her heart as she slowly brought her hand towards his knee, whispering, "Y-You'll… l-lose yourself in it…" It terrified her, the thought of him losing himself in fear, in his corruption curse, it horrified her both for how she felt about him and for what he may become.

Naruto nodded grimly, the very same thoughts that were running through Kurama's head invading his mind as well. He knew that he had a very big chance of accomplishing his goal, but the chance of him losing his way was big as well, and that terrified him.

Naruto suddenly turned to look at Kurama after she took his left hand and held it on hers, a dazzling smile on her face that made his heart flutter as she spoke, "I k-know it scares you… b-but… I know t-that along the way, y-you'll have your friends… y-your women… they will be there with you…" Kurama shyly looked down at the sand, a huge blush adorning her stunning face as she spoke words she never thought she would, "I-I will be there… w-with you…"

Naruto was shocked to hear those words from her, he knew that Kurama had feelings for him and so does he, but he was waiting for her to make the first move, knowing that she was very proud and needed to come to terms with those feelings by herself. But listening to her right now, it really made him happy, "Always?" He asked, cupping her cheek while he locked his blue eyes on hers.

Kurama lost herself in his dazzling blues while warmth filled her body, his hand on her cheek felt so right and the way he looked at her with such incredible tenderness made her heartbeats go as erratic as they could. She just smiled gently at him, bringing a hand atop of his as she responded, "Always."

At the distance, Ddraig watched as the pair of host and tenant shared a tender moment, feeling proud of his successor for understanding the gravity and risks his path represented, it was not going to be easy at all and the road will be swarmed with temptation, but in the end, it was all up to Naruto, he was the only one capable of walking such road and reaching the goal with his will unwavered, _'We'll see hatchling… we'll see…'_

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes after he finished his meditation, he could still feel his emotions flowing amuck, confused and worried for the winding road ahead, that coupled with the worry of his mates that he could feel through the mark forced a tired sigh off of his mouth. But still, the feel of his women along with the thought of all the people that surrounded him certainly served to ease his worry, it was going to be a monumental task to bring unity to this world, he could see that clearer now, but as long as he had his precious people backing him up, he was sure that not even fear will stop him.

Speaking of precious people, Naruto noticed that he was currently the only one in their camp. Jiraiya was standing guard tonight since Naruto was forced to rest, both the Toad Hermit and the ANBU Captain could tell that Naruto was not okay and needed a rest, despite his protests. But there was no sign of Yūgao, making him worry for a second until he could feel her some metres away.

Naruto inhaled deeply when he stood up, steeling his nerves as he knew that it was time to address Yūgao's feelings, he could feel her inner turmoil over these past two days they've been travelling, they haven't talked to each other much, mainly because she was giving him some space so he could calm down, stowing her feelings in the process.

The Namikaze could tell that the purple-haired ANBU was afraid, afraid that he might turn her down, afraid that she might lose him for feeling that way about him, afraid of failing her foster parents in some way that he could frankly not understand. He could tell that she felt a need to be his older sister figure, ever since Itachi left, she stepped up and tried to take that place in his life and while he was thankful to her for the effort, she will never be capable of replacing Itachi, not because she wasn't good enough, but because to Naruto, she was the second woman whom he fell in love with. He loved, and still does, Mikoto even before he knew what love was, but when she was killed and he shut himself from the world to wallow on his grief, she along with Kakashi made a monumental effort to bring him back from the darkness, cementing their place in his heart as a dear friend and a father respectively.

And while it was mainly because of his brotherhood with Sasuke that he avoided going mad with hate, Yūgao had a huge part on his rescue as well when she put everything else in her life on hold just to be there for him. It was after he finally opened up to her that she held him close, giving him a chaste kiss on his lips, it wasn't anything sexual, it was an innocent gesture meant to reassure him that no matter what, she will always be there for him. But that kiss was his first, the very first time he had such contact with a female, and naturally thanks to his inexperience, Yūgao went from being his older sister figure to his crush, the woman that stole his first kiss, _'I sound like a fricking school lass right now…'_ Naruto thought with a chuckle as he kept walking towards the woman in question.

But, he had kept his feelings to himself, because he might have been inexperienced back then, but he could still understand that Yūgao was in love with someone else and that she saw him as nothing more than a younger brother, so he stayed away. After Hayate became his swordsmanship mentor, Yūgao became an ever bigger 'no' and Naruto was forced to lock those feelings away and just be happy for her and his place in her life, it hurt, but it was all he could do.

But Hayate was now gone and she seemed to have feelings for him as well, so despite the fact that it might still be too soon, he could no longer stow those feelings, they demanded to be freed, he needed to tell Yūgao the whole truth about how he feels for her and his secret life, he just hoped that she doesn't come to resent him once she learns the truth of him.

* * *

Yūgao smiled a little as she observed the moon above her, shining brightly over her as if cleaning all of her worries away. She loved this, looking at the moon whenever she could, it was her safe place, despite not being a place per se, but under the moon she kind of felt protected, it kept her safe and sane when her foster parents died, it kept her determined when Naruto fell in a thick depression after Itachi slaughtered his clan, it was below the moon that Hayate proposed to her and that she, for the first time in a long time, finally felt complete.

It was also below the moon that she declared her solitude after Hayate was taken away from her, but just before she lost herself in her pain, it was once again under the celestial body that Naruto pulled her out of her darkness, claiming the highest spot in her heart as his, " _Pft_ … Maybe that's where I started feeling like this for you, Naruto…" She muttered while she observed the moon, chuckling at how it seems as if said colossal mass was present in every key moment of her life so far.

"I wouldn't doubt that at all…" She turned around in a second, shocked to see the man occupying her thoughts walking towards her with a small smile while he kept his hands in his pockets, it really shocked her how easy he was capable of walking into her personal space without alerting her senses, "It was in a similar moment that I started feeling that way for you too." Naruto said as he sat beside her, looking at the moon as well.

It took Yūgao some moments to break out from her surprise, but once she did, her mind finally registered what Naruto was apparently confessing right now, "W-What?…" She whispered, her eyes as wide as her mouth, afraid that she might have understood wrong.

Naruto looked at her while he chuckled slightly, enjoying the stunned expression on her beautiful face, "Yes Yū, I like you too…" Her eyes just went even wider, a blush showing on her face, "In fact…" Naruto spoke as he turned to look at the moon again, adding, "I've been in love with you for like seven years."

Yūgao brought her hand to her mouth, shock coursing through her body when she heard his confession. It made her so happy to hear him say that, though it also sent a painful pang to her heart since she realised that he has been keeping those feelings locked for her sake, "Naruto…" She whispered, her heart beating like crazy, it made her really confused though, why was she feeling so strongly about him right now?

Naruto just smiled at her, adding to her plight, he spoke, "Ya remember that night that you kissed me, right?…" Yūgao looked confused, so Naruto specified, "After Itachi… d-did what he did… I mean."

Yūgao remembered that now, the innocent kiss she gave him that night years ago to reassure him that she will never, under any circumstance, leave his side, "Y-Yes…" She said weakly, a blush adorning her cheeks when she could somehow feel his lips on top of hers again.

Naruto nodded and continued, "I know that it was an innocent kiss, nothing like the one ya gave me three days ago…" He sent a playful smirk at the woman who shivered a little while she looked down, embarrassed. He found it cute but kept going, "But that kiss was anything but innocent to me…" Yūgao shot her head up at that, confusion written all over her face, "It was my first kiss, Yū." He finished with a warm smile as he held her hand.

Yūgao gasped after that, she had never, ever considered that she might actually had stolen Naruto's first kiss with that innocent gesture, but now it was confirmed that she in fact did.

Naruto chuckled, saying, "I sound too much like a fucking girl right now but hear me out, aight?…" Yūgao did giggled slightly but nodded at him, prompting him to continue, "You were the first female to give me such kind of contact and naturally, my heart longed for you ever since…" Yūgao had an enormous shock running through her body at that, she never considered that and it made sense, a young mind is very susceptible after all, "But I knew that you only saw me as a little brother and when I found out that you were engaged to Hayate-sensei well… i-it made me realise that I had to keep those feelings locked for good."

Yūgao brought her palm to her mouth again, realising that he, in fact, was forced to negate those feelings for her, it made her really happy that he was willing to forget about her just to not derail her life, but it also hurt that the person she loved the most was hurting because of her. But despite everything that happened, whether her feelings for him were there before Hayate's death or they were born after he became her touchstone, there was nothing in their way anymore, "N-Naruto…" She whispered as she brought both of her hands to his cheeks, locking her eyes to his perfect blues while she kept talking, "I-I'm sorry… for not c-considering how you might have felt…" She could tell that he was about to speak, so she cut him off to finish, "B-But not anymore… t-there's nothing in o-our way anymore…"

Naruto felt really surprised to hear her say that, it made his heart flutter but he killed the feeling the moment it showed, she still needed to hear something that might change everything, "Yū…" He muttered as he took her hands away from his face, worry showing in her face, clearly thinking that he was going to reject her, "I love you… and it makes me really happy to hear you saying those words but…" He gulped, steeling his resolve as the moment of truth arrived, "There is something about me that you need to know."

Yūgao was really afraid of whatever Naruto was going to say. At first, she thought that he was going to reject her but as he kept talking, she became more and more shocked while the moments went by. She could not believe it, her lovable goofy ball of mischief, was actually a dragon, a god, and was plotting to unite the world as one. She couldn't stop her anger to show when he revealed the how though, her jealousy flaring wildly when he confessed that he already had six mates and that there were more waiting for him. She considered kicking the shit out of him for a moment, when he told her that he planned to use the women in power to stir the events towards a common direction, it made her angry to think that he was seeing her as an asset and nothing more, but he then talked about his mates and their place in his ambition and she was instantly shocked to see how much love he had for them, even the newest one Tsubaki, it was as clear as day, he loved them, and he was giving them the tools to change the world, not demeaning them into mere trophies, but making them the heroes while he more than likely will end up being remembered as a villain.

"W-Wow…" Yūgao whispered after he finished explaining it all to her. She couldn't really find any words to say after such fantastic tale, it all seemed so surreal, but she knew it to be true, she has seen how those women look at him and it always made her wonder how despite clearly desiring the same man, they never seemed to resent the other, now she knew why, "What i-if I lose my job in the ANBU? I w-will no longer be of use to you…" She was still the ANBU Captain, so she was capable of regaining her wits in a second, but the pain it cause to know that she might not always be of use to him was clear.

Naruto immediately grabbed her hands, shocking her when she saw how honest he looked when he told her, "Yūgao, while I do intend to use my women's positions to further my ambition, that does not mean in any way that one day they will become useless to me. I could easily seduce or force any woman I want that holds a key position, but I'm not doing it because I don't need mindless drones, I need allies, people who believe in my dream as much as I do…" He took a hand to caress her cheek tenderly, adding, "If any of my mates lose their position for any reason, it won't matter a thing to me, because they are my mates, my responsibility, the women which I chose to spend my eternity with, my love, protection and affection will never dim, they are my priority, you are my priority, it will always be that way."

Yūgao had to make an inhuman effort to stop herself from lunging at the man in front of her, she knew, she could tell he was being honest with her. She loved him, that was never in doubt, and he loved her, that was also never in doubt, and despite all the reservations she was feeling about it all right now, she couldn't find herself saying no to him.

But still, this was just too much to take in right now, "N-Naruto… I…" She looked down at the ground as she continued, "I l-love you… but… c-could you give me time to… think?" She hoped he wasn't mad at her.

Naruto though, smiled warmly at her, replying, "Take all the time ya need Yū, this is literally life altering, you should be completely sure of your answer…" He kissed her cheek before he stood and made to walk away, saying, "I'll see ya back at the camp, don't stay out too long."

He was about to walk away but a hand quickly stopped him on his tracks, making him turn to look at the purple-haired woman who was shyly looking at the ground, biting her lips in a sign of nervousness, "W-Wait… N-Naru…" She breathed in, gathering the strength to continue, "C-Could you… s-stay with me?…"

Naruto stared for some seconds before he smiled, going back to his place beside her. Yūgao encircled herself with his arms, resting her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes, forgoing all of her worries and questions for the moment in order to bask in the warmth her most precious person was giving her right now.

* * *

"Yep, she's here alright." Jiraiya muttered when he walked towards his companions. They had just arrived to Tanzaku and Jiraiya immediately spoke to the people around, asking if they have seen the woman in question, a gambling tournament was being held in the town and there was no way in hell that Tsunade would miss it and just like he thought, people have seen her.

Yūgao raised her eyebrow at that, asking, "You sure?"

Jiraiya just shrugged, knowing that if he promises anything to the already exasperated woman, his safety will definitely be in danger.

Naruto though, just narrowed his eyes when he caught a scent he recognised very well, _'Orochi-bubu… what are ya up to, fool?…'_ The silver-haired jinchūriki could recognise that snake scent very well, it belonged to the man that was after his brother, a man that Naruto was going to do all he could to get rid of.

"Well, you and Naruto should look around while I… umm…" Jiraiya trailed off when he felt the heated glances his two companions were giving him, daring the Sannin to finish that sentence. He gulped and wisely mended, "I-I mean… hahaha… w-we should look around!… t-together… hahaha…" Jiraiya scratched his scruff sheepishly, a nervous laugh coming off from his mouth.

Naruto and Yūgao just smirked as they nodded, walking behind the depressed Toad Sannin while he led them through Tanzaku.

The time passed as the trio searched the town, casinos, bars, hotsprings, even brothels, nothing worked, she was nowhere in sight, "Dammit…" Yūgao muttered, anxious to find the woman so they could go and wake her parents up. She's been blocking her thoughts about them so that she wouldn't lose it, despite being with Naruto, her worry was still great, she just didn't wanted to lose them again.

Jiraiya just sighed tiredly, speaking, "Let's get something to eat, we'll continue looking after we fill our stomachs." His companions nodded, eager to devour a delicious dish to qualm their hunger.

It was then that Naruto walked inside the nearest restaurant they could find, stopping abruptly on his tracks once he stepped foot in the establishment, "Umm…" He muttered, a twitch on his eyebrow, feeling annoyed by the sight that greeted him.

The white-haired pervert and the ANBU Captain tilted their heads at Naruto's strange behaviour, with the woman asking, "Naruto, what is it?"

Naruto just sighed as he pointed his finger towards a table at the corner of the establishment. Jiraiya and Yūgao widened their eyes when they finally realised that Tsunade Senju was there alongside a beautiful young woman who was holding a small pig, Tsunade was drinking sake while the woman was looking at the Senju with exasperation.

"Tsunade!?" Jiraiya screamed after he broke himself out of his stupor.

The busty blonde in question turned to look at the voice that called for her, her eyes widening once she recognised her old teammate, "Jiraiya!?" She said, looking at his two companions as well. Senju felt her heart aching though, she recognised the silver-haired boy well, the son of Minato and Kushina, he looked so much like her little brother but more importantly, she was hurting that she didn't had the courage to look after him.

Tsunade regained her emotionless look as Jiraiya and his group sat at the other side of her table, throwing her guilt and feelings of remorse to the back of her head in order to say coldly, "What an unpleasant surprise." She sipped more of her sake, already almost on the verge of passing out.

Yūgao lifted an eyebrow, she knew that the woman wasn't okay but she never thought that she was this bad. It was almost painful to see how unmotivated the once great medic was right now, there was absolutely no fire in her eyes.

Naruto just sighed internally, Tsunade was without a question one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen. He knew that she was using a henge to cover her true age, but Naruto could still see through it, the perks of being a god, though he was somewhat confused as to why would she use it when underneath it, there wasn't really much change, she did looked older, but not that older. But despite her external beauty, the woman's attitude reminded him of Koyuki before he got through her, a bitter woman with no goal in sight, just aimlessly roaming through the land.

Jiraiya too sighed, already seeing this coming, he knew that if he told Tsunade that they were looking for her to become the Fifth, she will immediately decline and shut them up, killing almost any possibility to bring her back to the Leaf. But, if he tells her about Kushina being back, things will definitely be different since to Tsunade, Kushina was like a daughter or sister to her, the redheaded Princess always looked at her for advice and mentorship, and Tsunade happily gave it, "It's good to see you too, Princess." Jiraiya replied with a cynical tone, matching the harshness of his teammate, he might have once loved her, but he was not going to allow her to treat him like a meat-bag that she can hit whenever she liked.

Tsunade snorted, amused to see that the old lecher has grown some back bone, she loved him, she did, as a friend of course, but she always found his incessant attempts to earn her love annoying, he just couldn't take a no for an answer, at least not back then. But stowing that for now, she looked at him and said, "I knew that winning streak of mine meant nothing good…" She sipped more sake while she locked her eyes to Naruto for a moment before she turned them back on Jiraiya, "It's not every day that I get to see my two teammates after all."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at that, Yūgao stiffening slightly while Naruto just restrained his anger, hoping that the snake might still be here. Jiraiya just served himself some of the liquor as he said, "So Orochimaru was here, huh?…" He sipped the liquid before he added a question, "What did he wanted?"

Tsunade looked at her companion a little before she replied, "He wanted me to fix his arms." She didn't saw any trouble with telling him that, she really didn't cared one way or another, or so she liked to believe.

Jiraiya chuckled after that, surprising Tsunade when he looked at Naruto and as he patted his back, he stated proudly, "You got him good, brat!"

Naruto just smirked, pleased with knowing that his rasengan damaged him for good. Tsunade saw that smirk and hearing what her teammate said, she questioned as she looked at Naruto, "You were the one that rendered his arms useless?" If he was, she will definitely feel surprised, not only for managing to injure her slippery teammate so severely, but for what she heard from Orochimaru, the snake traitor held a lot of hatred for the responsible of his condition, she hasn't seen that in a while.

Naruto just grabbed the bottle of sake and served himself some, ignoring the raised eyebrows from the elders sitting with him. He sipped it and didn't even flinched, alcohol was useless on him after all, "Yup… I shove a rasengan on his pedo ass…" He chuckled somewhat darkly, sending shivers down to everyone's spines as the silverette added, "You should have seen Orochi-bubu's face when his arms were being consumed by mah rasengan!… hahaha… good shit, boi…"

Tsunade was definitely surprised, the boy in front of her did seemed to be strong but not that strong. She knew that he was the jinchūriki of the Twelve-Wings so she could tell that the boy knew how to use his Tailed Beast, but to actually damage Orochimaru and to do it in a way that instilled a personal vendetta in the snake summoner was by no means an easy feat.

But still, having a lot to think about, Tsunade just shrugged as she looked at Naruto, trying to brush off his accomplishment, though she was sure that some of her guilt did appeared, "I see…" She looked back at Jiraiya to ask, "Not that it's not nice to see you again Jiraiya, but what do you want?"

The Toad Sannin inhaled deeply, knowing that it was time to tell her the truth, well, half of it of course, "I need you to come back to the Leaf with us."

The blackette sitting by the Senju's side widened her eyes at that, seemingly eager to the idea. But Tsunade didn't seemed as pleased by it since she made a disgusted face while she replied, "Then you just wasted your time, I'm not coming back to that place, there's nothing left for me in it anymore."

Yūgao tightened her fists, wanting to punch the petulant woman, but she calmed down when Naruto placed his hand atop of her fist, a small smile on his face that effectively calmed her down.

Jiraiya just smirked, knowing that Tsunade's world was about to be rocked, "Really?…" Tsunade just snorted, prompting him to drop the bomb, "Not even Kushina?"

The blackette gasped while Tsunade whipped her head towards Jiraiya with such strength that she worried over her neck for a second, "W-What?…" She whispered, shock written all over her face as she tried to register her teammate's words.

Jiraiya just leaned forward, softening his gaze since he knew that it will be emotional for the woman to learn the truth, "You heard me, Tsunade." He spoke softly, an honest glint in his eyes that she could not mistake for anything else.

Tsunade felt a twist in her stomach, painful memories of a young redheaded girl running towards her, assaulting her with questions and affection. Kushina was always a soft spot for Tsunade, ever since she lost her brother and lover, Kushina became an outlet for her affections, pampering the girl maybe a little too much, but the Uzumaki made the pain more bearable, so it was only natural that when Kushina too died, Tsunade lost all interest in life, "B-But… s-she's… d-dead…" She whispered, clutching her heart to try and ease it.

Jiraiya smiled a little, explaining, "She was, but Orochimaru used the Impure World Reincarnation on her and Minato to use them against the Leaf in his attempted invasion…" Jiraiya smiled internally when he saw a hateful fire for the snake burning in Tsunade's eyes, it meant that the white-haired sannin was getting through her if just a little, "I had the feeling that Orochimaru might do something like that, so I created a set of seals that were meant to brake his control over them but…" He turned to look at his godson who so far has been uncharacteristically quiet, he just hoped that Itachi didn't broke him once again, "Naruto here somehow did the impossible…" He looked back at Tsunade who was eagerly listening, "He not only broke Orochimaru's control, he actually managed to keep their souls here…" He grasped the shivering woman's hands, saying soothingly, "He brought them back to life, Tsunade."

Tsunade was looking at Naruto with wide eyes, tears streaming down her face as she listened to her teammate. She could not believe, Kushina was back, she was alive again, back in the Leaf, _'I-If he could b-bring them back… t-then…'_ She thought, looking at Naruto with a pleading gaze that disappeared immediately.

Naruto saw the pleading gaze though, he recognised it well as it was the same one that Tsubaki had when he told her about the power to bring people back from the dead, he just sighed and hoped that the busty woman won't ask him to bring her loved ones back.

Jiraiya brought her attention back to him as he added, "Tsunade, they are alive, but they are in a coma right now."

Tsunade snapped her head towards her teammate, worry etched in her eyes as she questioned, "W-What!? Why!?"

The Toad Sannin looked at Naruto, nodding at him to explain since he was the one that brought them back. Tsunade turned to look at the handsome young man as he spoke, " _Sigh_ … Bringing them back to life was not something pleasurable for them, forcing a soul to come back to the living is a painful and violent process…" Naruto sipped more sake, regret over his actions clear in his eyes for everyone to see, "I didn't know that back then… h-heck… I didn't even knew what I was doing… but anyways, they are alive, but the bodies in which their souls clung to are not originally theirs, their chakra is currently rebuilding said bodies so that they can use them, but the process is slow and painful, they need the best medic in the world to watch over them…" He looked at the Senju Princess and finished with a warning, "If someone who knows about medicine is not there watching over them, they will either die or remain in that coma."

Tsunade gasped, her hands shaking with both dread and longing, she wanted to see Kushina again so badly but now that she heard what might happen, she didn't know if she was capable to, _'W-What if I fail?…'_ She thought, breathing harshly as a panic attack started to claim her, "I-I… I d-don't know…" She whispered, dread filling her heart at the thought of losing someone again.

Yūgao had enough, seeing the only person capable of helping her parents being reluctant made her blood boil. She stood up and as she smashed her hands on the table, she screamed at the female sannin, "What do you mean 'you don't know'!? You're the only one capable of bringing my parents back and here you are, moping around like a fucking broken child!"

Everyone in the restaurant were shocked by the sudden outburst from the beautiful purplette, but Tsunade was incredibly hurt by those words, so she screamed back, "I d-don't know if I-I'm good enough, alright!?… I… I-I…" She suddenly stood up, tears streaming down her face as she muttered while running away, "I n-need to breath…" She ran away from the restaurant, with the blackette young woman hot on her trail.

Yūgao was about to follow the Senju but had to stop when Jiraiya grabbed her by the arm, making the ANBU Captain turn to look at him with a heated gaze, questioning him in between gritted teeth, "What are you doing!? My parents need her and we're wasting time! Do you not care!?"

Knowing that his godfather had no clue with how to deal with the woman, Naruto stood up and enveloped Yūgao with his arms, successfully calming the woman down as he whispered soothingly, "I know you're desperate Yū, but we have to take it easy with Tsunade, she's far too deep into her hole."

Yūgao, for the moment, forgo all of her restrictions and thoughts about a relationship with Naruto, burying her head on his shoulder as she basked in his comfort, whispering, "B-But…"

Jiraiya stood up, throwing some bills over the table before he said to the stressed woman, "Listen Yūgao, we have to thread carefully with Tsunade, she's the only one capable of helping Minato and Kushina, if we push her too much, we will miss our chance…" He started walking, muttering, "We will rent a room in Tsunade's hotel, I'm sure that in a couple of days, she will come around, she just needs to process it all."

Yūgao just sighed as she nodded slightly, recognising the truth in the sannin's words despite how much she wished to go after the medic and kick some sense into her. The purple-haired woman suddenly yelped when Naruto carried her bridal style, blushing madly when she saw his tender smile, burying herself deeper into his arms as she needed the comfort only he could provide her with, she just hoped that Tsunade comes to her senses soon, otherwise she didn't know what the hell will she do to help her parents.

* * *

Tsunade gulped down the intoxicant liquid as she poured the whole bottle's contents into her throat. She was currently dining on the small stand close to her hotel, thinking over everything that's been happening during these strange and stressful days.

Jiraiya and his team arrived three days ago and much to her chagrin, they hadn't left and didn't seemed to be doing so any time soon, going as far as renting rooms right beside hers, heck, even Shizune was enjoying their company now.

While it may seem somewhat normal for her to drown her sorrows with alcohol, this time was different, because as tempting as the offer Orochimaru made to bring her little brother and lover back from the death was, she knew that the price for their lives would be at the expense of someone else's, and no matter how much she wanted them back, she was sure that those two will outright hate her when they find out what the price for their return was.

So while it still hurt as hell, right now her grief was completely sent to the back of her head, because her mind was occupied by guilt, shame and fear. She knew she was the only one capable of helping Kushina and her husband, or at least one of the three capable because there were two more women who she knew were at the very least one step below her in medicine, if not her equals already, but they were aligned to different flags and revealing to them something so important was a definite no no, so that left her as the only viable option.

She didn't know if she had it in her anymore, the medical prowess. Her knowledge was there of course, that never goes away, but she hasn't practiced her field in years, there might be cases where she was willing to chance it, but when it comes to the life of the one she considered as a little sister, a daughter even, she couldn't chance it, no matter what.

And that added the guilt, shame and fear. Guilt because she knew she could somehow help Kushina, shame because she was refusing, but most importantly, fear because she dreaded losing her again, if she fails, Kushina will be gone once more and there was no way in hell that Tsunade would survive that, she was sure of it.

"That kidney of yours never ceases to amaze me." Jiraiya's voice won her attention to her side to see the white-haired pervert claiming the stool right next to her, a goofy smile on his face as he ordered some food.

Tsunade groaned while she looked down, saying, "What do you want, Jiraiya?" She didn't had the strength to argue with him right now, she just wanted to get drunk and get to the next day so she can do it all again.

Jiraiya just chuckled, saying as he served himself some sake, "Just wanted to catch up…" He drank the liquor and after he gulped it, added, "It has been long since we last saw each other."

Tsunade snorted, replying bitterly, "What's there to tell? I have been drinking and gambling for the past fourteen years while you, without a doubt in my mind, have been peeping on women to write that shit of yours that you dare to call a novel."

Jiraiya laughed loudly, amused at knowing that the Slug Sannin was definitely right with her assessment. He did sighed after though, shaking his head in disappointment when he muttered, "We have certainly wasted our late years…" He then thanked the chef as he gave him his plate, devouring it once he set it down, knowing that Tsunade was in no mood for chats.

Surprising him though, after some minutes of total silence between the two, Tsunade asked him with a soft tone, shocking him to hear the woman like this, "J-Jiraiya?…" He looked at the busty blonde who was focused on the bar below her, "N-Naruto… h-how… how is he?" She finally asked, eagerness hidden in her words.

Jiraiya stopped for some moments before he smiled slightly, he understood that Tsunade felt really guilty for not being there for the son of the closest person she had before she left the Leaf and while Jiraiya was not going to defend the woman for leaving, no matter what reasons she had, he could definitely understand her. Besides, the only one capable of lifting her guilt was Naruto, "Hehe… that brat… he's an amazing one, I tell ya…" Jiraiya started with a fond smile as he thought of his godson, "He's a genius, even greater than Minato, he got the rasengan down in a couple of months but more shockingly, he learned the Thunder God Jutsu in a month…" Tsunade widened her eyes at that, amazed to hear such thing. Jiraiya chuckled at her expression, saying, "I know, right? He's still not capable of traveling to far distances though, but he will get there faster than anyone else before him…" Jiraiya ate some of his food before he continued, "What else? He's goofy most of the time but when he gets into a fight, he turns into the fearsome Dark Swordsman."

Tsunade gasped, whispering, "The D-Dark Swordsman!? He is the Dark Swordsman!?" Her eyes her wide in shock. She has heard of said man, who hasn't? The Dark Swordsman was responsible for freeing Wave Country and the now named Land of Spring, he was starting to become a legend within the Elemental Nations but despite the pride she felt for him, she couldn't help but worry too, because in their line of business the more famous you become, the higher your bounty goes.

Jiraiya nodded with a smile, worry clear in his eyes as he thought the same thing that the Senju Princess right now, but stowing that for now, he continued, "Yup, he earned that moniker on his very first mission in Wave Country…" He sighed before he spoke again, "He's also quite energetic, has an annoying fixation with rap music, though that hasn't stopped him from having a lot of good friends…" He then showed a lecherous smile, adding, "And his luck with women is off the charts!… gigigi…"

Tsunade ignored the last bit, not wanting to deal with her teammate's perverted antics. She focused on Naruto's traits and couldn't help but smile at that, it made her happy to hear that the boy, after everything he had to surely go through, ended up being such an amazing young man. There was still something that confused her though, so she questioned, "I know that Yūgao is Kushina and Minato's adoptive daughter, so I could understand her anger…" She thought of the purplette's outburst back when they met in the restaurant, "But I can't understand Naruto's total lack of care, I mean yeah, I understand that he feels guilty for bringing them back, but he doesn't really seems to care whether they wake up or not." It really shocked her to see Naruto not really batting an eye for his parents. Though now that she thought about it, she could definitely give him that they were never there in the first place, no matter how romantic one wants to be, you can't really love someone who's never been there.

Jiraiya sighed after that, feeling really bad for his student and his wife, "Well, that is because Naruto doesn't care…" He could see Tsunade's eyebrow raised, so he elaborated, "You remember Kakashi Hatake?…" The Senju nodded, prompting him to continue, "Well, ever since Naruto was three years old, Kakashi took the boy in and raised him on his own, he became Naruto's father…" He looked back at the bar while he added, "Three months ago Kakashi got together with a gorgeous lady, Hanare, and she became the mother that Naruto never had…" He smiled sadly as he continued, " _Sigh_ … Despite all my efforts to try and build some connection between Naruto and his biological parents, he never really cared for them, because he understands that in the very end, they chose the Leaf over him."

Tsunade was entranced by the tale, she found it surprising that someone as reclusive as Kakashi actually stepped up and raised Naruto to be who he is now, but she remarked, "Seems kind of selfish to me though, that he blames them for sacrificing their lives to save his home."

Jiraiya sipped some sake before he replied with a huff, "I used to think the same…" He sighed when he added, "But then I realised that he wasn't speaking as a ninja or a hateful person at that, he has never hated them in the slightest, no, he was speaking as the one that had to suffer the aftermath of their actions, the abuse of the villagers, the one that received all the hate for surviving while Minato and Kushina died… to all of us, he might seem selfish and bratty, but I think that unless we go through all the things he had to, we will never really be capable of seeing things like he does…" He looked back at her, finishing, "But I can't blame him at all, I may not fully understand him, but the boy is a genius, and his reasons are as solid as they get, plus, as I said, he already has a father and a mother who love him, he's only really doing this for Yūgao."

Tsunade stayed quiet after that, not really knowing what to say. She, like Jiraiya, couldn't fully understand the why of Naruto's indifference, but she couldn't blame him either, the mere way in which Jiraiya spoke told her all she needed to know, Naruto surely suffered a lot of abuse from the villagers, he was just a desperate and scared little boy who had no clue what was going on, surely when he found out the truth of his heritage he understood that while Minato and Kushina died as heroes for the rest, to him, they were his parents, and they left him, a child doesn't care about reasons after all, only about who's there and who isn't.

The rest of the night went on in silence, Jiraiya knowing that Tsunade was slowly opening up to the idea of coming back, though there was still something stopping her and he knew it had to do with Orochimaru, but whatever it was, he just hoped that Tsunade made the right choice when the time comes.

* * *

Tsunade watched in rapt attention as Naruto tried to add wind chakra to the rasengan, even from the distance she was in, she could feel the immense power the potential jutsu could have, though, thanks to her being a doctor, she could also see that Naruto's hands were getting harmed by the jutsu, but somehow he didn't seemed to show any sign of discomfort at all.

She had just finished talking to Jiraiya some moments ago and decided to take a walk on the outskirts of the town, but much to her surprise, she felt a powerful surge of chakra as she made her way back to her hotel. She followed the spike and found the young silver-haired Namikaze training, impressing her with his resilience and determination to get his father's jutsu completed.

For the whole walk, she has been thinking over everything her old teammate told her, considering every factor and every word he spoke. It did made her more convinced that she should go back to the Leaf to help her closest person besides Shizune, but the doubt of her skills were still there, nagging her brain as they told her that she will fail.

The offer that Orochimaru gave her was also tempting despite knowing that it was a disgusting thing to consider, but she couldn't deny that she missed her brother and lover, and that she would love to have a chance to see them again. But since she also knew that bringing them back in such way will undoubtedly earn her the ire of the two, she started considering the other way that was suddenly presented to her.

Said way suddenly spoke, surprising her when Naruto said, "You gon stay there all night or are ya going to speak to me?" Naruto turned to look at his side to where Tsunade was watching him from, not bothering to hide herself at all.

Tsunade shook her head while she got rid of her stupor, steeling her resolve as she walked towards the young man to reply, "I was j-just walking by and was surprised to see you here training…" She looked around, watching the destruction of the place, "Don't you think you're overdoing it a little?"

Naruto just smirked as he studied the woman before him. Tsunade was, without a doubt, stunning, her body, her face, her eyes, her strength and intelligence, Naruto could say that as a dragon, he found her to be the most desirable woman he has ever came across with, but he needed time to warm his way into the woman's heart because much as he expected, unlike most women he has met, Tsunade was not showing signs of severe attraction, nor was she being affected by his pheromones or presence, she was truly a powerful woman that needed a lot more to be impressed.

But returning to her question, he answered, "Well, you could say so, but amma killer, babes!…" He smirked fiercely, adding, "I got a lot of fools after my sexy ass, I can't stop a second, it won't do me any good, fou shou."

Tsunade smiled a little sadly at that, knowing that people often undermined the greatest sacrifice a jinchūriki has to make, which was that they will always live in a constant state of war, someone will always want their power, someone will always try to test their power against them, jinchūriki never get to know peace and that was really sad.

But wanting to warm her way a little with him, she sighed and commented, "It must be hard for you…" She smiled slightly at him again, adding with a whisper, "Being a… j-jinchūriki…"

She was surprised however, when Naruto smiled widely and honestly at her, replying, "Not really! I mean yeah, I kinda wish I at least had a say in it but…" He looked above, adding, "It might be considered a burden to most, but to me, being a jinchūriki has allowed me to protect the people I care about…" He looked back at the Senju, finishing, "And knowing that I still have so much potential left to unlock, just makes me all the more determined to get there, ya know, to the point where no fool will even dare to touch those important to me."

Tsunade smiled honestly at those words, a part of her wishing that she hadn't left him alone so that she could be one of those important to him. Sure, she was a strong woman who definitely didn't needed to be protected like a Princess, but the thought of knowing that there was someone out there working hard to protect you was something that anyone, not only girls, yearned for, it was incredibly reassuring to know that if you ever needed help, someone will be right there beside you at a moment's notice.

"So…" Naruto's voice suddenly brought her out of her pondering when he said, "Let's cut all the crap and bull, aight?…" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that, a little shocked by the forwardness, "I am willing to listen to you, without any sort of judgement or retort over your reasons." He finished, a gentle an honest smile on his face.

Tsunade whispered back, a little shy all of the sudden, "W-What do you mean?"

He started walking away, Tsunade immediately following him as he led her to a large boulder on which they sat. Naruto inhaled as he settled on it, Tsunade sitting by his side before he replied, "I want to know why are you afraid of going back…" He could see that she was about to retort, so he quickly said, "Listen beautiful, you cannot lie to me, I am an incredibly gifted sensor, even better than Yū, I've trained to discern emotions so that I can use them against my enemies in combat, so it wasn't that hard for me to realise that you're not really angry of the idea of coming back, you're scared."

Tsunade had her eyes wide in shock after she heard him saying that, he was so right about it that it scared her a little. It may sound somewhat fantastic, the idea that somebody was capable of sensing someone else's feelings, but her grandmother, the great Mito Uzumaki, was known and feared by that very same power, so Tsunade couldn't deny that such ability was plausible. Plus, he completely nailed his deduction, she wasn't angry of going back to the Leaf, she was scared shitless.

So in a very, very strange moment that it even surprised her, Tsunade looked down at the ground and replied with such weakness and fear that it almost made him hug the woman to try and ease her worries, "I-I… umm…" She hugged herself as a single tear fell down to the ground, "I d-don't want to l-lose her… n-not again… not another…"

Naruto sighed when he understood that, but he was still finding it hard to believe that such a strong woman was so afraid, so he tried to counter, "But why would ya lose Kushina again? You're the only one capable of bringing her back."

Tsunade smiled a little, saying back without looking at him, "I j-just… d-don't know if I r-really can…" She then looked at Naruto, making him widen his eyes when he saw how truly afraid and uncertain she was feeling, "W-What if I fail? Wh-What if I… i-if I mess up? I j-just… I d-don't believe in m-me anymore…"

Naruto sighed after her words, realising that the root of her problems was doubt, she didn't believed in herself at all, "But why would ya think that?…" He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, continuing, "Why would you have such low esteem over yoself?"

Tsunade looked at the boy for some moments, revelling on the warmth his deep blue eyes were giving her. She looked back at the ground then and whispered, "B-Because… I…" She shivered slightly as she finished her sentence, "I-I failed them…"

Naruto just sighed, understanding now hitting him when he deduced, "Your lover and brother?"

Tsunade just nodded weakly, not fully understanding why she was being so open with him. She has never, ever allowed someone this deep into her pain, not even Shizune, she usually hid herself in a wall of snide remarks and rude dismissals, sometimes even hard punches. She has been carefully denying anyone entrance to her deepest and darkest fears but somehow, for some fricking reason, Naruto was lowering her guard and she actually didn't minded that at all right now, it was giving her some sort of relief to speak about it so openly.

Naruto just sighed, looking at the moon before he added, "So, I guess that what ya really wanted to ask me before was if I could bring them back for ya…" He heard her shocked gasp, knowing that he caught her off guard. He looked at her and chuckled before he said, "It's not that hard to figure it out Princess, and neither is deducing what Orochi-bubu proposed to ya."

Tsunade was definitely shocked, she did not expected Naruto to be so incredibly observing, he completely deduced her true problem, what she wanted to know and what the snake proposed in a matter of minutes, _'A t-true genius indeed…'_ She though, a small sense of pride over Kushina's son washing her aching heart right now.

Knowing that it was useless to deny anything anymore, Tsunade locked her hopeful eyes at him as she asked with a whisper, "C-Can you?"

Naruto just sighed, letting some moments of silence to fall before he answered truthfully, "I can, sure…" She seemed happy to hear that, but ignoring the hurt he knew she will feel, he continued, "But I ain't doing it, not again."

Tsunade was really hurt by the dismissal, anger filling her heart for a moment before she managed to calm down a little bit to question, "W-Why not?" She couldn't hide the little anger in her words from showing though.

Naruto ignored that as he turned to look at the woman, Tsunade feeling surprised to see genuine regret as he explained, "Have you even considered how I fucking feel? How it feels to know that I have the power to bring anyone back from the death? How fricking afraid I am from it to be known because everyone will surely ask for me to bring someone back?…" His anger roused a little while he continued, "I hate this power! I hate it because I cannot sleep knowing that I put Kushina and Minato in a fucking coma! You cannot bring people back from the death without any consequences, Tsunade! I-I…" He calmed down a little, turning back at the moon, "There are consequences… though none of you have to deal with them… I do, and I am fucking terrified of them."

Tsunade was agape, her heart filled with guilt when she realised that she had indeed not even considered what kind of consequences Naruto might face. There was really no clean way to bring someone back, it was unnatural, it was breaking the laws of life. There will always be some sort of consequence and the worst part is that the consequences were surely solely against the one that brought them back, she will live happily ever after with her lover and brother while Naruto suffers some sort of punishment from whoever is beyond them.

"Plus…" Naruto's voice won her attention back as he continued, "Bringing them back is nothing but selfish, no matter how they died or whether they wanted to die or not, once they cross that door, they are at peace and resting…" Naruto closed his eyes when he concluded, "I have the temptation, every single flipping day, of bringing the woman I love back, but no matter how many lies I try to tell to myself, there is absolutely no honest reason for me to disturb her rest, it ain't fair to her, at all."

Tsunade stayed quiet after that, not really knowing what else to say. All of her feelings and troubles have certainly been shook by this young man's way of thinking, it was really surprising to see that behind that goofy smile of his, Naruto seemed to be incredibly wise, going as far as to show a kind of understanding over life that she had a feeling went beyond what any human being could have.

Naruto suddenly stood up, offering her his hand as he said with a small gentle smile on his face, "I know that sometimes, it seems as if the sun will never come out, but with my experience and everything I have lived through, I realised that night can be as beautiful as day…" Tsunade stood up, lost in Naruto's voice, "The best advice I can give you now, though I know I may be just a kid to you… hehe…" She giggled a little, "Is that nights, usually are less gloomy with people around."

Tsunade looked at him for some moments before she looked at the moon, knowing that he had already left her to be alone. His words have certainly reached her, clearing her mind a little to think on what she truly wanted, and right now the only thing her heart demanded, was to have Kushina back.

* * *

"Dammit." Yūgao cursed under her breath while she vented her frustrations over a poor tree, slashing its trunk and destroying it in the process. She has been feeling incredibly stressed over Tsunade, it has been four days since they found her and the woman didn't seemed to be closer to coming back, she continued to evade them and act as if they were not here, it was getting under her skin, Yūgao wanted to be with her parents right now, not waiting for a self-pity mess to come to her senses.

She also needed a break from being around Naruto, not because she hated him mind you, but because as the days went by, ever since his confession, she has been falling for him even deeper. She knew that all of this, was for her, Naruto was trying to convince Tsunade so that Yūgao had her parents back, he was giving her space to think over his proposal and has not intrude in her thinking in the slightest, he was just so damn thoughtful and loving that she couldn't help but love him back.

She knows it may seem weird to proclaim that she loved him, more so when it appears that her feelings for him changed the day he told her about her parents, but she could easily counter that she had loved him deeply ever since he was a kid, it wasn't so ridiculous to think that her feelings might have change in direction, but they never changed in intensity.

The problem was that she was still unsure of what to say, despite not being under pressure, heck, she even knew that Naruto was willing to wait for her answer no matter how many years pass, she still didn't know if she could commit herself to someone like that again, because Naruto was basically proposing marriage to her, an eternal marriage at that, doesn't matter if she knew that he will allow her to pursue another man if she ever wants to, she knows she never will, not if she agrees to his proposal. But living forever, forgoing the opportunity to have a child and more importantly, if her parents do wake up again, seeing them die once they get old, she didn't know if she could do that.

"Dammit!" The purple-haired ANBU Captain screamed when she obliterated the tree in front of her with a powerful set of slashes, her mother's sword shining brightly with the sun as it cooled down from the attack.

"Yūgao!" The voice of the man occupying her mind suddenly broke her out of her stressing, making her turn behind to see the handsome boy landing some steps away from her, a serious expression on his face.

"N-Naruto?… is everything okay?" She asked as she ran towards the silverette, looking at him with worry, thinking that something might have happened to him.

Naruto kept his impassive gaze when he replied, "Tsunade is gone."

Yūgao widened her eyes at that, narrowing them later as Naruto jumped towards the town again with her in tow.

* * *

"So she drugged you…" Yūgao said while pointing at the dazed Jiraiya who nodded absentmindedly, "And she knocked you out…" She then pointed at the blackette who had an embarrassed blush on her cheeks, looking shyly at the ground, "Dammit… do we know where she could've gone!?" The ANBU angrily questioned, already at her wits end with this whole thing.

Shizune kept her gaze on the ground while she muttered almost silently, "P-Probably to… O-Orochimaru…"

Yūgao widened her eyes while Naruto kept his impassive gaze, not surprised but definitely disappointed. Jiraiya for his part just sighed and said, "So he offered her something big, huh?"

Shizune nodded slightly, whispering, "H-He… he told her th-that he would bring my u-uncle and Nawaki back…" She looked up to the stunned ninja to add, "She's b-been so deep in her mi-misery that I f-fear sh… I-I fear s-she'll agree…"

Naruto and Jiraiya just sighed while Yūgao clenched her fists, anger filling her heart the more she stayed in this fricking place. Yūgao was about to say something rude but Naruto beat her to speak, surprising her at how calm he was, "I don't think the Princess's gone to Orochi to accept his deal…" He smirked, having a feeling in his gut that she actually changed, "I think she went to finish the job."

Shizune looked surprised that he seems to have faith in her mentor, it made the young female medic smile a little as she nodded, believing in Tsunade as well. Jiraiya just snorted, a smirk on his face as he admired his godson's beliefs, he may seem like a hopeful idiot sometimes, but if Jiraiya has learnt something in all of these years, is that Naruto had a special ability to see deep into someone's heart, almost as if he could tell anyone's true intentions.

Yūgao just looked at the man she loved with some doubt, asking, "N-Naruto… how can you be so sure?" Had it been anyone else, she would've immediately denied the possibility that Tsunade didn't betrayed them, but this was Naruto, the one capable of knowing someone's motivation with a simple glance.

"Because we spoke yesterday…" He smirked as he recalled, "I think I managed to stroke a core or two." He laughed at that, remembering how the Senju Princess allowed him to have a glance at her deepest fears. He knew, deep in his heart, that she did not betrayed them, she probably wanted to do it herself as to not endanger anyone here, so she took the steps necessary to make sure nobody followed her.

Jiraiya stood up a little shakily, massaging his head while he said, "We should go and check on her, I don't believe she betrayed us either…" He earned a grim expression, finishing, "But I do think she might need our help, I doubt that she has gotten over her haemophobia and Orochimaru surely knows that too."

Naruto and Yūgao raised an eyebrow at that, with the female inquiring, "She fears blood?"

Naruto added, "A medic that fears blood?"

Shizune jumped to defend her mentor, saying, "I k-know it s-sounds ridiculous but!… umm… s-she's seen a lot of… i-important… blood…"

Everybody understood what the cute young lady meant with 'important', so they nodded and relented, "Let's go then." Jiraiya then ordered as he jumped through the window with the other three ninja right behind him, hoping that they would be there on time, he did not wanted to lose Tsunade to his other teammate.

* * *

"Told ya." Naruto muttered with a fierce smirk when he and his companions observed the mess in front of them. They were following the small piglet who caught Tsunade's track and led them to Tanzaku Castle, or that's what it used to be since now all that was left was rubble.

Jiraiya just sighed, saying, "Yeah, but for what I heard from the people running away, a giant snake appeared, we need to hurry."

Everyone nodded at that, urging Tonton to find her master. It took the team some time to find her but the piglet finally managed to take them to her, surprised when they saw her kneeling and shivering while Kabuto lurked above her.

Naruto did not wasted any time and took a three pronged kunai out and threw it at Tsunade, disappearing in a red flash before he reappeared right in front of Kabuto, delivering a powerful kick on his stomach that sent the surprised white-haired man skidding some metres away.

"Seriously!…" Naruto started screaming as he readied his stance, "Why haven't Child Services put yo ass in jail, Bubu!?" He pointed at Orochimaru accusingly.

Orochimaru seethed as Jiraiya and two other women landed right beside that annoying spiteful rapping piece of shit. The snake traitor knew of their presence in town, but he was hoping that Kabuto would be capable of capturing Tsunade before the other Leaf-nin appeared, but as if life has decided to side against him, here they are, and the boy that caused all this trouble in the first place was right there too, taunting him with that infuriating smirk of his.

"Namikaze." Orochimaru hatefully spat in between gritted teeth, his chakra flaring dangerously as he narrowed his slitted yellow eyes at the silverette, he will never forget what that brat did to him.

Tsunade could only stare wide-eyed at the boy, she wanted to deal with her teammate by herself but that lackey of his turned out to be an incredibly tricky opponent, as slippery as his master. He somehow managed to counter her techniques and in a move that completely stunned her, he cut his own palm and threw the blood right to her face. No matter how strong she was, her fear of blood was something she just couldn't find herself capable of outgrowing.

Jiraiya chuckled, stating, "Wow, he doesn't even acknowledges anyone's presence other than yours, Naruto…" He looked at his godson, "You're definitely high on his list."

Naruto just shuddered, seizing the momentary stalemate to gather his essence and augment his power as much as he could, if there was a chance to take that snake down right now, he was sure going to take it, "Oooo… d-don't remind me…" Naruto said, shivering in disgust.

Kabuto recovered, stepping forward while he narrowed his eyes to the boy who dared harm his master, "You… how dare you come here and i…"

Naruto didn't let him finish though, as he spoke over him, "Oh shut it, ya Sheath…" He chuckled, delighting himself with the fuming face of the lackey when he understood what he was implying, "Let the grownups talk, fool."

Jiraiya whispered to his group, "Listen up, I am not one hundred percent well to fight Orochimaru on my own…" He looked at Shizune, "Shizune, you take care of Tsunade…" She nodded before he turned to look at Yūgao, "Yūgao, you take care of the lackey, he seems to be quite the tricky bastard, so don't underestimate him…" He could see that the woman felt unsure of his order, probably because she realised that Naruto would be going up against the snake, but knowing that Namikaze was the only one capable of really injuring the snake, he continued before she could even retort, "Naruto, you're with me, we'll fight Orochimaru, I'll provide you with support while you attack him directly."

Naruto just smirked, already eager to get that snake bitch down. He was about to leap off but Yūgao stopped him, making him turn to look at the purplette beauty who had worried eyes. He just smiled warmly at her and soothed, "Hey don't worry, fool! I got unfinished business with that paled pedo! I'll be aight…" She smiled a little at him before he turned to look at the stunned Tsunade who had yet to take her eyes away from him, "Don't worry Princess, you stay there and enjoy the show, amma fuck this bitch up so hard he's gon need therapy!"

Naruto just threw another kunai at Orochimaru who was watching the field on top of his boss summon, disappearing in a red flash before Kabuto could stop him, Yūgao had already pushed him towards another side of the field.

Orochimaru and his summon had to move out of the way when suddenly, Naruto appeared right in front of them, inhaling deeply before he blew out a huge ball of fire that even from a distance burned like hell.

"Orochimaru!…" Manda's voice ranged through the field, anger and something that could be identified as fear slipped into the boss summons's words, "You blasted fool!" He moved again as another rain of fire threatened to get them.

Orochimaru was right now extremely confused. One, because that damned Namikaze was actually flying, circling them as if he was fricking preying on them, it infuriated Orochimaru how strong that boy was getting in such a short amount of time. And two, because Manda did not only sounded pissed, he sounded scared, "Just attack, Manda! I'll give you your sacrifices later!" Orochimaru urged in between gritted teeth, frustrated that without his arms, he could not use any single jutsu, he could still fight pretty much anyone with only his feet and mouth, but when his opponent could fly, he was pretty much useless.

Shocking everyone like hell, Manda hissed and shook his head, forcing Orochimaru to jump off of it as the snake yelled, "There's no way in hell that I'll fight him!" He suddenly disappeared in a burst of smoke, leaving everyone but Naruto agape as they heard him loud and clear.

"D-Did Manda…" Jiraiya started muttering as he stood dumbfounded, "Just ran away from… N-Naruto?…" He finished, incredibly confused by this but also, suspicious. He was no fool, he knew that there was something different, very different about his godson, starting from his incredible growth, physically and mentally, to him refusing the Toad Contract because he was supposedly offered the Dragon Contract, which Jiraiya knew did not existed. He once placed that on him being a jinchūriki, but no jinchūriki was capable of thinking like Naruto, he seemed to have an understanding over life that was not normal, not mortal, _'What are you, Naruto?…'_ He thought, narrowing his eyes slightly at the hovering silverette. Jiraiya didn't believed that there was something wrong about Naruto, but when a vicious boss summon refuses to fight you and runs away, questions are tend to rise.

Naruto watched the stunned expressions of everyone on the field from above as his essence wings flapped to keep him airborne, amused that Manda realised that he was a full-fledged god, probably sensing that he was something more. The snake boss surely knew that facing him will only lead to his death and while Naruto liked to stay humble most of the time, he couldn't deny that such a powerful creature fearing him enough to flee on sight, made him feel very imposing.

 ** _"_** ** _He fears ME though."_** Ddraig mumbled inside Naruto's head, smirking when he heard the disappointed whine coming from his successor, realising that indeed Manda feared Ddraig, not Naruto.

"Not cool, fool." Naruto muttered as he hung his head slightly, twitching his eyebrow when he heard the haughty laugh of the Nine Tailed Fox who was surely loving Naruto's plight.

Back on the ground, Orochimaru hissed, not knowing what the fuck was going on, a minute ago he was close to get Tsunade but now all of a sudden, his summon, Manda, the fearsome and most powerful snake in the world, ran off like a scared little puppy, it made no sense, "You're starting to become a really annoying stone in my shoes, brat." The Snake Sannin whispered heatedly, his aura flailing around dangerously.

Naruto just smirked while he hovered, yelling back, "Well then, I should be proud of mahself, yes!?…" He laughed before he made a set of hand-seals, saying after, "Wind Style: Great Hurricane Blades!" He suddenly flew down straight at Orochimaru with blinding speeds, spinning his body rapidly as wind chakra created a very sharp and deadly tornado of blades around him.

Orochimaru hissed when he jumped out of the way, shocked that after Naruto crashed on the ground, a wave of wind-blades was released, managing to deliver some cuts on his pale skin, "Y-You damn b…" He couldn't finish his sentence though, because the Namikaze suddenly appeared from the smoke, gliding towards him while he held the lightning sword on a backwards grip, dangerously waiting to deliver a powerful slash to him.

Orochimaru could see from the corner of his eye that Kabuto wanted to jump to his defence, but he was being preoccupied by Yūgao quite well, not letting him come to his aid. But Orochimaru was still a sannin, and he proved his prowess when he suddenly vomited another copy of himself, the past body getting slashed in half as he managed to jump away from the dangerous boy.

"Eeww…" Naruto muttered when he landed in a crouched position, disgusted by the display, "Fool… that's… ninja… you need God in yo life, bruv!… that was disgusting, fool!"

Orochimaru just gritted his teeth, _'T-This brat…'_ He thought heatedly, pinning this boy at the top of his 'to kill' list. The Namikaze was getting the better of Orochimaru and that really, really bothered the snake, it wasn't normal, it didn't matter if the brat was a jinchūriki, there was something else to him and the snake summoner was going to find out what, "Die!" He yelled as he opened his mouth, a snake suddenly showing its head from inside Orochimaru's mouth. The snake then opened its mouth and a blade suddenly sprung, aimed straight at Naruto as it travelled with incredible speeds.

Naruto just smirked when he saw the blade coming, its speed was incredible but it wasn't something that Naruto couldn't deal with. He simply used his augmented body to add wind chakra to his feet, sidestepping the blade as it passed right beside him.

Naruto then widened his eyes when he realised that the wasn't the real target, Orochimaru's true target was Tsunade, who had yet to move and was still watching the fight with wide eyes, obviously seeing that the blade was going straight at her but due to her phobia, she was unable to move.

Naruto suddenly focused his mind on the kunai he had left on Tsunade's side and disappeared in a red flash, appearing right in front her and putting himself in between her and the blade.

Everyone watched as the blade penetrated Naruto's torso, the silverette stopping its movement when he grabbed it with his bare hands, grunting in the surely excruciating pain he was currently being subjected to.

"N-Naruto…" Tsunade whispered, shocked of what happened. One moment she was sure it was her time to go but the next one Naruto was standing right in front of her, taking the hit for her and saving her life, but at what cost.

Naruto just kept his pain-awareness at the minimum, knowing that the moment he thought of what he was feeling, he was surely going to lose his consciousness. He could also tell by the burning sensation he was feeling running through his body that the damn blade was poisoned, so he didn't had much time to do something.

The Uzumaki just looked at Orochimaru with half-lidded eyes since he could feel his mind going black, absentmindedly hearing the desperate cries of Yūgao. Naruto gritted his teeth in anger when he saw the infuriating smug smirk plastered on Orochimaru's face, probably thinking that he got him for good, "Ya fool." Naruto suddenly whispered with a smirk of his own, confusing everyone present when he suddenly started shaking while he kept his eyes closed.

Nobody knew what was going on, most of them thinking that whatever poison coated the blade was starting to cause the boy hallucinations. It wasn't until the blade started to throw off smoke while it slowly turned glowing orange that they understood what he was doing.

"ARGH!" Orochimaru suddenly started screaming as he thrashed about, his mouth and intestines feeling the incredible heat that Naruto was applying to the blade. His blade now glowed brightly, reminiscing of when they are molded for the first time in the forge, it even started melting and much to Orochimaru's horror, the melting reached his stomach.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto screamed after he finally managed to push Yūgao away who took no time to get to Naruto. The bespectacled man too went to his master's side and kicked him harshly on the back, forcing Orochimaru to spit the snake he used to keep his sword.

"H-Holy shit…" Jiraiya muttered in awe, Naruto, his godson, has managed to cause more harm to the snake that he or anyone else ever could. It wasn't hard to guess in how much pain the snake was right now because he couldn't even stand, Orochimaru was writhing around the field while he spat small globs of melted metal, heck, Jiraiya could even see tears coming from the traitor's eyes.

"Y-You… y-you…" Kabuto whispered while he narrowed his eyes at Naruto, hatred filling his heart as he helplessly watched his master suffering an internal burning, surely some of his organs have already failed, he needed to get him out of here now, "At least you'll die from the poison, you damn brat." He finished with a sadistic smirk before he made some hand-seals and disappeared with Orochimaru in a poof of smoke.

Naruto just weakly chuckled before he collapsed on the floor, a lot of blood flowing out of his body through the giant wound Orochimaru's sword left in his chest. He could barely hear Yūgao's frantic screaming as she ran towards his side, turning him on his back while she begged him to stay awake.

Tsunade, finally after seeing Naruto's dying condition, gathered the courage to move, thinking of all those times in the past that she did not wasted any time to act whenever someone needed medical attention. It made her thought from where did she got her strength from back then, it didn't came from the desire to defend the Leaf, it didn't came from the wish to be known as the strongest woman in the world, no, it came from the obligation she felt to protect her little brother's dream, it was the only reason for why she fought the Second War, so that Nawaki would have a home that he one day could lead.

But Nawaki died and her determination wavered heavily, the fire in her heart almost out since she couldn't cope with her little brother's death. It wasn't until she met Dan, the man that had stolen her heart, that she started believing again, her determination coming back when she now desired to fight by her lover's side, aiding him on his road to Hokageship, going as far as to trust him with the necklace her grandfather, Hashirama Senju, gave her and that once belonged to Nawaki, but he too died.

It was then Kushina's turn, the fiery and loud-mouthed redheaded Uzumaki Princess, while at first a little annoying, she steadily became Tsunade's next great bet, the one that Tsunade thought that could change the world. And for many years, Kushina did took the ninja world by storm, alongside her partner Mikoto Uchiha and her husband Minato Namikaze, the three of them were the next Leaf trio to make it into the books, but she too died.

Things were different now though, Kushina was back and Tsunade knew that only she was capable of bringing her back, she was not going to run away from her responsibilities anymore, "N-Naruto! D-Don't… d-don't speak… I-I'll… I'll m-make it okay…" She whispered to the amazing young man fighting for his life right now, the one that recklessly took the hit for her so that she could live, so that she could wake Kushina and Minato. It made Tsunade a little jealous to see that he was willing to go to such lengths for Yūgao, because everyone knew that this whole thing was for the purple-haired woman's sake. But despite the newfound determination, she still shivered when she touched him, doubting herself for some moments after the adrenaline that assaulted her earlier greatly receded.

Naruto saw the doubt in the busty woman's eyes, so he weakly brought his bloodied hand to Tsunade's cheeks and whispered, "D-Don't… d-don't doubt y… y-yoself… P-Princess…" He groaned a little, already feeling his window of consciousness closing, "I h-heard that you… t-that you like to b-bet… a-a lot…" Tsunade widened her eyes, understanding that he was talking about her brother, lover and Kushina, "F-For once… y-you should l-let… _cough_ … s-someone bet o… o-on you… I-I… b-believe… in you…" He closed his eyes then, no longer able to remain awake as the poison spread rapidly through his organs.

"Naruto!" Yūgao screamed, hot tears streaming down her face while she thought the worse. He couldn't do this to her, could he? He wasn't going to die right after she declared her love to him, he couldn't, right? He promised her, _'You promised…'_ The ANBU Captain thought, knowing that if Naruto dies, she will kill herself, foster parents or not, Naruto was genuinely the only think keeping her safe right now.

Tsunade stared wide-eyed for a second, a rush of emotions flooding her heart after she registered the words from the dying silverette, _'H-He… believes in me…'_ She repeated his words in her mind, a fire burning like never before, he was not going to die today, Kushina was not going to remain in a coma anymore, she will not be mocked by anyone else, Orochimaru will pay soon, she will remind the world who Tsunade Senju, the Leaf's Slug Sannin, truly was, "Shizune!" Tsunade screamed while her palms were coated with a green cloak, passing them over Naruto's wound.

Shizune yelped a little after hearing her mentor's words, it has been so long since she heard the gambling-lover speak with such strength that she almost had trouble recognising the determined look on her face, "Y-Yes?" She meekly responded, kneeling right beside her master.

Tsunade did not looked at her when she replied, "I'm going to focus on getting the venom out of Naruto's system, you focus on restoring his organs as we go…" She looked at her stunned apprentice, yelling after, "Understood!?"

Shizune shook her head and replied, an equal determined glint in her eyes since she did not wanted to see Naruto die either, "Yes." She replied sternly, beginning to work alongside her mentor, knowing that they will save the handsome young man no matter what.

"You will not die Naruto…" Tsunade whispered as she worked her magic, a small smile on her face when she finished, "You still have a lot of things to teach me."

Behind the trio of women, Jiraiya stood silently while he observed his old teammate regaining her true self when she worked her hardest to revive Naruto, it made him smirk because he knew the truth, he just wished that Naruto wasn't so damn reckless with his own life, _'It worked though…'_ He thought with a mental chuckle, knowing that Tsunade has finally been convinced, it was time to go back home.

* * *

 _Fire, there was fire everywhere._

 _Burned flesh, it reeked of burnt flesh everywhere._

 _Screams, cries rang throughout the whole village._

 _And he? He was standing over Whirlpool's tallest building, observing how every single Uzumaki burned, cried, died and begged for help._

 _He wasn't going to help them though._

 _"_ _W-Why?…" A weak voice broke Naruto from his observation, the silverette turning to look at his side where an old man laid on his back, seconds away from dying. The bottom half of his body was still smoking, his skin already charred, tears were gathered on his dry eyes. The old man couldn't even muster enough strength to hate the young man standing above him, "Why d-did… you… d-do… this?…" The Uzukage knew that he was going to die, he knew that every Uzumaki was already dead or moments away from dying, he also knew that Naruto was not going to let anyone go, he was going to make sure that no Uzumaki, other than Kushina and his siblings, was left, so the only thing he had left, was that simple question, he at least wanted to know why he was slaughtering his own brethren._

 _Naruto looked at the man for some seconds before he brought his gaze back to Whirlpool, there was no satisfaction in his eyes, no smugness, no sadistic smirk, but there wasn't regret either, the only thing that the Uzukage could see coming from Naruto's eyes, was determination and hate._

 _"_ _I'm doing what you created me for…" Naruto replied with a calm tone, continuing observing as the village he was supposed to call home burned, "You were just foolish enough to think that you were off the equation, that I was going to make everyone but you suffer…" Naruto then grabbed a katana and looked at the man, adding, "You now know how wrong you were." He stabbed the man's head after he spoke, finally killing him._

 _Naruto just looked back at the village, his eyes narrowing while determination filled his black heart, "It has begun."_

" _GASP…_ " Naruto suddenly woke up from such horrendous nightmare, his stomach revolving as the scent of burnt flesh still filled his nostrils, "W-What… the f-fuck…" He wanted to get out of bed but he realised that Yūgao was there by his side, hugging him tightly while a frown adorned her face, "D-Damn…" He just muttered, deciding to go back to sleep as to not wake the woman up, though he knew that after such horrible dream, sleep would be all but impossible to achieve.

* * *

Naruto let out a tired sigh when he sunk even deeper into the waters of the hotspring, his body still a little sore from taking Orochimaru's sword head on and surviving a very powerful poison that definitely put him on peril. He wasn't going to really die since he was a god, but he could've gotten really hurt and to mortal standards, he might have been pushed to fake his death.

As for his nightmare, no comments.

He smirked though, when he remembered the positive things that happened after the battle with the snake traitor. He had lost consciousness but he managed to see that Tsunade had finally remembered who she was, her eyes burning with confidence. After his nightmare, he had woke up later to find himself in his hotel room, Yūgao still sleeping by his side, hugging his arm tightly, not allowing him to move anywhere other than the bed, it made him admire how cute she looked.

Though, the purplette had a nightmare where she kept pleading God not to take him away from her, making him loath himself for causing so much pain to the woman who just recently lost her lover. He knew he could've used another tactic, but standing in between Tsunade and the blade was the only way he could think of at the moment that would deliver both a tremendous shock to Tsunade to wake her up, and to keep Orochimaru in one place.

He had to admit that he felt quite impressed with his thinking, more so when Ddraig himself congratulated him for the attack. He never really planned it, he improvised and it paid its dividends. Utilising his own natural heat from being a dragon to melt the sword was definitely a genius tactic, heat travels really fast so Orochimaru didn't really had the time to release the sword, not before it melted anyway, Naruto's natural heat is hotter than magma, he is actually capable of producing plasma and since he is able to achieve such heat in a very short span, Orochimaru had no time to protect himself and part of the sword melted while still inside his mouth, surely burning a lot of important organs in the process.

Returning to the now, they had set off from Tanzaku a day ago and were heading straight to the Leaf, Minato and Kushina were still under a coma and they needed to be checked as soon as possible, but they had to stop in a small town because Naruto was still not at an a hundred percent back, he tried to tell them to leave without him but they immediately refused. Surprisingly, it was Yūgao the one that almost stabbed him with her sword for thinking so recklessly, the woman hadn't really spoken to him ever since he woke up after all, she was obviously hurt and scared after the stunt he pulled.

" _Sigh_ … Gotta make it up to her…" Naruto mumbled before he closed his eyes, knowing that he needed to find a way to convince Yūgao to forgive him.

"Absolutely." The voice of the aforementioned woman suddenly was heard from behind him, making Naruto open his eyes to be greeted with the delightful sight of Yūgao's completely naked body, nothing covering it.

Naruto shifted on his place, turning to look at the woman as she sunk in the water, slowly and shyly making her way towards him, "Y-Yū…" Naruto muttered before he widened his eyes when she suddenly kept him on his seat and sat face to face on his lap, her bare vagina brushing dangerously against his not so limp penis, "A-Are you okay?" He asked, worried for the way the woman suddenly hugged him and buried her head on his shoulder.

"P-Please…" She spoke, almost a whisper, shivering as she continued, "Don't e-ever do that again… I-I… I k-know you can't really die b-but…" She started weeping, hugging him tightly as if to not let go, "I-It still hurts s-so much to see it… p-please…" She suddenly brought her face right in front of his, cupping his cheeks before she finished with a whisper, "I l-love you too much t-to lose you… m-my heart… I-I… I w-won't be able to m-move on…"

Naruto stayed silent for some moments, hating himself right now as he realised just how much pain he caused the beautiful woman on his lap. It was so painfully obvious to see the despair and fear in Yūgao's eyes, she really wouldn't be capable of living without him, not even with her parents back.

Naruto only hugged her tightly and captured her lips with his in a deep passionate and needy kiss, conveying all the love he had for her while he gently caressed her back, "I'm sorry…" He whispered once they broke the kiss, Yūgao burying her face on the crook of his neck as he continued, "I won't be that reckless ever again."

The ANBU Captain stayed quiet for a while, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms, she was tempted to grab the penis below her vagina and insert it in her folds, she definitely wanted to feel him inside of her but she didn't know how to proceed, "Good… I… I d-don't want to see my… m-mate… dying." She mumbled, a blush adorning her cheeks as she registered what she just said.

Naruto looked down at her, surprised as he asked, "Yūgao?…"

The woman steeled her resolve, already knowing that there was no way back now and she didn't wanted a way back, she loved him, she didn't needed anyone else, "W-When I thought that… you d… d-died… I felt my heart c-crumbling…" She said as she looked at him, lifting her hips just a little so she could be face to face with him, "I don't w-want to spend more time without being yours, so p-please Naruto…" She leaned on his ear, whispering seductively, "Make me yours, forever."

 **LEMON**

Naruto's eyes went wide after the proclamation, he wasn't definitely expecting this but seeing that Yūgao got really freaked out by his near death state, he could see that the woman was feeling an incredible need for him right now.

Normally, he would stop himself to allow the woman to think things through, but Yūgao has loved him for a long time now, she didn't needed much thinking, so he kissed her hungrily while he grabbed her ass, lining up her entrance to his already hard rock member.

"Last chance." He still warned.

Yūgao smiled at him before she kissed him and lowered herself on his meat, moaning deeply inside his mouth as Naruto penetrated her to such depths it started to hurt. Thankfully for her though, Naruto did not moved and allowed her to accustom to his size, slowly but steadily feeling her muscles relax.

"N-Naruto…" She moaned, whining when she started grinding her hips over him, "L-Love me."

Naruto's draconic lust was then released after those words, his hips starting to thrust at a slow pace first before he sped up his movements when he saw Yūgao's lustful expression. He was glad that this was a private bath, otherwise her screams would've surely be heard everywhere as she turned out to be quiet the vocal lover.

Naruto suddenly lifted her up from the bath, his penis still buried deep within her folds as he placed the woman with her back on the ground, continuing his assault on the kunoichi, "Oh… s-shit… y-you're so tight, my m-moonflower…" Naruto said in between gritted teeth, loving the way that her walls constricted his penis, almost as if trying to stop his thrusts.

Yūgao had tears in her eyes while she felt a kind of pleasure she has never experienced before, she loved Hayate, deeply, but he paled in comparison to Naruto. It shocked her to see how good he was but she realised that he had to be good, he had a responsibility with a lot of women after all. Hearing him calling her with such endearing pet name made her clamp her vagina on his penis even harder, screaming, "Oh N-Naruto… i-it's because I… I l-love you so much…" She whimpered when he turned her around in fours, penetrating her forcefully again while he brought her body close to his, holding her by her breasts as she said right next to his ear, "I d-don't want to let you go… ever…" She kissed his cheek while he incremented his thrusts' speeds, making her moan louder while saliva flew from her mouth, losing her mind as the pleasure became almost too unbearable.

Naruto squeezed her breasts while he continued his relentless pounding, her words incrementing his lust as he could feel his end coming, "I w-will take care of you forever Yū, y-you will never be alone anymore." He whispered to her, a loving glint in his eyes when he looked at her.

Yūgao felt her heart melting from both the lust she had and the love she could feel coming from her new lover, seeing complete honesty in his eyes that it made her throw her hips back to try and drive him deeper within her, "N-Naruto…" She whispered as she kissed him deeply, trying to show him how much she genuinely loved him, "D-Do it… mark me…" She pleaded when she felt her end coming.

Naruto increased his thrusts one last time before he drove himself as deep into her vagina as he could, swearing that he felt her cervix when he released his semen inside her awaiting womb.

Yūgao released a silent scream when she felt her womb flooding with Naruto's sperm, her pleasure increasing after he sunk his canines on her neck and channelled his divine essence into her, marking her as his for eternity.

 **END LEMON**

The two stayed like that frozen for a moment, Naruto finishing releasing his sperm before she fell forward, though Naruto caught her before she hit the floor, bringing her close to him to realise that the woman had lost consciousness, "Hehe… I love you, Yūgao…" Naruto muttered before he carried her back into the bath, washing her body and his before moving back to his room once done, feeling really happy to have added a new addition to his family. Though, he was indeed a little nervous for Kushina and Minato, the time to see what they wanted to do next has finally come.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya go, hope you liked it, comment and see ya later, cheers!**


	25. Stand By Me

**A/N: Holy shit, waddup!? So sorry for taking so long to update, but fucking holidays man. Plus, I wanted to update my other story as well since it had been a long time since I did. But anyway, we're back.**

 **The other reason for why it took me so long for this one to get done is because it was actually hard for me to write this one, I had to draw inspiration from past and recent experiences and well, wasn't easy. But I wanted to convey Naruto's emotions as best as I could, and despite it all, I'm quite happy with the result, I did shed some tears after all.**

 **As I expressed on he past chapter, this is the one where you'll see what you fellas voted for, though I think must of you already knew what the people want, I still hope you find it enjoyable and fitting.**

 **Without further ado, let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **Stand By Me**

Naruto inhaled deeply as he looked at Yūgao's sleeping form. The two were currently in a tent, resting the day's exhaustion. Tsunade and Shizune were occupying the other tent some metres away from theirs while Jiraiya once again was placed under watch duty, a punishment placed on him by Tsunade for trying to peep on her, again.

The silver-haired Uzumaki could feel how his stomach twisted nervously, knowing that in a couple of minutes, he might earn the ire of her newest mate. He knew he could keep it hidden from her, and her parents, but just like Minato and Kushina, Yūgao deserved to know the truth of why he brought them back. He did felt ashamed for toying with their lives just for the sake of angering the God of Death, but when to face his mate and her parents' rage and facing disobeying the Absolute God of End was pitted against each other, Naruto had no trouble choosing the former in a heartbeat.

So the Namikaze steeled his resolve, sighing deeply again before he stood up and walked towards the sleeping bag where Yūgao was in, shaking her slightly as he whispered, "Yū, wake up, luv." He kissed her head gently.

Yūgao rubbed her eyes as she slowly woke up, turning to look at her, _'B-Boyfriend?… I g-guess…'_ She thought, sitting up on her sleeping bag before she said after a cute yawn, "N-Naru? What is it?" She tilted her head, her eyes still sleepy.

Naruto snorted while he caressed her cheek, the woman leaning on his touch as he whispered, "Sorry for waking ya up, luv, but…" He sighed, releasing his touch while he leaned back, sitting right before the purple-haired ANBU to say, "There is a… c-confession I have to make."

Yūgao lost all of her sleepiness after those words, worry surrounding her heart as many painful scenarios flooded her head, whispering a question while she fidgeted nervously, "W-What do you mean?"

Naruto saw the woman's worry but he couldn't really reassure her of anything, he didn't know how she was going to react so decided to just be honest, "Is about your parents…" The woman widened her eyes, the male continuing, "I lied about not knowing how or why I brought them back." He kept his eyes locked to hers, wanting the beauty to see right through him at the moment.

Yūgao did calmed down a little after his words, now realising that it had nothing to do with their new relationship. But also knowing that it had to do with her beloved parents, the ANBU Captain shook her head and asked, "T-Then why did you do it?" She did not understand why he would keep it hidden. Despite feeling slightly angry right now at him, she knew her beloved well and she was sure that he had a very good reason, so she was trusting him right now, he was coming forward on his own after all.

Naruto sighed, replying, "Back when I was fighting them in the Arena…" He shifted a little on his place, "I knew that the only way to free a soul trapped by the Impure Reincarnation was by being released by the user itself or by them accepting that they no longer had any duty left in this world…" He then rested his chin on his fist, continuing, "Since I knew that Orochi-bubu was not going to release them fools and that both Minato and Kushina had not accepted their deaths, I had thought that there was no other choice but to trust Pervy Sage on it, he is the continent's greatest seal master."

"Ah huh." Yūgao hummed, placing a hand on his knee to reassure him that she was not going to judge him unfairly.

Naruto's reluctance disappeared when he felt his woman's comfort, happy to see that she trusted him even with this. He sighed then, continuing after, "Anyway, that's when Ddraig called for me, when I was surrounded by my cloak?…" The woman nodded at him, telling him that she remembered that moment, "Well I was speaking with him at that moment, he was the one that ordered me to bring them back."

Yūgao felt really confused by that, stating as much when she inquired, "Why? Does h-he wants my parents for something?" Her worry and fear was palpable, she trusted her man fully, but the dragon god was another thing. All she knew about the mighty beast was that he was a god of immense power, she could not really understand what such mighty being would want from her parents, it worried her.

Naruto caught the worry and immediately defused it when he said, "No Yū, it's not really about Minato or Kushina, it was about their owner…" He could see that the woman now felt confused, so he elaborated, "You see, apparently, when ya use the technique Minato and Kushina used to seal Ddraig in me, the God of Death is summoned and you must strike a deal with him, simply put, your soul for sealing someone else's."

The woman nodded at that, saying, "Yeah I a-already know that, I did my research after they died…" Naruto nodded, prompting her to add a question, "But you're telling me that their souls belong to the God of Death?"

Naruto nodded, speaking again, "Yes, they remain as his for eternity…" He breathed in, scratching his head before he continued, "The point is, that Ddraig wanted me to anger Hades, he supposedly stole something from Ddraig and mah scaly partner wants it back."

Yūgao widened her eyes, understanding now hitting her as she deduced with a mutter, "S-So he told you to bring them back… to r-rile him up?"

Naruto nodded, a small frown of regret on his face as he muttered lowly, "Yup, pretty much."

The woman took some moments to speak again, "And the c-coma?"

Naruto sighed, "They ARE in a coma, but not in danger…" He looked at the shocked woman to continue, "Ddraig placed them under a coma so that the bodies that were used as sacrifices could accommodate to their new owners. The process could've happened with them awake, but according to Ddraig, it would've been an excruciating experience, so he decided to keep them under a coma…" He inhaled again, finishing, "We also keep them that way so that I could ask them what they wanted to do, Ddraig has no purpose for them, so they are free to either come back or go back to the dead, I at least wanted to give them a choice."

Yūgao took it all in, slowly lowering her face as she processed everything confessed to her, "Why d-did you lied to me? To us?…" She asked, not looking at him at the moment.

Naruto sighed, massaging his chin before he answered, "For the very same reason to why I cannot tell you how I brought them back…" The purplette looked back at him as he kept speaking, "There are things that mortals cannot know, this was one of them."

Yūgao then widened her eyes, realisation now clear as she muttered, "S-So now that I am officially your mate… y-you can tell me."

Naruto nodded with a small smile, saying, "Correct, your mind is now capable of safely taking in divine knowledge, not to my extent, but you won't go crazy by it, which is what happens when a regular fool discovers anything related to divinity."

Yūgao nodded but added another question, "But why can't you tell me how you did it?"

"Because I am strictly forbidden to it by Ddraig, and I am sorry my love, but I do not want to anger him." He chuckled nervously as he pictured the predatory smirk of the divine being in question inside his body.

Yūgao nodded at that with a gulp, not wanting to push her new boyfriend into a situation where he might anger the imposing dragon. Shaking her head slightly, she then said, "S-So what now?" She crawled towards him, wrapping her arms around his torso while her head sunk on his trained chest, the male slowly falling back on the sleeping back.

Naruto caressed the woman's hair lovingly, replying after, "Well, now we wait to see what Minato and Kushina want, it is their choice after all…" Yūgao nodded slightly on his chest before he added, "Tsunade still has to check them over and make sure that their chakra has adjusted to their new bodies well, they might wake up, but the risk of them becoming incapable of wielding chakra is still there."

The purplette shivered a little after that, fear filling her heart before it suddenly disappeared when Naruto tightened his grip on her, sensing her fear and need of reassurance.

Yūgao looked up at him and gave him a small loving kiss, going back to her place on his chest as she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim her once again, trusting that her love knew what he was doing and that at the end, whatever happens, she will be able to deal with it with the help of her new family.

* * *

"Naruto!" A beautiful red-headed female screamed as she woke up with a freaked out jump, sweat covering her forehead as she slowly regained her bearings, turning around frantically to try and see where she was at.

"Kushina!" The voice of her beloved husband suddenly won the Uzumaki Princess' attention to her side, where the famed and powerful Fourth Hokage ran to her side and kneeled beside her, grabbing her head while he locked his lips on hers.

Kushina returned the kiss, gripping her lover's coat as she slowly remembered what happened, saying once they broke the lip-lock, "M-Minato… N-Naruto… he…"

Minato cut her off, saying, "Yes, I know, darling…" He cleaned the sweat from her forehead, smiling a little as he said, "But as you can see, we are no longer with him."

Kushina once again surveyed their surroundings, surprised to see that they were in a strange place with clouds below them, a transparent glass-like floor keeping them from falling down. The woman then looked up and was even more confused when she saw that there were only clouds, nothing more.

"W-Where are we?" She questioned as she tightened her hold on the blond male.

The Namikaze sighed, caressing his wife's back when he replied, "I don't know…" He then looked at her, adding, "I've been awake for a while now, I woke up right next to you and got freaked out when you didn't woke up, but you had a pulse an all, it was as if you were in a coma."

Kushina looked at her lover for some moments, widening her eyes as she whispered, "I r-remember… f-fighting my baby girl…" She widened her eyes again as she added, "A-And Naruto!…" She looked around, asking frantically, "W-Where are my babies!?"

Minato just sighed while he embraced his distraught woman, saying with a whisper, "They're not here, Kushina…" He caressed her head as she started sobbing, sinking in his arms while he continued, "Whatever he did, kept us in this place."

Kushina looked up at him, questioning, "W-Whatever he… did?…" She felt confused and scared.

Minato nodded, explaining, "I don't know if you can remember, but when he hit me with his rasengan…" A small proud smile formed on his lips, "I was sent to the ground and before I could get up again, I felt him transferring something into me…" He looked at the distance, finishing, "I'd thought that he was infusing his chakra in me, but it felt different, more powerful."

Kushina looked at her husband for some moments before a wave of remembrance hit her, saying with slightly wide eyes, "I remember! I felt that too!…" She then looked down, whispering, "Do you th-think he…" She sniffled before she finished, suddenly getting small into Minato's arms, "Do you think h-he was punishing us?"

Minato raised an eyebrow at the question, not understanding why would the female think that, "What?" He asked confused.

Kushina looked at him, tears falling freely from her eyes as she said desperately, "He hates us, Minato! You heard him!…" She crashed her face on his chest, muttering, "Why d-didn't we run?…"

Minato just rested his chin atop of the woman's head, feeling as guilty, maybe even more, as his wife. He knew what she was talking about.

Back when the Twelve Winged Dragon appeared, Tsunade had proposed to them to run away, to leave the Leaf behind and find another life. The plan was for Tsunade, Shizune, Kushina, Minato, Yūgao and the newly born Naruto to disappear during the night of the second day of the attack. It was a highly enticing plan for the Namikaze family but none of them could refute their duty, Minato as a Hokage and Kushina as his right-hand-woman had a duty to fulfil.

It was surprisingly Kushina the one that declined the offer, arguing that when she had stepped aside on the race for Hokageship to allow her beloved to win the spot, she had made him promise to do everything in his power to protect their home, a promise she would carry on her shoulders as well.

Minato agreed to it, much to Tsunade's disapproval, but even so he pointed out that they will more than likely perish, to which she smiled sadly with some tears and replied that she knew that well, but that she believed that Yūgao will take care of their son.

Minato just sighed once he finished remembering that fateful day, it was three hours after that talk that they died, "He doesn't hates us…" He whispered, the woman looking at him with her eyes puffy, "He respects us and understands what we had to do." He cleaned her tears with his fingers gently.

Kushina sniffled, arguing, "B-But he said that K-Kakashi… that woman H-Hanare…"

Minato cut her off, saying after a sad sigh, "Kushina, we can't blame him for not seeing us as his parents, as much as it hurts to admit, we are not his parents…" The woman winced as more tears started falling, "We cannot change that, we made a choice that day and we must live with the consequences…" He pulled her even closer to him, adding a whisper, "We can only be grateful to Kakashi that he took care of our boy."

Kushina just nodded a little, sadness filling her heart since she knew that her husband was right, there was nothing they could do now, they had made their choice. She then looked up at him again, asking, "W-What do we do?" She was referring to their current strange situation.

Minato looked at her for some seconds before he brought his gaze to their surroundings, sighing before he replied, "I don't know, Kushina…" He rested his chin again on her head, the woman shivering in fear and uncertainty as he tried to give her as much comfort as he could, "I don't know."

* * *

"Talking 'bout warm welcomes." Naruto muttered as he walked beside Yūgao. The woman nodded while she looked around her.

They had just arrived to the Leaf and were shocked to find almost a parade prepared for the return of Tsunade Senju. The woman in question with a small smile saluting the people, clearly not too happy about the commotion.

Naruto and Yūgao were walking behind the two Sannin and Shizune, Naruto spotting his mates among the crowd and smiling slightly at them with a nod. The females sending knowing looks to Yūgao who only looked down shyly with a small blush.

The group took some moments to arrive to the Hokage Tower, but once they did, Naruto said relieved, "Finally!"

Tsunade just snickered, agreeing, "Finally indeed."

Jiraiya then led them towards his sensei's office, saying cheerfully, "Come on! Let's go and report back to the Old Man."

After some moments, the group entered the Hokage's office, the man already waiting for them with a smile on his wrinkled face as he greeted them all, "I knew you could pull it off…" He focused on his female student, saying grandfatherly, "It's good to see you again, Tsunade."

Tsunade smiled at her sensei, she greatly treasured the man, "It is good to see you too, sensei."

"Now let's t…" Hiruzen was saying before he was interrupted by his adoptive grandson.

"Old Man…" Naruto's voice was low and cold, catching everyone off guard due to his unexpected demeanour, "Sasuke." He added, his voice and eyes now full with worry.

Hiruzen sighed, muttering, "I guess that Itachi told you then…" Naruto just nodded, Tsunade and Shizune raising their eyebrows as they didn't understand what was going on, "Sasuke's mind was injured badly by Itachi's Tsukuyomi, but he will live, though he hasn't wake up…" Naruto widened his eyes when the old leader added, "But you can go and see him, he's in the same room as your father."

"D-Dad?" Naruto questioned, uncertain.

Hiruzen cursed under his breath when he realised that Itachi had only told Naruto about Sasuke, seeing as everyone was confused about mentioning Kakashi. The old Sarutobi just sighed and explained, "Yes my boy, Kakashi was also a victim of Itachi's genjutsu, but since he is more experienced than Sasuke, Kakashi managed to recover faster, he's already awake but he's still in the hospital, your mother's there with him too."

Before the old man could say anything else, Naruto sprinted out of the room, leaping through the roofs as he left a trail of dust on his wake. Hiruzen just sighed tiredly while he massaged his temples.

Yūgao observed as her new mate ran towards the hospital, she wanted to go with him but she remembered that he told her to keep their relationship hidden, they couldn't risk rumours spreading. Though she did had a little bit more of room to be mushy with him, since the village already knew about their closeness with each other, they just had to keep the romantic stuff to themselves.

Instead, the ANBU Captain focused on Tsunade when she asked, "Itachi?"

Hiruzen sighed, replying, "He infiltrated the village some days ago with Kisame Hoshigaki…" He narrowed his eyes then, adding, "Both wearing Akatsuki cloaks."

Both Tsunade and Shizune widened their eyes, already knowing about the powerful group and what they desired, "They came here for Naruto." Tsunade whispered.

"Yes…" Jiraiya started with his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed at the distance, "They even intercepted us in Otafuku Gai…" The two females looked at him in surprise, "Yūgao and Naruto had to fight them off."

Tsunade shook her head later, narrowing her eyes as she whispered a question in between gritted teeth, her anger showing, "And where were you, Mr Toad Sage?"

Jiraiya gulped while he leaned back, frightened by the ominous aura his old teammate was releasing, "I-I… I w-was… b-busy…" That turned out to be the wrong thing to say as the woman suddenly punched him straight on the face, sending him crashing painfully against the wall.

"Useless pervert…" Tsunade replied before she huffed, crossing her arms below her bust when she added, "Only because Naruto is alive, I will spare you."

Hiruzen just chuckled as he observed his students fighting like they used to do back when they were kids, it brought a lot of happy memories to the old timer's mind. The Hokage then sighed before he said, "Well then Tsunade, I trust that you already know why I asked for you?"

Tsunade inhaled before she replied, a small confident smile on her face as she spoke lovingly, "Kushina…" Her sensei smiled a little back at her, but she then added with an annoyed huff, "Though for the parade that greeted me when I walked through the gates, I can tell that you want me to take the hat from you…" Shizune gasped loudly at that, greatly surprised as her mentor added with a small smirk, "What is it, Old Man? No longer able to move without hurting your rusty bones?"

Hiruzen just chuckled, replying, "None of that, child…" He inhaled then, looking at his village for a second before he looked back at the woman, saying simply, "It's just time."

Tsunade was actually taken aback by how tired her sensei looked, she could see the exhaustion in his eyes as clear as day. Heck, she couldn't blame him, the man has been Hokage for over three decades now, that was a lot by regular standards.

She figured out that Kushina was not the only reason they wanted her back in the Leaf the moment she walked into the village and saw the people cheering for her, managing to listen some whispers about the arrival of the new Hokage. It did pissed her off slightly once she realised that but she soon calmed down, it made sense really as Hiruzen was already too old and will more than likely wish to spend his remaining days in retirement. Since she and Jiraiya were the only two viable options to succeed him, she could deduce that her white-haired teammate had refused the job, leaving her as the only candidate left.

While her opinions on the post were not too kind, she could no longer behave like a petulant child screaming how stupid it was to be a Hokage, she only used to say those things because both her brother and lover died with that dream. But her time with Naruto has definitely changed her for the better, she talked to him about it, questioning what his dream was. He only replied that he wanted to create a world where those he cared for could live happily, stating that if he had to take the hat from the Old Man to do so, he would do it with a smile on his face.

Still, while slowly her thoughts on Hokageship changed, it was a major decision, so she said after I sigh, "Well, I honestly don't have an answer for you…" She could see the surprise on everyone's faces, probably waiting for her to decline immediately, "I know I don't hold a particularly good opinion of your post, but… lately… things have changed." She smiled a little at that.

Hiruzen just smiled slightly, knowing what she was talking about, _'I knew you'd do it, my boy…'_ He thought of his grandson figure, pride over him running fervently through the old timer's veins. Hiruzen just nodded, saying, "Don't pressure yourself, I can still hold the seat for some days, think about it and let me know…" The woman nodded with a grateful smile, "Now, I know you're eager to see Kushina again…" Tsunade immediately sparkled at that, prompting the Sarutobi to add, "Why don't you take them to your parents, Yūgao? Explain her the situation and see what you can do, Tsunade…" Yūgao nodded rapidly, already eager to get back to her parents' side, "We shall talk later." The old timer dismissed the three women.

The three women nodded at that and left the room with haste, making their way towards the Namikaze estate where Minato and Kushina awaited to be awaken.

Sarutobi waited until he no longer felt their presence, muttering after, "Leave us…" His ANBU appeared before him kneeling before they disappeared, leaving Hiruzen and Jiraiya all alone, "Alright now Jiraiya, tell me about Naruto."

Jiraiya just sighed and nodded, starting to explain everything that happened during their trip and all of his suspicions about Naruto. His godson was of course under no scrutiny, but it was impossible to not raise questions after all that he's done, it was too abnormal. The only thing that both Hiruzen and Jiraiya hoped, was that whatever was happening to him, will not turn him into something they one day may call an enemy.

* * *

Naruto raced through the roofs, not caring for anything else than to get to the Hospital as soon as he could.

The son of the Fourth Hokage burst through the Hospital doors, frantically looking around to try and find a nurse that could tell him where his father and brother were. He was however, caught by a woman, the female suddenly crushing him under a hug as she said, "Oh h-honey, I was so worried about you…" Hanare began, hugging the boy even tighter, as if to reassure herself that he was not going anywhere, "W-When I heard that the U-Uchiha boy went after you… I w-was ab…"

Naruto embraced his adoptive mother, kissing her forehead before he soothed, "It's aight, Ma…" He thought of perhaps lying to the distressed woman, avoiding telling her that he met his elder brother during his mission, if just to try and lower his mother's stress. But she was a ninja too, a spy at that, meaning that she could read him like a children's book, so he said, "I did encountered Itachi…" She stiffened, "But Pervy Sage got there before anything serious happened to me and Yūgao."

"Thank God." The woman whispered relieved, burying her head on her surrogate son's shoulder.

Naruto allowed his mother to calm down a little, asking once she did, "Ma…" The woman looked at him, prompting him to add, "The Old Man told me about Dad and Teme."

Hanare released the embrace with him and sighed, starting to walk towards the stairs with her son in tow, explaining, "Apparently, your father and Sasuke faced off against Itachi Uchiha…" She shivered a little, she did not knew the Uchiha prodigy but the boy was a legend in the continent, not a good one though, "He placed them under a powerful genjutsu…" She then looked back at the worried boy and grabbed his hand, squeezing it while adding with a reassuring smile, "Don't worry honey, your father is already awake, he's just here to rest… as for Sasuke, he's fine, only greatly exhausted."

Naruto sighed as they walked into a room, following his mother as he focused on the two beds inside the quarters, his father already awake reading a book, though not one of the perverted ones since Hanare forbade him to do it in public again. While his brother slept peacefully on the bed next to the door, Sakura too reading a book as she sat by the Uchiha's side on a chair, taking some moments to realise that her other teammate was here.

Sakura turned to her side and watched her silver-haired teammate, immediately dropping her book in order to stand up and embrace the goofy rapper, whispering, "Oh N-Naruto… I'm so g-glad you're okay…"

Naruto just snickered, caressing the back of her head as he whispered, "How many times do I have to tell ya that amma killer, baby?"

Sakura just chuckled, releasing the embrace as she hit the male's chest playfully, relief of having her teammates back with her clear in her emerald-coloured eyes.

Kakashi then spoke, his signature eye-smile adorning his masked face as he said, "I'm glad you're fine, son…" He then looked towards his lover who went to his side, adding later, "And for the commotion we heard outside, I take it your mission was successful."

Naruto just nodded, saying, "Yup! Wasn't easy, but the Princess was eventually convinced." He looked at his father for a second more, silently signalling him that the mission was way messier, but he did not wanted to worry his mother or Sakura more.

Kakashi understood the hidden message, nodding at his son before he asked, "Did Lord Hokage told you what happened to us?"

Naruto watched as Sakura went back to her chair, Naruto walking towards his brother and after he cleared some strands of his black hair from his face, the Namikaze replied, "Itachi came here looking for me, you got him, but he kicked yo assess…" He looked back at his father, a playful smirk on his face when he added, "You're getting old, Pa."

Kakashi just chuckled, his lover patting his back with a small giggle. The Hatake then focused back on his son, asking with a serious tone, "Did you fought him?"

Naruto's face immediately fell after that, muttering, "Tried, I can't believe that even after all the training I've done…" He clenched his fist on Sasuke's blanket, "I couldn't even see him move."

Sakura placed a comforting hand over his fist, a reassuring smile on her face that did served to make him feel better. She didn't really know much about Itachi, only the things she's heard from Naruto and Sasuke. She's heard a lot from the village too but she paid their words no mind, Naruto and Sasuke were the ones who knew him best, and even so the pair have admitted that maybe, they really never knew him. All she knew for sure was that Itachi was Naruto's older brother figure, Sasuke even saying that to the Uzumaki, Itachi was the one he loved the most. She could tell by simply looking at the silverette that just like Sasuke, encountering the rogue Uchiha has left ripples in their hearts that will take a while to cease.

Hanare just smiled a little as she saw her son calming down, despite all the love she had for him, the Itachi subject was something that she had no idea how to help him with, it frustrated her because she loved being his mother, and she felt it as her responsibility to make him feel better. But at the moment, she was just glad that the boy wasn't injured, she will figure out how to help him more in time.

Kakashi just sighed, not saying anything else, the Hokage had already informed him that according to Jiraiya, Itachi said something to Naruto, something that apparently shook his son's very core. Kakashi knew Naruto well and he could tell that indeed, there was something different, a little colder and reserved, even his rapping seemed to be lowering, he really didn't know how to feel about that.

Hanare noticing the gloomy aura of the room, decided to break it when she walked towards the Uzumaki, a dangerous smile on her face that made Naruto gulp and sweat as he was already familiarised with that smile, "Well, forgetting everything else for now, I went to check on your apartment…" Naruto widened his eyes, the woman adding as she grabbed him by the ear, "A pig-hole will be a better description."

Naruto whined as he was being dragged by the ear by the woman, "Aw! H-Hey, Ma! That hurts!…" He then added, "Where ya taking me!?"

The woman just bumped him on the head slightly, replying, "To clean your apartment!…" She then looked at her lover and Sakura and said with a warm smile, "We will come back soon." She then left the room with her son.

Kakashi and Sakura just chuckled when they heard the young man whispering 'crazy woman', earning and even harsher bump on his sore head since the woman heard him, dragging him out of the place.

The silver-haired jōnin then just sighed wistfully, wishing that life could be as simple as this, spending it with his family without worrying about power-maniacs and organisations hunting his son. But since that was just not reality, the Hatake hardened his eyes, knowing that the only way to survive the coming days, was by getting stronger.

* * *

Tsunade inhaled deeply as she stood before the door to Kushina's room, jitters filling her body since she was about to see the girl she honestly didn't know whether she considered her a daughter or a little sister. Whichever it was though, the fact that she loved the red-headed woman was a given.

"You ready?" Yūgao asked the blonde sannin while she held the knob, turning it once she saw the busty female nodding at her.

Tsunade walked in right behind the purplette, bringing a hand to her mouth as she gasped when she observed the beautiful tomboyish woman lying on bed, seemingly on a peaceful sleep alongside her handsome husband who looked as peaceful as her.

"T-They haven't a-aged…" Shizune muttered while she observed the two, Tonton safely grasped in her embrace as she realised that the Namikaze couple looked exactly as she last saw them.

Yūgao nodded, observing when Tsunade walked weakly towards Kushina and started caressing the woman's cheek lovingly, "Lord Hokage said that once you die, your soul remains the same age you did before you perished for eternity…" She smiled a little as she thought of her boyfriend, "Naru told me that he really didn't brought them back to life per se."

Both Tsunade and Shizune looked at the ANBU quizzically, with the Slug Sannin inquiring, "What do you mean?"

Yūgao sighed before she made her way towards her adoptive father, caressing his blond locks while she responded, "For what he explained to me, he really doesn't know if he's capable of actually calling a soul from the dead…" She focused on the two females to add, "He said that he was only sure that he was capable of KEEPING them here."

Tsunade nodded slightly, looking at Kushina as she concluded, "It was Orochimaru the one that called their souls."

Yūgao nodded, "Yes, Naruto only kept them here…" It was all a lie of course, but she couldn't be truthful to Tsunade and Shizune, not unless they become his lovers as well, something she didn't know will happen or not as Naruto hasn't said anything about it. Deciding to remain safe, she finished, "Whether he can actually bring someone of his choosing back, nobody knows."

Shizune just nodded alongside Tsunade, though the blonde woman unnoticedly narrowed her eyes in thought. She remembered her chat with the silverette and she was a hundred percent sure that he told her that he could bring whoever he wanted back from the dead, he only refrained from doing so as to avoid the consequences, _'Meaning that he's either lying to me…'_ She though before she looked at the purplette and added, _'Or them…'_ Despite the sudden suspicion that rouse in her gut, she did not scrutinised the boy, he was still young and had too much power, it was impossible not to be confused and scared once in a while when you realise the extent of your own capabilities.

Tsunade just shook her head and coated her hands with green chakra, hovering them over Kushina's body before doing the same to Minato's, sighing after she was done before she said to their daughter, "It appears that Naruto's assessment was correct…" Her gaze focused on the two sleeping forms as she added, "Their chakra is still transforming their bodies…" She then inhaled before she eyed the purplette, knowing that not everything was okay, "But Minato is the one having the most problems adjusting."

Yūgao knew that she had nothing to worry about, as Naruto had already reassured her that if they wanted to, they will wake up. But she still had to play the fool so she developed a worried look when she inquired, "W-What do you mean?" Though her worry was not entirely fake, as she now remembered that Naruto did warned her that they may not be able to wield chakra if they are not cared for well.

Tsunade sighed before she answered, "It's strange that Kushina is the one adapting better out of the two, I would have guessed that due to her immense chakra reserves, the body that was used on her would have more trouble adjusting…" She focused on the Fourth Hokage then to add, "But simply put, I think that is because Minato is more powerful than Kushina."

Even Shizune felt confused, tilting her head alongside Yūgao who inquired, subconsciously tightening her grip on her father's shirt, "I d-don't understand."

"Well, to put it simply, Minato is one of the most powerful shinobi the world has ever seen, I think that nobody would deny that had he survived the Twelve-Wings' attack, he more than likely would've already surpassed my grandfather…" Tsunade was saying before she breathed in to catch her thoughts and continue, "As such, a body belonging to a common ninja, is just not capable of withstanding his power."

Shizune then inquired, "Y-You're saying that power actually affects one body like that?"

Tsunade nodded, explaining, "Correct, it's treated mostly like a myth but medically, it's a fact…" She turned back to Minato and continued, "Minato's original body grew with him, it became strong alongside him, so as he got more powerful, his body adjusted in synchrony with him…" She focused on the two females then and added, "This body has to suddenly grow enough to be able to withstand Minato's power, and even after he wakes up, he will more than likely require a lot of physical treatment to recover fully."

"I would've t-thought that his power w-was going to help…" Yūgao muttered as she eyed her father, wanting nothing more than for him to wake up and to pat her head just like he used to do back in the day.

Tsunade just sighed and said, "It is helping on his recovery and reshaping the body, but you can't expect that they return to normal the very next day…" She looked at her little sister/daughter figure and spoke again, "Imagine if Naruto suddenly switched bodies with you, since he has grown with the dragon, his body has dragonified somewhat, that is why he was capable of melting Orochimaru's sword…" She looked back at the woman, "Imagine if he, in your body, uses that same technique…"

"M-My body would melt." Yūgao replied, realisation of Tsunade's point now dawning on her.

"Correct…" Tsunade nodded and started walking towards the Fourth, placing a hand on his forehead as it started to be coated by green chakra, the slug summoner saying afterwards, "But he is not in immediate danger, I would have to guess that his recovery is the one that's going to take the most."

Yūgao just nodded, muttering as she eyed her parents, "S-So, is there anything we must do right now?"

Tsunade nodded, eyeing Shizune saying, "Yes, we must have a full medical of both…" She looked at the daughter and added, "You might want to leave the room since we have to get them naked for this."

Yūgao nodded and kissed her father's forehead before she did the same to Kushina, leaving the room a little after in order to get some food in her stomach. She considered going to look for her new partner, but he was surely with his father and brother, he needed to talk to them about Itachi surely. She just hoped that whatever the rogue Uchiha said to him, has changed him for the better.

* * *

Naruto leapt through the trees as he made his way towards the Forest of Death, a little nervous of the event that is about to come. It has been one day since he came back to the Leaf and thankfully with Tsunade's help, Sasuke had awoken, dizzy and weak, but otherwise alright.

They had discussed their mutual meetings with Itachi, both showing their frustration as they realised just how weak they were in comparison to him. They have been working so hard, Sasuke managing to control his curse mark somewhat while Naruto was already on the verge of reaching his two-winged state. The silverette had wanted to also learn to harness Kurama's power and the fox herself seemed happy that he wanted to, but Ddraig had then revealed that since he was a god, it was impossible for him to use chakra that did not belonged to him. And even if he could, it would do absolutely nothing on him since chakra was just a watered down version of essence, meaning that it would actually weaken him instead of helping.

But even after all that training, the two teenaged boys were hit by the cruel reality of things, with Itachi himself appearing to absolutely kick their asses with ease, showing how much the two still had to grow.

But Naruto now had a little bit of hope returned to him when as he calmed his worried mates down earlier on the day, his divine signature started flickering on his palm, fricking his mates a little as it glowed red brightly. He had then explained to them that it was his signature and for a moment, he was confused as to why it was flickering, but a sudden rude reminder from Kurama allowed him to recall that Evajduin, the Dragon Gate, had told him that once she found his perfect dragon partner, she was going to call for him that way.

So here he was, excitedly heading towards a secluded point where he could summon the Warden, hoping to get a scary looking dragon as a partner, maybe as big and menacing as Ddraig himself.

"O shit…" Naruto muttered when he landed on the perfect spot, a small shiver running down his spine as he bit his thumb and drew his divine signature on the ground, inducing some of his essence on it and observing while it glowed slightly, "Let's see what Papa brought from the store." He added with an eager wriggle on his body.

After the signature stopped glowing, the world around Naruto suddenly became almost still, a huge black portal opening before him as it slowly revealed the gigantic form of the Warden, saying once she was fully transported, **"Ah, hatchling, you finally called."**

Naruto nodded, saying apologetically, "Yes Warden, my apologies, I had to find a fitting place to summon you."

The dragon nodded, once again forcing Naruto to stifle a laugh since he just couldn't get over how fricking funny she looked whenever the female dragon moved her head.

Seemingly unaware of Ddraig's successor's thoughts, the dragon known as the Living Gate opened her eyes again, commenting, **"There is no problem, young one…"** Her doors then started to open as she added, **"Well, it is time for you to meet your partner."**

Naruto widened his eyes while he observed the doors opening, excitement coursing through his body as he hoped for the best, many kind of amazing possibilities racing through his head.

It was why one could forgive him for raising an eyebrow and delivering a weak 'huh' when he observed his partner, rudely being kicked out of the doors, landing on its back as it rolled around a little before it went back to its feet.

"Hey! Easy there ma'am…" The somewhat small creature spoke, a high pitched voice while it shook itself from the dirt that stuck to its scaly skin, adding indignantly, "I ain't no damn earth dragon! My ass can't take the rough treatment!"

Naruto stared blankly at the creature before him, a dragon with probably the same size as him, its scales a somewhat creamy white while many small brown spikes ran down its spine, the creature's brownish wings flapping slightly to shake off the dirt.

While the dragon itself was not so bad since Naruto could feel that it in fact was quite powerful as well as figuring that it was still young so it hasn't reached its full size, that wasn't really the thing that completely baffled him, Ddraig and Kurama all at the same time.

No, what baffled them was a whole different thing.

It was wearing shades.

Orange, huge, shades.

A dragon wearing shades.

"U-Umm…" Naruto muttered while his mouth opened and closed as a fish out of water, not knowing what the hell to say.

The dragon in question finally realised that there was someone behind it, so turning around, the dragon stared at the strange boy looking at it, the dragon's golden eyes glowing behind the shades as it said, "Hey! I don't like how you're looking at me! You standing there like a dazed turkey!"

Naruto twitched his eyebrow while his teeth gritted, inquiring heatedly, "Who you calling 'dazed turkey', you vanilla gecko!?"

The white dragon gasped before it snapped its head up a second to throw its orange shades over its scaly eyebrows, its now uncovered golden eyes locked to Naruto's blues as the dragon said back indignantly, "Lizard, you didn't."

Naruto just waved his head around cheekily, replying brazenly, "Oh lizard, you bet I did."

The two stared at each other for some moments before the white dragon roared and leapt at Naruto, the two soon entering in a brawl as they rolled around the ground, all the while Evajduin observed with amusement as the two young dragons kicked each other's asses.

 ** _"_** ** _Evajduin…"_** The voice of a clearly enraged Red Dragon Emperor resounded inside the Warden's head, his immense annoyance clear in his divine voice as he questioned angrily, **_"With so many dragons to choose from, why did you chose this… this… dragon version of my successor!?"_**

Evajduin did chuckled a little nervously as Ddraig's displeasure reached her, but still being a creature almost as old as him and already knowing the mighty God of End on a personal level, she replied with mirth, **_"I told you that I was going to get you for all of your mocking, didn't I, milord?"_**

Ddraig just inhaled deeply and just observed as his host continued brawling against the dragon, Evajduin eventually saying with her powerful voice, **"Enough!…"** Both young dragons stopped their quarrelling, immediately jumping to stand straight, well in the dragon's case just sitting dutifully, **"Now, Naruto…"** The boy in questioned nodded, prompting the gate to continue, **"This is Canym, son of Queen Tiamat…"** Naruto's eyebrow raised as he looked at the dragon beside him, **"Yes, Canym here is poised to become the next King of our race, I thought it fitting for you, the future God of our race, to partner with Canym, the future leader of our race."**

Naruto observed his apparent new partner as the creature showed signs of discomfort for all the titles, probably he wasn't so happy with all that was expected of him. But Naruto didn't really found anything bad about Canym, the dragon seemed cool and he could tell that if he was poised to be the next King, then he must be an incredibly powerful ally to have.

Naruto just shrugged and said, "Well, he does looks like he has style."

Canym just turned his head to look at his newly appointed partner, commenting, "Gotta admit you too…" The dragon then tilted his head and added after thinking some moments, his shades shinning on top of his head, "Though you could use some colours on those rags of yours."

Naruto turned to look at Canym and squealed, "Right!?…" He eyed his all-black costume, adding sadly, "I've tried to add some vibrancy to this shit, yo! But the Old Man ain't letting me! Saying some shit about turning into a human target if I add some…"

"Orange." Both Naruto and Canym said in unison, both of their eyes widening as they leaned back slightly, seemingly in shock.

Evajduin just sighed as she said, **"My job here is done, be well and learn to work together, I shall see you once again when you face the Draconii Trials."** She grunted however, when neither Naruto nor Canym paid her no mind, the pair still staring at each other as if they have found a lost found twin. So seeing that she was no longer needed, the Warden disappeared, muttering something about rude hatchlings.

"Lizard…" Naruto muttered while he stared at the white dragon, shock coursing through his veins as he thought that he may have finally found someone who shared his love for the colour orange, "Did we just become best friends?"

Canym just nodded, shocked as well as he replied, "Lizard, I think we just did."

The two stared at each other in silence for some more moments before they both opened their mouths to say excitedly, "Ooooooooo."

The duo of humanoid dragon and dragon now ran towards each other and started exchanging stories of one another, listening intently as each recalled tales of their lives in order to get better acquainted, excited to grow stronger together and become a kick ass duo.

For his part, the mighty Red Dragon Emperor, Absolute God of End, utilised all of his divine power to block the information that came from outside Naruto's mind, wanting nothing to do with the two new partners who chatted excitedly about stupid things. As for Kurama, she just observed her host with a small amused smile on her face, wishing that things could be as peaceful as they are now for eternity.

* * *

Yūgao paced around nervously on her room, inhaling deeply every once in a while as she tried to calm her heart down. The time to know what her parents wanted to do has come and now here she was, waiting for her mate to appear so that he could speak to her parents and see what they choose.

The purple-haired ANBU Captain didn't really know what to expect. While she was almost a hundred percent sure that her mother will decide to come back, her father was another thing. His new body was still having a lot of trouble adjusting to Minato's great power and even if he wakes up, Tsunade had already informed her that he would have to undergo years of physical therapy to get his body back to where it was before he died and knowing what the old Third wanted, Minato would be thrust into Hokageship again if Tsunade declines the spot, something Yūgao was sure the slug summoner will choose if her father wakes up.

And while Minato may still desire to come back for the sake of his wife, there was still many people who held a vendetta against him. It didn't worried him back when he was Hokage because at the time, he was the most powerful ninja in the world, but now if he comes back, he will be far from that title, meaning that he wouldn't be as capable of protecting them as he once was.

If she could figure out all of this, she was sure that her father, one of the world's greatest minds, would figure it out easily as well.

Her pondering was interrupted then when a red flash bathed her room, her eyes wandering towards the origin to see her new boyfriend smiling at her, the woman walking towards him and delivering a deep kiss, muttering once her head was on his chest, "I-I'm scared, Naruto."

Naruto just hugged the woman tightly, knowing that jitters were assaulting her by the masses. The silver-haired jinchūriki kissed her head, saying after, "I know, love…" He sighed before he continued, "But as I told ya earlier, this is their decision."

The woman just nodded and closed her eyes for a moment, taking as much comfort from her mate as she could before she gently released the embrace, grabbing his hand and leading him towards her parents' bedroom that was in front of hers.

Once the pair were inside the room, Naruto released his hold on her hand and moved towards the bed, hopping on it and settling right in the middle of the two, a small part of him wondering how life could've been had those two chose to stay with him. But shaking his head to rid his mind of such things, he looked at Yūgao and asked, "Do you trust me?"

Yūgao walked towards him and leaned on his face, planting a chaste kiss on his lips and saying after, "With my life."

Naruto smiled a little and then closed his eyes, taking his left hand and placing it on Minato's chest while his right hand did the same with Kushina's chest, his hands suddenly starting to be coated on a deep crimson aura that after some seconds, spread through both sleeping people.

Yūgao observed as Naruto inhaled and suddenly went completely still, her parents' eyelids suddenly coming to life, making her realise that Naruto had entered to whatever place he set them in and more than likely was about to start the conversation.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes after some moments, realising that he was in some strange place that looked to be above the clouds, standing over some sort of glass floor.

"Naruto." The smooth voice of Kurama then drew his attention to his side, where the beautiful redheaded woman stood with a small smile, her hand grabbing his as she gave it a small squeeze, knowing that her host was feeling a little nervous for finally having a chance to talk to his biological parents.

Naruto returned the smile and squeeze, focusing then on his other side to see an older version of himself, only with black hair. Ddraig just looked at him and with a small nod, he started walking, leading the Namikaze and the Nine Tailed Fox towards where Minato and Kushina were.

Naruto stopped some moments when they finally reached them, Minato looking down at the ground while he sat, Kushina resting her head on his lap as the two seemed to be chatting about random things, probably trying to pass the time.

"K-Kushina." Kurama said as she slowly stepped forward, the sight of her very first friend looking as beautiful as ever sending warm waves of relief to her heart.

Both Minato and Kushina heard the voice, turning towards the origin of it, only to widen their eyes in shock when they saw the recognisable beauty of the chakra fox's human form, "Kurama!?" Kushina asked with a jump before she ran towards her, encasing her in a tight hug.

Kurama smiled widely, some droplets of water escaping her eyes when she whispered, "I've missed you." She didn't cared that she was showing a very embarrassing side of her to the man of her affections, she greatly missed Kushina as she was the very first one, since her father and siblings, that actually tried to get to know the real her.

Minato shakily stood, walking a little forward as he whispered, his eyes locked to the handsome younger version of himself, "N-Naruto."

Kushina then realised that in fact, Kurama was not the only one present, her beloved son standing some steps away from them while he kept a neutral face, nodding slightly as in greeting, "B-Baby…" The Uzumaki Princess whispered, wanting nothing more than to run towards him and embrace the shit out of him, a mountain of apologies to say to him, of ungiven affection to shower him with, so many things she wanted to do but refrained herself from doing it, mainly because Kurama silently shook her head as if sensing her intentions, reminding Kushina that her son won't really appreciate such reaction. It broke her heart, but there was nothing she could do.

Minato walked a little closer, asking, "Who is h-he?" He looked at the man standing beside his son.

Naruto replied, "This is Ddraig, otherwise known as the Twelve Winged Dragon."

The revelation shook the two Namikaze greatly, both readying their stances as if preparing for an attack that actually never came, Ddraig only chuckling as he observed them, "W-Why aren't you attacking us!?…" Kushina asked, worried for her son's safety more than anything, "D-Did you locked us in here!?" She added another question.

Ddraig just spared a glance at his successor, Naruto sharing an amused smirk as the god spoke, **"Answering your first question, I'm not attacking you because I don't want to, I was never your enemy, just a simple… misunderstanding…"** His answer definitely confused them both but he continued, **"As for your second, yes, I locked you in here, the Limbo."**

Minato and Kushina started to calm down once they realised that neither Naruto nor Kurama showed any signs of mistrust on the dragon, confusing them slightly as the blond Hokage inquired, "Why? What happened?"

Naruto sighed, deciding to explain, "As you both have surely already figured out, you are once again alive…" His biological parents nodded at him, prompting the jinchūriki to continue, "But, the body deteriorates, your original vessels are already dust, so Orochi-bubu used sacrificial ones so that your souls could move…" They nodded again, understanding that already, "Ddraig was the one that revived you, but since the bodies you were in are not your originals, your chakra has been moulding them back so that you can use them, but the process is incredibly painful, so he put your consciousness here so that you wouldn't suffer through the process."

Minato and Kushina were agape, not fully grasping it all, hence why the Namikaze male once again inquired, "But why? W-Why did you revived us? How did you revived us?"

Ddraig was the one that answered as he said, **"I revived you simply because I wanted to get Hades' attention, he has something that belongs to me and I want it back…"** Minato and Kushina gasped once they heard the dragon speaking the name of the God of Death, shocked because no mortal creature was supposed to know his name, **"As for how I brought you back, well, suffice to say that you have greatly underestimated what I am."**

Seeing that both souls were greatly confused, Kurama said, "Kushi, Minato; Milord Ddraig is not a Tailed Beast…" Both pairs of eyes focused on her as the red-head dropped the bomb, "Lord Ddraig is a God, the third strongest being in the universe, an eternal creature that oversees and controls all that is the End of life."

Neither Minato nor Kushina could utter a word, completely stupefied by the revelation that had it come from someone else, they would have easily snorted at the notion. But Kurama was incredibly proud of her status as the strongest Tailed Beast, the Hokage and his wife already knew how haughty and arrogant the fox was, so hearing her referring to someone as 'Lord' and more importantly, show equal amounts of respect and fear for the creature made them realise that the dragon was not lying.

"Y-You are the… Red Dragon Emperor…" Minato muttered, astonished as he added, "The God of Darkness."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he heard his biological father speaking the titles Europeans use to refer to the god, commenting, "You heard about him?"

Minato focused on his son, recovering from his shock as he explained, "Yes, when I was trying to find out why my hair was turning silver…" He now realised that his son has silver hair, "Like yours, I stumbled upon a book from the western continent, it told the tales of three Dragon Gods…" He looked back at the blackette, finishing his explanation, "By the words you used to describe him, I figured he'd be said dragon."

Ddraig nodded, asserting, **"You are correct, though my true title is the 'Absolute God of End'."**

Naruto then inquired, stepping a little forward, "Whoa, hold on a sec' fool…" Once he saw the Fourth looking at him while Kushina seemed to be about ready to berate him for his language, Naruto asked, "Ya know why mah hair turned grey? It used to be blond like yours!"

Neither Ddraig nor Kurama said a word, both of them being the only ones that knew the reason why, but they refused to tell the young ninja, it will do no good to anyone, both of them just hoped that Minato did not know either.

To their relief, the Hokage shook his head with a small frown, saying, "No, s…" He stopped before he called him son, noticing how Naruto winced a little, "N-No Naruto, I'm sorry, the only thing I could find was that I came from Europa."

Naruto deflated slightly at that, Kushina having an urge to hug her son the moment she saw him slightly depressed, he has been obviously haunted by the strange change ever since it happened.

But before the woman could do anything, Naruto shook his head and said, "Aight, we getting off track here…" Both Minato and Kushina raised their eyebrows when Naruto added, "It's time for ya to choose what will happen next."

Minato looked at his wife who seemed as lost as him, the redheaded beauty locking her incredibly beautiful violet eyes to her son as she asked, "W-What do you mean?"

Ddraig stepped forward, saying, **"What Naruto means, is that I have no use or purpose for you, I only brought you back to anger Hades and force him to show his pathetic self…"** He ignored the winces coming from the Namikaze couple in order to continue, **"So I shall give you the opportunity to either come back to life, or go back and rest, this time though, will be forever."**

"The choice is individual of course." Naruto then added.

Both Namikaze where stunned, shock running through their veins as the thought of living once again made them feel happy, "W-Why?" Kushina still inquired, not entirely sure why would the god that apparently ruled over the end was giving them a second chance.

Ddraig just shrugged, answering, **"As I said, I only needed to anger Hades, you were just lucky to be the souls that belong to him that I encountered…"** He then eyed his partner for a moment before he continued, **"And also, Naruto here wanted to thank you for, despite it all, still being the ones responsible for giving him life."**

Both shocked people looked at their son as he nodded slightly, adding, "Yeah, I may have suffered a lot due to your actions…" His parents winced and cringed as Kushina's eyes started to water, both now realising that things must have gone completely different as they had hoped, "But despite it all, all of that taught me to live the way I live, to fight the way I fight, to dream the way I dream, and for that, I am thankful to you, for giving me the opportunity to live and make my own path…" He bowed before he looked back at his sobbing parents, finishing, "The chance of giving ya fools a second chance to live again, with Yūgao who is anxiously waiting for you, is the least that I can do."

Kushina placed her hand on her chest, right where her heart is, almost capable of hearing the cracks forming in it as she realised what her son was implying, that while her baby girl was waiting for them, Naruto was not going to be a part of their family. Despite all the things she wanted to say to prevent that, she hadn't had the heart to take him away from Kakashi and his lover, they have already cemented their place in his heart.

Minato felt crushed by the same realisation as well, but he managed to deal with it better, he and Kushina made their choice back then and now they could only deal with the ramifications of their actions. But still, he was a genius, and he knew that there was no such thing as an easy revival, so he asked, "B-But, what are the risks of going back?"

Kushina looked at her husband with a confused expression, not seeing what he was seeing. While Naruto and Kurama both smirked slightly as they observed the man's incredible intelligence, enough to realise that it was impossible to go back without a risk.

Ddraig answered the man that sealed him in Naruto, **"Basically, that it's going to take years for the female to recover her strength, she will be unable to use chakra for at the very least some months…"** Kushina widened her eyes while the god continued, **"As for you, I am afraid that the power you once had, now is unreachable…"** Minato widened his eyes as he heard the explanation, **"As you already have guessed, while the female's reserves are almost immense, you are way more powerful as a whole, thus, the body used to bring you is not capable of reaching the same peak your original one did, it's going to take you at least a year to be capable of wielding chakra, decades to be able to move as you once did. The problem is that by the time you reach your best again, the natural decline that comes with age, will already be upon you."**

Kushina gasped as she held her husband's hand, tears gathering in her eyes as she now realised that no matter what, they will not be the same ever again, they will come back to be almost toddlers, teaching their new bodies how to do it all, all over again.

Minato just sighed, muttering, "I thought so." His gaze was casted down.

Naruto and his companions remained quiet for a little bit, the silver-haired Namikaze saying after some moments, "We will give you some privacy so that you two can talk and decide, this is an individual choice so I suggest you discuss it as such."

Both Minato and Kushina nodded and they then observed as Naruto, Kurama and Ddraig disappeared from sight, leaving them alone to discuss their next move.

* * *

Kushina sniffled after her son left them alone, her heart aching as she wanted nothing more than to hold him close and never let go, asking for his forgiveness and saving up her strength to strike down every single person who ever did him harm.

"Kushi." The voice of her husband won her attention back, the woman focusing her violet eyes back on him as he held her hands.

"Minato…" Kushina whispered while she buried herself inside his arms, adding another whisper, "W-What do we do?" She might have jumped to the chance of living again in a second, had it not been for the revelations of the risks that came along with it. She understands why her husband seemed reluctant as well, since both of them are legends in their continent, and in their line of work, that is never good. Enemies never die and if they get wind that they have revived, there is no doubt in her mind that they will strike, and while before she died that wouldn't have worried her, now that she was told that they would have to learn everything again, was making her reluctant, knowing that at least for some years, they would be more of a burden than anything else.

Minato smiled warmly at her, kissing her forehead lovingly and while he caressed her cheek, he whispered, "You should go back."

Kushina widened her eyes before she shot her head up, staring shocked at her husband as she understood what he was implying, "M-Minato… w-what are you saying?…" She asked, griping his shirt even tighter, not capable of imaging a life without her love.

Minato sighed, a sad frown on his face while he explained, "Kushina, you heard the Twelve-Wings, you may be able to go back to your old-self in a couple of years, but it's going to take ME decades to do so…" He cupped her face, continuing, "You know that my enemies are more than yours, you know that they are stronger than yours, I cannot afford decades of training to catch up, not when you, Yūgao and Naruto will be at risk with my comeback."

Kushina refused to believe so, a part of her wanting to say that both of them should decline the offer then and move on to the afterlife together, but the bigger part of her wanted to go back, she wanted to hold her baby girl in her arms again, fix her hair, shower her with love. She wanted to annoy Tsunade again, also showering with her affection at the woman she saw as her mother figure. And mostly, she wanted to try and build something, anything, with her boy, at the very least, she wanted to be there for him, to guide him and give him love whenever she needed.

So knowing that she could not refuse the offer, she tried her hardest to convince her lover, "W-What if t-the dragon changes our appearances?…" She pleaded, a waterfall of tears streaming down her face, "That w-way we won't have to w-worry."

Minato smiled sadly at his beloved wife, leaning down to give her a small kiss before he responded, cleaning her tears with his thumbs, "That may be, but Kushi, the truth is that I want to give you and Naruto a gift…" She looked at him puzzled, "I want to give you and him all of my power, my knowledge, my soul, I want to help you be strong, I want to help Naruto on his path."

Kushina stared agape, whispering, "B-But what about me?…"

Minato sighed, answering as some tears fell from his face, "This is the biggest sacrifice I'll ever have to make, letting you go…" He turned back at her, adding with a sad smile, "But I know you want to go back, and you should go back, you should go back to Yūgao, to Tsunade, to Naruto…" He embraced her tight, finishing with his eyes closed, "T-This way, you'll have the strength to pull through, to be alive again."

Kushina gasped as she wailed harsher once she finally understood. Minato was sacrificing himself to give her his strength so that she can pull through, so that she can go back to life. He wasn't abandoning her, he wasn't letting her go on her own, he was giving her the means to go back, to be with her kids again, their kids, he was sacrificing himself for her happiness, just like he vowed on their wedding, "N-No… if t-that is the price then…" She tried to refuse, her voice barely a whisper as her sobs drowned her, refusing to let him go.

Minato chuckled a little, tightening his grip on her as he soothed, "It's a price I am more than happy to pay…" He opened his eyes and looked at the horizon, saying, "My love, the thing I always wanted the most, was yours, Yūgao's and Naruto's happiness…" He closed his eyes, "You want nothing more than to be with them, Yūgao misses you like nothing else I am sure, and Naruto…" He smiled proudly as he added, "He will finish what I started, he will reach the point that I always dreamed of, he will grow to levels I didn't even knew that existed, if I can help him just a little with my power, then my job is done…" He leaned back a little and grabbed his sobbing wife's face tenderly, finishing lovingly, "You have to be there, with him, to watch him as he grows into the man you and I dreamed of, you have to be there."

Kushina stared at her husband for some moments before she wailed like never before, hugging him as tightly as she could and repeating how much she loved him and how thankful she was to him.

The decision has been made.

* * *

Minato and Kushina observed as Naruto, Kurama and Ddraig walked towards them. Kushina still sobbing hard while she hugged her husband as tight as she could, knowing that it was going to be the last time she would be able to do it.

 **"** **So, have you made your choice?"** Ddraig questioned, seeing that Naruto was feeling a little nervous.

Minato looked at his wife for some moments, the woman holding him close as she whispered how much she loved him over and over again, bringing a happy smile to his face when he nodded, saying once he looked back at the dragon god, "Yes, Lord D-Ddraig…" He stuttered a little, still somewhat weirded out by the fact that the dragon he once fought, was actually such a powerful god, "Kushina will accept your kind offer…" Naruto widened his eyes a little when Minato added, "I however, must decline."

Naruto tilted his head, greatly confused by his biological father's words, inquiring, "Why?" He didn't really cared one way or another, but he did cared for Yūgao and while it was clear that the purple-haired female had a way bigger attachment to Kushina than to Minato, she still saw him as her father, losing him again will definitely hurt her.

Minato smiled sadly at his son, replying, "Because I want to give her and you what remains of my power…" Naruto widened his eyes at that while the blond Hokage continued, "Kushina can use my power to accelerate her recovery and be able to regain her full strength, I know that if she returns without a boost, she will probably struggle a lot to pull through…" Ddraig nodded at him, validating his guess, "As for you Naruto…" He sighed before he smiled proudly at his son, "I w-want to give you everything I have, I want to help you, if just a little bit, on your path, my power, it's yours, I hope it helps you on whatever dream you have."

Naruto stared at his blond father, the man crying slightly while Kushina sobbed even harder in his arms. The silverette Namikaze just smiled at him a little while he brought his gaze down, understanding him as he gave him a small sad nod, his admiration for the man growing even more after this.

Ddraig stepped towards them, a small solemn look on his face when he said once he reached them, **"Then are you ready?"**

Minato just grabbed Kushina's face, tears running down his eyes as he whispered to her, "Be strong, be fierce, be determined, keep going forward and don't ever look down…" He kissed her lovingly while she returned the kiss with everything she had, "Tell Yūgao that I love her, and don't worry my love, one day, we will see each other again." He added after he broke the kiss, Kushina smiling slightly when she nodded.

The Uzumaki Princess turned towards the black-haired version of her son, whispering, "I-I'm ready."

Ddraig nodded and then, he brought two fingers to Minato's heart, a small burst of aura hitting the man as he could feel over half of his power suddenly leaving him, observing how the dragon's fingers suddenly held a small orb that was then placed on Kushina's chest, the god then placing his palm on her heart and after a pulse, Kushina gasped, staggering back a little, her body slowly disappearing in a shower of sparkly dust.

Kushina immediately turned towards her husband, knowing that her time here was up. She reached out towards him and said, "I love you, Minato!"

Minato smiled widely at her, replying just before she disappeared, "I love you too, Kushina."

Silence ensued once Kushina was no longer present, Minato staring at where she once stood while some tears fell from his eyes.

Ddraig walked towards Naruto, eyeing him as he nodded, Kurama understanding and following the god, disappearing from sight some moments later, leaving Naruto and Minato alone.

Minato turned to look at his son, the boy clearly sad and without knowing what to do or say. The blond Hokage was thankful that his once enemy allowed him to have some moments with his son, "Naruto…" He began, the boy focusing on him as the Namikaze continued, "I'm sorry, for leaving you, for not being there, for placing such a heavy burden on you, for not being able to protect you from all of those who did you harm…" He looked down at the ground, a small smile on his face when he continued, "Despite it all, I do repent my actions, but I wouldn't change them, because it made you the amazing young man you are now… I don't know why, but I know that you are not human anymore…" Naruto widened his eyes at that, "I do know however, that you want the same thing I did, you want peace…" Minato looked back at the boy and continued, "All I ever wanted for you, was that you'd be happy, proud and strong, I really hope that what little power I can give you, helps you on your difficult road."

Naruto said absolutely nothing, his mouth slightly open as he could feel tears gathering in his eyes. The silver-haired Namikaze then brought his gaze down, whispering after, "W-Why?"

Minato sighed, knowing that that question must have been plaguing the boy ever since he was born. Why him? Why placing such a burden on him? Why?, "Some will tell you that I wanted to make you a weapon…" Naruto focused on him as Minato continued, "Some will tell you that I had no other choice…" He smiled a little then, "Some will tell you because you are the supposed 'Child of Prophecy'…" The Fourth sighed, "But the truth is, that I did it so that you wouldn't fail like I did."

Naruto was incredibly confused, so weakly asked, "W-What?"

Minato smiled sadly at him, replying, "I failed you, Yūgao, Kushina, all of those that I care for…" His voice broke then, "I t-tried my hardest, to p-protect them, to be the strongest I could be for them but even so…" He inhaled, calming down as he spoke again, "I failed, I couldn't save them because… I didn't had enough power…" He focused on his son, his eyes heavy, tired and sorrowful, "You are my boy, I wanted to shield you from such impotence, such frustration of not having enough power to defend those you love…" Naruto's eyes widened as tears fell from his eyes, "I didn't gave that power to you so that you could protect the village, or so that you made a name for yourself…" Minato inhaled, "I gave it to you so that you could protect the people you love, from anyone, even the Leaf, I just didn't wanted you to feel the despair of knowing that you didn't had enough…" The Fourth smiled honestly at his son, tears still falling as he finished, "You are my boy, there is nobody else that I would trust with such power, because ever since you were born, I knew, I knew that you would make the right choice."

Naruto staggered back while he cried like he hadn't in years, his mouth wide open as every word the man spoke registered in his mind. All this time, all this damn time Naruto had thought many things, many reasons for why Minato chose him, from turning him into a weapon, to simply because he was his son. He never thought that it was because even after all, after dead, after leaving him, Minato had always been taking care of him, ensuring that he, his son, had what's necessary to protect the ones he loved. The very power he trains daily, the very power that had allowed him to protect his mates, his parents, his brother, his friends, it was always meant for that, not the Leaf, not himself, but for those he loved, so that Naruto will never had to go through the despair of failing to save his loved ones.

He was absolutely speechless.

Minato observed as Naruto took some moments to recover, the boy shakily walking towards him, confusing the Hokage until he suddenly widened his eyes and tears of happiness fell as Naruto embraced him, his head buried on his chest as he whispered the most honest words he has ever spoke, "T-Thank you… thank y-you… dad…"

Minato completely lost it there, embracing his son back as he rested his chin on his head, his eyes closed tight, trying to convey all the love he had for him in one last hug, whispering "You a-are welcome, my son."

The two stayed like that for some moments, Naruto sobbing quietly, just like Minato, both silent but saying everything they had to say to each other through the hug. It was then that Minato's body started to disappear, slowly turning into sparkling dust.

Minato knowing this, just tighten his embrace, whispering, "Don't ever stop Naruto, keep on going, keep your head high and aimed at the stars, one day you'll leave this world behind, so make sure that you leave a life you will remember…" He felt Naruto nodding on his chest, "Please take care of Kushina, if not as your mother, as a friend…" Naruto nodded again and then, Minato knew it was time to go, "You reach the stars my boy, show them all what you've got."

Naruto nodded as he felt Minato leaving, a whisper with the words 'I love you' reaching his ears, the silver-haired keeping his eyes closed as he continued sobbing, his arms now limp on his sides.

Naruto then lifted his head up and inhaled deeply, his tears finally subduing and as he opened his eyes, looking straight up high, he whispered, "Farewell, dad." He disappeared from the Limbo then, silence falling into the breath-taking place, there was nothing left to say.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes again, observing as he was now back in the Namikaze estate, bringing his gaze down towards Minato to find that his body was slowly cracking, signalling that his soul has already passed on to the afterlife.

"N-Naruto…" Yūgao's voice then won his attention to his right side, where the purplette was tightly hugging her mother who was now showing more signs of waking up, though Naruto knew that she will still need some hours to regain consciousness.

Naruto just sighed, knowing what the teary eyed woman was inquiring, "H-He made his choice, Yū."

Yūgao gasped, tears streaming down her face as she gently put Kushina down on the bed again, the ANBU Captain walking towards her father and grabbing his body, bringing it close to her body as she quietly sobbed, caressing his blond locks while she whispered many things to his ear, probably everything she wanted to say to him once he woke up.

Naruto felt his throat going dry while he observed his pained mate, a part of him loathing himself for not stopping Minato, for not trying to convince him to wake up as well, to let him know how much his daughter missed him. But, the bigger part of him won out at the end, the one that respected Minato greatly, the one that understood his desire to give his power to his beloved, to help her get better faster and to allow her the chance to live again, he didn't had the heart to stop him.

Naruto sighed, getting off the bed and walking to his mate, gently pulling her by the chin to face him and after delivering a deep loving and reassuring kiss, he said, "I'm sorry Yūgao, he wanted to come back to you but…"

Yūgao smiled sadly at him while she gently shook her head, her gaze lowering back at her father to whisper, "I u-understand… he…" He kissed the man's forehead, more and more cracks appearing on his body, letting them now that soon, his face and skin will disappear, leaving the sacrifice behind, "He w-was always putting everyone else a-ahead of him." She finish, a loving smile on her face while tears streamed heavily from her eyes, her thumb gently caressing his cheek.

Naruto sighed, saying after, "Kushina already had her goodbye with him…" He looked at the redheaded woman in question, "She will wake up in a few hours, but she will surely be devastated still…" He focused on his mate again who nodded, "I will go and look for Tsunade, she has to be here to make sure that Kushina is okay."

Yūgao just nodded, watching as her mate slowly walked towards the door of the room, catching his attention to whisper, "Thank you, my love." The purplette smiled sweetly at him, conveying all the gratitude she had for giving her closure at last.

Naruto sighed, a ghost of a smile on his face while he nodded slightly, looking back at the door and opening it to step out of his biological parents' room, it was time for those in the know to learn that Kushina was about to wake up, but that Minato will not.

* * *

Tsunade sighed as she walked through the corridors of the Hokage tower, heading towards the Council room so that her Sensei could formally present her as the newly appointed Fifth Hokage.

It has been two days since Kushina woke up and to say that it has been quite the stressful ride was an understatement. She still remembered how Naruto arrived to her home in the middle of the night, loudly knocking on her door to get her attention, Shizune being the one that opened the door to see a very sad Naruto.

Tsunade had then woke up with a jump the moment Shizune told her that Naruto was here and that something seemed to be wrong with him. It came to a shock for the two females when Naruto told them that Kushina seemed to be waking up, but that Minato's body was crumbling down.

Both mentor and student immediately rushed to the Namikaze estate, following Naruto closely as they jumped through the roofs, arriving mere minutes later to find a sobbing Yūgao tightly embracing the cracked form of Minato.

Tsunade had spared a glance at Kushina, relief hitting here like a ton of bricks when she could see that the woman was fine, even better than she was the last time the Senju checked on her.

But her first priority was Minato, as it was clear that he was not pulling through. Yūgao had slowly released her father's body, seemingly aware of what already was a fact. Tsunade still refused to give hope though, not wanting to let the woman she saw as a daughter lose her husband while she survived.

But alas, it was too late, Minato had already passed away, all that was left was his carcass that was clearly moments away from fully crumbling.

Tsunade, Shizune and Yūgao stayed there for the whole night, Kakashi arriving some moments later, followed by Jiraiya and Hiruzen. Everyone was definitely happy that Kushina was going to make it, but no one uttered a word as they all surrounded Minato, heads down, paying their respect to such an incredible man until finally, Minato's front crumbled fully, leaving the body of the young female used as a sacrifice behind.

The body of the woman was taken by Hiruzen and Kakashi, Jiraiya staying back a little as he was clearly devastated for losing his student once again, but he too left moments later, leaving Yūgao, Tsunade and Shizune there with Kushina, until the woman finally woke up three hours later.

Tsunade was still somewhat shocked and greatly confused when she remembered how Kushina seemed to already know that she was the only one to make it, longingly looking at the side of the bed where Minato once was, crying heavily but immediately embracing her daughter who couldn't stop crying as well.

Tsunade and Shizune had let the mother and daughter duo to grieve their loss for some moments, stepping out of the room and giving them privacy. For some seconds, the Senju wondered why Naruto was not present, but she soon realised that it must be quite uncomfortable for him to be around his two biological parents, more importantly, to be around when one of them didn't made it. She could imagine the guilt he must be feeling right now, he was the one that brought them back, so the fact that only Kushina made it and she along with Yūgao was now grieving the loss of Minato, was surely eating him away.

The Senju heir had looked for him the day after, surprisingly finding him in the Uchiha compound. She had heard of his closeness to the Uchiha heir, but she never thought that they were more like brothers, as Naruto had a room inside Sasuke's house and apparently whenever he was feeling down, he would stay there with his brother.

The two engaged in a long but nice talk, Tsunade trying to reassure him that neither Kushina nor Yūgao had any resentment towards him, all the contrary, Kushina had spent the whole morning asking about him, wanting to be with him. But just as she imagined, Naruto seemed quite reluctant to go and see her, not because of resentment or anything the like, neither guilt, it was more than likely because he simply didn't know what to say.

Kushina had also understood that and relented with a small sad smile, happy that at least her baby girl was spending as much time as she could with her, the Third being kind enough to give her a whole week free of job so that she could be with her mother as much as she wanted.

It was then that Tsunade had made her decision, she wanted to protect Kushina, she wanted to protect Shizune, Yūgao, her sensei, Jiraiya, Naruto. She wanted to honour the name of her grandfather, her granduncle, her sensei and her practically son-in-law. It was then that she decided that she will be the Fifth Hokage, so that she could do everything in her power to secure a safe home for her loved ones.

Tsunade stopped right before the door of the Council room, already hearing the murmurs coming from inside. She just inhaled deeply and lit the fire in her heart, no one was going to harm those she loved, she will be the best Hokage she could be, and she will ensure that at the end of every day, her loved ones could come to a village in peace.

* * *

Kushina brought her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly while she sobbed lightly, observing the village she called home from the top of her late husband's head in the Hokage Mountain.

It has now been three days since she woke up and despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop sobbing her husband's death, she was both overwhelmed with happiness and sadness at the same time. It really confused her.

On one hand, she was happy to be with her baby girl once again, holding Yūgao in her arms really made it better for her. She missed her so much and neither of them cared for the fact that Yūgao was already almost her age since Kushina had woken up with the same age as the day she died. But she was still her mother and both behaved just like that.

Seeing Tsunade, the woman she thought of as a mother, was a huge boost to her happiness. The Uzumaki Princess had spent the last three days catching up to those she cared for, learning everything that she's missed. It definitely helped her keep her mind away from Minato's death for some moments.

But on the other side, she was incredibly sad for Minato's passing, more so when she remembered the reasons for why he decided to move on to the afterlife, specifically so that she could be well to come back.

The fact that Naruto hasn't visited her at all was also a huge contributor for her sorrow, she knew he had a family, a brother, a father, and as much she hated to admit, he had a mother. But she still wanted to be a part of his life, in any way possible, even if it meant to be relegated as nothing more than a mere acquaintance, she didn't cared, she just wanted to be with him.

The only thing she's heard from him was that he was giving her the Namikaze and Uzumaki fortune. She refused immediately however, telling the guy from the bank that she didn't wanted all of the money, only what was necessary for her and Yūgao to live comfortably, the rest she declared that Naruto was the only one that deserved it. She wanted to compensate him for all the pain her decision caused him, even if just a little bit.

But that was about it, that was the last she's heard from him. Even Kakashi has visited her, apologising for Naruto's behaviour and adding a small apology for 'stealing' him from her and Minato. But she of course waved off his apologies, telling him that Naruto had every right to feel uncomfortable and that he and his lover had every right to consider themselves as Naruto's real parents, since Kakashi did raised him on their absence, there was nothing he had to apologise for.

The fact that she has to stay in the Namikaze estate for the time being was also depressing her. The Third had told her that until she was completely back to at an hundred percent, her return had to be kept hidden from the public, since just like she expected, some of her old enemies were still alive. Her return will also raise a lot of questions, so the Hokage wanted time to come up with a perfect explanation, one that didn't revealed that Naruto has the power to bring people back from the death. So until then, she was bound to stay in the Namikaze estate at least for the day, the nights being the only ones that she could go and stretch her legs, accompanied by her daughter of course. It was that or getting a cosmetic operation to change her face and forfeit her name for good, she didn't had the heart to do that.

A heavy sigh escaped her red lips as she rested her chin on her knees, Yūgao had gone to shop some groceries since Kushina had requested a moment to herself. Her daughter was reluctant but eventually gave, allowing the mother to make her way to her husband's stone face and catch a breath.

She suddenly heard someone coming, her head turning slightly as she said, "Yū, I thought it'll take yo…" Her voice died the moment she saw who was coming though. Her handsome son was walking towards her, a small sad smile on his face as he stood beside her and then took a seat next to her, "N-Naruto…" Kushina whispered, her heart racing fast as millions of affectionate actions crossed her mind, wanting nothing more than to embrace her son and tell him just how much she loved him.

Naruto just sighed, looking down a little before he looked back at the village and whispered, "I-I'm sorry…" He could feel that the woman felt confused, so he elaborated, "For n-not… for not going to see ya when you requested." He looked at her, a small apologetic smile on his face.

Kushina couldn't hold her tears back, frantically grabbing his hand with hers as she said, "No! D-Darling, you… t-there is absolutely nothing for you to a-apologise…" She looked down, gently releasing his hand as she felt his slight discomfort by the contact, "I s-should be the one to apologise… I…" She hugged herself, tears streaming down her face when she added, "I l-left you… you had t-to go through things that no child s-should have… all because me and y-your father… chose the village o-over you… over Y-Yūgao…" She shivered as her tears cascaded, "I a-am so sorry… N-Naruto…"

Naruto just sighed, looking at her for a moment before he focused on the night sky, saying soothingly, "Don't apologise…" Kushina looked at him, her eyes wide and filled with tears, "There was a t-time that I did resented you both…" She winced, her hand shaking as she wanted to reach him but refrained from doing so, "But that was back when I was a kid…" He then looked at her, a small smile on his face as he continued, "I now understand that despite you and Minato being geniuses, you were still human, and there is just so much we can do, I can't b-blame you for doing your best, for trying your hardest, for doing what you thought was best, it would be incredibly selfish and egotistical of me to do so…" He shocked her when he held her hand, a small smile on his face, "You did your best, you love me enough to do your best, there is absolutely nothing that I can recriminate you for, in fact, I am greatly thankful for everything you did."

Kushina was agape, her eyes as wide as they could while she could barely see due to her tears. She felt warm, happy, incredibly happy to hear him saying that, but she still said, "B-But N-Naruto… I… I-I failed you… a-as a mother… I'm a h-horrible mother."

Naruto chuckled slightly, saying, "No Kushina, you are not a horrible mother, you would be if you had abandoned me out of your own will…" He focused on her, asking, "Did you wanted to leave me?…" The woman shook her head frantically, "Then there is no reason for why you should think that way, you are a loving mother, a wonderful mother, a beautiful mother that gave her life for her two children, despite all the things I and Yūgao had to go through, there is no single thing neither of us can reproach."

Kushina widened her eyes, completely overwhelmed by the feelings swirling in her belly. She still thought that she owned him an apology, one that could never be enough to convey how truly regretful of leaving him she was. But at the moment, she forgone all of those thoughts, whispering lovingly, "N-Naruto…"

Naruto however, grabbed her shoulders, locking his blues to her confused violets to say, "B-But… I… I-I'm sorry Kushina… I cannot offer you a mother and son relationship… it's t-too late for that."

Kushina's heart broke immediately, wailing a little as she felt completely hopeless. She knew that he was going to refuse to call her 'mom', she knew that he was going to refuse loving her like a mother, but hearing it now, she never thought it would hurt this much.

She was shocked again when he gently brought his fingers to her cheeks, wiping her tears as he said with a small smile, "But that doesn't mean that I w-want you away…" Kushina's heart started to beat again, hope reaching her senses when he added, "If you want, I would like to be your friend." His smile made her feel so happy and protected, just like Minato's used to do.

Kushina grabbed his hands, staring at him lovingly as she whispered a question, tears still falling heavily, "W-Will you…" She struggled a little, she didn't wanted to be a simple friend, but she could take it for now, she just hoped that someday, the can grow as close as a mother and son, "W-Will you like that?"

Naruto snickered, looking down a little before he focused on her again, "Yeah, I would…" Kushina smiled as Naruto looked back at the village, one of his hands still grasping Kushina's when he added, "I don't know what the future holds, but I promise you, Kushina…" He did promised his father, "I'll stand by you."

Kushina sobbed a little with a small happy smile, nodding and observing as he settled for watching the stars, her hand still being held by his. She just shifted on her place until she could rest her head on his shoulder. It may not have been what she wanted, but it was a start, she was at least part of his life and for now, it was all she could ask from him, _'One day, Minato, one day…'_ A small smile adorned her red and wet face, sending a mental thank you to her husband that surely, was already on a better place.

* * *

 **A/N: Well there ya go! I hope that you found Minato's send off pleasing. Part of why I struggled with this chapter was because Minato is one of my favs, and I wanted to give him a proper send off, fitting of him, because just as Ddraig said, this is the last time Minato will appear in this story since his soul is now resting for good. But anyway, I hope you had wonderful holidays and that your year started off well, see ya later and cheers!**


	26. The Dark Side of the Moon (Part 1)

**A/N: Yo waddup! We're back with another one! But before we begin, I shall answer some inquiries of yours.**

 **Yes, Kushina will be in the harem, in this chapter there is a little glimpse of how will it happen. But don't expect it to happen any time soon, I plan to have them fall for each other after Naruto return to the Leaf, his travel will take up three or even four arcs, so there is still a long way to go before it happens. But just so that you knew, she will be with him, that is why she survived and not Minato.**

 **Regarding somebody questioning the hair, I cannot answer you right now since it's a crucial part of the story, it was not just for looks, it was a way for me to tie him with a character that has a crucial part in this story, so you'll have to wait to see why he has silver hair.**

 **I will start to write the names of the characters coming from different franchises at the end of each chapter, just so that you guys know where they come from and how they look, the girls from DXD of course, will not be listed since this is a crossover, you should already know who they are.**

 **I think that's it, enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **The Dark Side of the Moon (Part 1)**

A heavy sigh escaped the ruby-red lips of a beautiful red-headed woman while she eyed a report from her troops, "This can't go on…" She whispered as her red eyes narrowed on the sheet of paper, a hand clearing some strands of her hair from her face before she massaged her temples, trying hard to maintain her cool. The woman had a golden delicate tiara around her forehead and was wearing a set of silver light-armour with heavy shoulder-guards; beneath the armour, a maroon-coloured shirt that showed a little bit of cleavage while a white armoured corset surrounded her midriff, a white short skirt while knee-high white armoured boots protected her legs and a white and red cape that was resting on the back of her chair. She was currently inside a wide room, seemingly a studio, though the place was quite rusty and only candles lighted the place.

"What is it now, Piña?" A young handsome male with long blond hair inquired while he sat on a chair some steps away from the red-head. The man was wearing a blue and white medium-armour, clearly belonging to royalty, just like the woman's. His forehead was adorned by a similar tiara as well, though a little bit bigger. The man had an aura of a haughty person, but his face was gentle and inviting.

The now identified Piña sighed and looked back at her brother, replying, "Another report from our soldiers, Diabo…" She eyed the paper again and continued, "Another batch of young males was sailed to the main land, no doubt to be sold as slaves…" She growled then before she added, "When Ishidate became the ruler, I had thought that it would be the women the ones being sold into slavery, not males."

Diabo just ran a hand through his hair as he sighed, saying after, "The world is not as perverse as you think, Piña…" His sister shot him a quizzical look, prompting him to explain, "While yes, sex is a highly requested thing, pleasure is not going to get you anywhere…" Kilometres away, a silver-haired teenager sneezed. Diabo narrowed his eyes as he added, "People with capable hands will…" He focused on his sister again and continued, "Sure, there are a lot of women sold into slavery, but men double that number since they can be turned into cannon fodder, hence why they are taken so young."

Piña sighed, nodding while saying, "Doesn't matter anyway, our people cannot continue to suffer like this."

"Good thing we have a new powerful ally." A gruffly voice then captured both siblings' attention towards the entrance of the room where a tall, muscular male walked in. He had old tired grey eyes, equal to his short grey hair. He was wearing a heavy set of silver armour while a longsword rested on the side of his hip. The male, despite still looking intimidating, was already showing signs of old age, an almost unnoticeable limp on his step while some wrinkles adorned his otherwise handsome face.

Diabo and Piña raised an eyebrow at the man's words, the woman inquiring, "What are you talking about, Grey?"

The veteran walked a little closer to them, smiling slightly as he replied, "Well, I just received word that an old friend of mine has become the newly appointed Fifth Hokage of the Leaf Village."

Piña widened her eyes at that, a hopeful wave washing over her as she realised what her mentor was implying.

Her brother Diabo however, did not seemed as enthusiastic as her, since he scowled deeply and after a huff, said, "Don't even think about it, Old Man…" He narrowed his eyes at the man, adding, "We don't need outsider's help."

Piña looked at her brother with an angry gaze, saying heatedly, "What are you talking about, Diabo? This is a perfect opportunity for us!"

Diabo scuffed at the woman, matching her tone when he retorted, "Are you really that naïve, sister?…" He narrowed his eyes at her when he continued, "Fire will take advantage of this and will seize control of the country, Ishidate may be close to depleting our riches, but we still have a lot of resources and gold, there is no way that the Leaf will agree to help us…" He looked at the tall man, "Just because an old friend asked."

"They will seize control of the country?…" Grey repeated his words, adding with a small smirk, "Like they did with Wave Country and Spring Country?"

Diabo just gritted his teeth after those words, knowing that he had nothing to argue that statement with since it was true. Despite being freed by the Leaf, Spring and Wave are completely independent countries, "It doesn't matter, we don't need their help, this is OUR Kingdom…" He focused on his sister to add, "Our throne, our crown, our fight, no one else's."

Piña just snickered cynically, muttering with her narrowed eyes focused on her brother, "That's what father and Zorzal said, and where the fuck are they now?"

Diabo narrowed his eyes at the woman, growling a little before he turned away with a huff, getting up from his seat and making to leave the room, saying on the way, "Do whatever you want then…" He stopped before he left, eyeing the people inside the room as he added sternly, "But the throne is still mine and I will not let outsiders take it away from the family, no matter what."

Piña just leaned back on her chair, crossing both her legs and arms as she said with a small smirk, "Without their help, we have nothing to stake our claim, brother dearest."

Diabo just looked at his sister for some moments before he sighed and left, his fists tightly balled as he made his way to his quarters.

Grey observed the door for some moments before he looked back to the young woman he has been protecting ever since her father appointed him as her shield fifteen years ago, inquiring after a sigh, "So, should I contact her?"

Piña looked at the man, a small smile on her face when she replied, "Please do, Grey, even the smallest aid, will help us greatly…" She chuckled a little when she added sceptically, "Who knows, we may even get the Dark Swordsman himself, freeing countries seem to be his speciality."

Grey chuckled along with the woman, shaking his head as he commented, "I wouldn't count on it, but who knows?" He bowed slightly and then left the room, intending to write a letter to the woman who was now in charge of the most powerful military force of the continent.

Piña sighed while she observed her mentor leave, her eyes then wandering towards her side where a window allowed her to see the woods that served to hide their base while it was being covered by the darkness of night, a timid rain falling on the place. Her wistful sigh was full of hope and desire, wanting nothing more than to free her people and country from the tyrannical rule of the missing ninja who did not only murdered her father and brother, but also the man that staged the coup in the first place, one of her father's noble councillors. Since that day, Land of the Moon has fallen from grace, far away were the days where her country was one, if not the richest country of the Elemental Nations, now it has turned into a military state that has taken on selling slaves and prostituting the country's resources to the highest bidder.

"Not for much longer." She muttered while her captivating red eyes focused on the distance, as if trying to see the man who served as their dictator. She had made a promise to her people that their royal family will not let them down and she would be dead before she failed them, of that, she was sure.

* * *

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as he was surrounded by three of his six-legged foes, their pincers clicking menacingly when they leered towards him carefully, their eyes narrowed in hatred.

"Oh bitch, you didn't!" The silverette then heard his new dragon partner screaming from behind him, the Namikaze's eyes moving slightly to the side to see the white dragon biting a crab with his teeth before he shredded the creature violently. A small shiver running down Naruto's spine as he imagined the taste of his mortal enemies.

"Let's dance, fools!" Naruto muttered before the lightning sword sprung to life, the Uzumaki heir moving gracefully inside the circle the crabs encased him in, his sword moving as quick as the lightning it was made of while the jinchūriki slashed away to his heart's content, the crabs hissing angrily as they were slowly turned into slices of meat.

Behind him, Canym growled at the two crabs that made their way towards him, one of them lunging at the dragon with its pincers at the front, Canym dodging the hit by leaping off slightly before he used his own momentum to flip mid-air, his tail suddenly turning into a deadly whip that hit the crab head on, the spikes of his tail embedding into the creature's brain and killing it instantly.

The future Dragon King didn't wasted anymore time and the moment he landed, he pounced on the other crab, digging his mortal claws into the crustacean's abdomen, piercing its armour immediately as the creature screeched loudly before it suddenly stopped, no longer alive.

After finishing his share of crabs, Naruto observed as his partner landed beside him, a horde of at the very least fifteen angry crabs making their way towards them fast, both humanoid dragon and dragon panting slightly, already feeling signs of exhaustion.

Naruto stayed quiet with his blues narrowed at the creatures, waiting for the right moment before he made a quick succession of hand-seals, smashing his fist on the ground while screaming, "Earth Style: Mud Slide!…" After his words, the earth shook heavily before a wave of dirt and mud sprout from the soil, slowing the crabs enough to almost keep them in place, enough for Naruto to say to his partner, "Get some fire on these modafakas, Junior!"

'Junior' smirked predatorily while his shades shun brightly with the sun, the dragon making a huge jump, declaring, "Boom, bitch!" He inhaled deeply later before he exhaled in the form of a giant ball of Dragon's Fire, the attack hitting the crabs dead on as a medium sized explosion followed.

Naruto covered his eyes slightly, shielding them from the dust of the explosion. He then uncovered them again and observed once the smoke cleared, how every crab trapped in the mud slide was dead, pieces of crab splattered all over the place, forcing Naruto to whistle appreciatively before he muttered, "Damn, boi… yo, that was cold blooded, baby…"

Canym landed once again, shaking his head slightly as he settled his shades on their right place, commenting with a smirk, "We reptiles, bro! We literally are cold blooded!"

Naruto looked at the dragon, a raised eyebrow before he smiled goofily, saying, "Damn straight…" He then cursed under his breath, noticing how the sun was already above them, "Fuck, gotta go with Ma! She'll get mad if I don't get there on time."

Canym just chuckled before he suddenly shrunk into a small white lizard, Naruto opening his jacket to allow the creature to settle in it, closing it once his partner was safely kept inside his pocket, he did not wanted to go around the village with a real fucking dragon after all, people will surely freak out at seeing the mythological creature.

Naruto then closed his eyes, focusing on a three pronged kunai he had hidden behind his parents' home, disappearing in a red flash seconds later.

The teenaged dragon opened his eyes again then, observing the house that belonged to his parents before he straighten himself up and made his way towards the sliding door.

"Naruto!…" Hanare immediately appeared when she felt the boy walking in the house, the woman hastily making her way towards him as she started checking him out, as if looking for any injury, "A-Are you okay?"

Naruto chuckled while he grabbed the woman's hands, holding them tenderly while he said, "'Course I'm aight! Why would ya ask?"

Hanare just sighed before she hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder as she responded, "I h-heard the explosion coming from the forest, I know y-you were training there so I got worried…" She leaned back and looked at his eyes, worry and fear etched in the woman's eyes as she added, "I was about to go a-and see if you were okay."

Naruto just sighed while he hugged the woman tightly, knowing exactly what was going on with her. It has been a week since Kushina woke up and while he has only seen the red-headed Uzumaki once during said week, not counting their moment above Minato's stone head, he has been training his ass off during the week, occasionally spending some hours with each of his mates, knowing that they were starting to get worried that he might become strained from them. But he quickly reassured them that it was only for a couple of days, he wanted to create a perfect partnership with Canym and he needed to do it as soon as possible, the fact that Itachi had so thoroughly kicked his ass with so much ease still lingered on the silverette like an ominous nightmare.

Due to all of that, he hasn't had much time to spend with his mother, prompting the woman to start feeling abandoned and afraid that his relationship with her was going to change now that Kushina, his biological mother, was alive again, something that his father let him know a day ago. Hence why he promised the woman to eat and spend the whole afternoon with her, to remind her that she was as important to him as the rest of his family.

But she couldn't be more wrong about his and Kushina's relationship, because to Naruto, Kushina was just a friend, though certain feelings were starting to show that he wasn't too comfortable about. When Minato had offered his life so that he could give him and Kushina what was left of his power and knowledge, Ddraig had actually given all of his chakra to Kushina since it would do absolutely nothing on Naruto, he was a god and chakra that did not belonged to him was useless after all. What Ddraig had taken from Minato and placed it on Naruto, was actually his knowledge, every little thing he experienced, saw and felt, was fused with him and much to his chagrin, one of the things he could feel fervently was the man's love for Kushina, some memories of private times even appearing in his dreams sometimes. That's why for the meantime, he wanted to keep his distance with Kushina, at least until he could control those emotions that he knew did not belonged to him, but still felt them as if they were truly his, _'A double edged sword…'_ Naruto thought with a sigh.

Returning to Hanare, Naruto knew that she was afraid of losing him, since she loved him just as if he were her real son, "Mom…" He whispered, the woman lifting her head up to look at him as he continued, "You do know that I love you, right?…" Hanare widened her eyes, tears forming in them when he added, "You, Hanare, are my mother, no matter what happens, you will always be my Ma."

Hanare started to cry at those words, her heart beating with relief as she felt a huge weight taken away from her shoulders. She has been fearing losing him ever since Kushina woke up and despite all the reassurances her lover gave her, she still was afraid that he might want to change their relationship, "B-But…" She stuttered, tears falling while her arms tightened around her adopted son's torso.

Naruto just smiled warmly at the woman, a hand on her cheek so he could clean her tears, kissing her forehead lovingly before he said, "There are no buts, Kushina is just a friend at most…" He brought her head to his chest, the woman smiling when he added, "You are my mom, nothing's going to change that, aight?"

Hanare just smiled while she buried herself deeper into her son's embrace, immeasurably happy to hear him saying that, "O-Okay." She muttered, knowing that her son was a man of his word.

Naruto rested his chin above the woman's head before his stomach grumbled loudly, making him chuckle alongside Hanare who looked up to him and after she released the embrace, said, "Let's go, honey…" She grabbed his hand and started leading him towards the dining room, "You're clearly hungry." She added with a wide happy smile.

Naruto just offered the woman a goofy smile while he allowed himself to be dragged away by the woman, making a silent promise to her to never leave her side, she was as important as his mates to him, he will do absolutely everything for the woman, of that, he was sure.

* * *

Tsubaki sighed delightfully after she sipped the tea given to her, setting the cup on the table in front of her before she smiled at the woman sitting opposite to her, "Thank you for receiving me, Tsukiumi."

The now identified Tsukiumi smiled back at the woman, nodding slightly while she too sipped her tea. The woman was astoundingly beautiful, luscious long blond hair, blue piercing eyes, a shade lighter than Naruto's, and a face that seemed to be carved specifically to stun mortals. Her body was incredible as well, Tsubaki feeling a little jealous of the woman for a moment. The blonde was wearing a black dress with a white underdress that showed some of her plentiful cleavage, long brown boots and black stockings. Her attire screaming both sexy and dangerous.

Which was exactly what the woman was.

Tsukiumi Fuha, daughter of Arata Fuha, leader of both the Fuha clan and the Land of Hotsprings' military, a man as respected in their country as the Feudal Lord himself. The woman was without a doubt one of the land's most desired women, receiving marriage proposals by the dozens each day. But despite that, the woman was humble and fierce, mainly because her father was just like her, a just and relentless man who was been protecting the country ever since he could walk.

Tsukiumi, besides for her beauty, was also known for being a very proficient kunoichi, mastering her clan's bloodline as well as perfecting every teaching her village had to offer, only her father could claim to be stronger than her.

She was also the leader of the Shinobi side of the Village Hidden in the Hot Water, currently divided in two sides, one wanting to continue their tradition of being a shinobi village, led by Tsukiumi, and the other wanting to become an information selling state with the façade of a tourist paradise, aiming to rebuild their village to become a tourist resort so that they could steal information from the prominent figures that often visited the country.

Tsubaki knew that despite being something really shameful, she couldn't deny that the idea was incredibly profitable, more so when their country was just a minor one, not capable of competing with the military might of their neighbours Fire and Lightning, so the brunette councillor couldn't really fault Arata for being unsure on how to proceed. Though rumour has it, that the leader of the opposing side, Sadao Fuha, Tsukiumi's older brother, wouldn't mind staging a coup in order to push his ambition forward.

As a Leaf Councillor, Tsubaki was aware that Sadao's ambition was actually good for the Leaf, since the Land of Hotsprings will have to rely on the Leaf for protection as their relationship with Lightning was non-existent. The country would be forced to pay a large monthly amount of money to the Leaf in order to have ninjas stationed in the country to protect them from any harm, a very lucrative deal for the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Even Tsubaki herself was surprised when even knowing that she was a councillor of the Leaf, she felt her drive pushing her towards Tsukiumi's side. Not just because the woman herself was a target of her lover, but because if Tsukiumi accepted their help, Tsubaki could secure a simple favour, while secretly placing her silver-haired lover in the woman's orbit, completely confident that Naruto will be capable of winning the beauty's heart.

The Fuha heiress waved her hand nonchalantly, saying after, "I'm actually glad for the distraction…" The blonde sighed, massaging her shoulder while she added, stretching her neck, "Dealing with my brother's ramblings is as tiring as it is frustrating."

Tsubaki snickered, steeling her resolve, knowing that the next sentence could either help or doom her chances, "I would imagine…" She paused a little before she leaned back, showing a relaxed stance while she continued with a smirk, "He must be pretty frustrated that you are not stealing secrets from your visitors."

Tsukiumi immediately went stiff, her blues narrowing at the woman before her as she considered every option she had right now. For one, she could use her Boil Release to turn the woman's tea into a melting stream of water that shot straight at her face, or she could just do a simple movement with her speed and appear right behind her, her kunai already slicing the councillor's throat, Tsubaki was no fighter after all, just a simple woman.

But she was a simple woman with significant importance to Fire, she was still the Head Civilian Councillor of the Leaf, her disappearance will not go unnoticed. The woman was also being accompanied by a team from the Leaf, a mere genin team, but led by the son of the Third Hokage none the less.

 _'_ _Cunning woman…'_ Tsukiumi thought impressed as she kept her eyes on the calm woman before her, understanding that she had the upper hand, leaving the Fuha woman with only one option, "So the Leaf knows about our… problems, huh?" She couldn't deny anything anymore, the only thing left for her, was to see what she wanted.

Tsubaki released an internal relieved sigh when she saw Tsukiumi playing along. Despite her composed exterior, the Amari woman was internally shaking, praying to whoever god rules them all to guide her hand through this. The Amari smiled slightly, replying, "Not just Fire…" Tsukiumi raised an eyebrow at that, Tsubaki adding, "The other four powers know about this as well."

The blonde buxom didn't showed it, but inside, she was shaking, trembling almost at the news. Her father had already foresaw this, but she and her brother refused to believe him, completely sure that the major countries were too busy throwing money at each other to even care about a minor country like theirs. But as it turns out, her father was absolutely right, there was nothing that could happen in the Elemental Nations without the 'Big Five' knowing.

"Then why aren't you intervening?" Tsukiumi asked, genuinely curios.

Tsubaki just sighed, replying, "Because we are not at war, none of the main villages can just waltz in and take control, that's not how it works."

Tsukiumi widened her eyes a little when she understood, stating, "You are waiting, aren't you? Waiting to see which side wins?"

"Correct." Tsubaki replied truthfully, knowing that she had to be as forthcoming with the woman as she could.

The blonde then leaned forward, her eyes as cold as ice when she inquired in between gritted teeth, "How do you even know about my brother's true goal?"

Tsubaki chuckled a little, earning a growl from the blonde that prompted her to explain, "Because it would not be the first time your country has done it…" She was genuinely surprised to see that Tsukiumi had no idea, "I thought you knew."

Tsukiumi stayed quiet for a while, responding some time after, "I-I heard… that before my great-great-grandfather, Hotsprings' focus was espionage…" She then muttered, "But my father t-told me that they were mere legends."

"They weren't…" Tsubaki said, shrugging when she continued, "It was just forgotten by most…" She then sighed, "But not by the ones in power though, the moment you started turning this place more… alluring… alarms went off."

Tsukiumi simply stared at Tsubaki, not saying a thing for some moments, eliciting an unnoticeable gulp from Tsubaki as her cool cover wavered slightly. But Tsukiumi then spoke, angrily stating with a mutter, "So you came here to tell me to back off, right?"

Tsubaki raised an eyebrow, taking some moments for her to understand what the Fuha meant, saying once she did, "No."

Tsukiumi was genuinely confused, asking as she leaned back on her seat, "My brother's vision will be beneficial to you, we will have to rely on the Leaf for protection…" She narrowed her eyes, adding, "What are you playing at?"

Tsubaki just sighed, a small smile on her face when she replied, "It is true that it will mean more money for us if your brother rises to power…" She leaned back a little to continue, "But our Feudal Lord is known to be… loose…" Tsukiumi smirked a little, understanding what she meant, "If you make this place even more alluring than it already is, well, many of our VIPs will end up coming here, spilling information they shouldn't have."

Tsukiumi smirked, trying to shake the woman when she said haughtily, "What makes you think we haven't done that already?"

Tsubaki didn't wavered though, shrugging nonchalantly when she replied, "We know you have, though not with our VIPs."

The Fuha female had to stifle a curse, having absolutely nothing to snide at the Leaf councillor. She instead focused on Tsubaki's words, demeanour, stance, trying to solve what the Leaf may want, "So what are you here for?" She resorted to just plainly ask, Tsubaki being incredibly hard to decipher.

The brunette smirked a little, replying, "To offer you our aid in your struggle."

The blonde was visibly surprised by that, saying unbelievingly, "Really? You are offering me your aid? The Leaf's aid?" Tsukiumi may be feeling somewhat excited, but she was not stupid, there was something else that Tsubaki, or the Leaf, wanted, she was completely sure of that, so she had to be very careful here.

Tsubaki felt like a villain right now, knowing that she was using the woman's inexperience in order to entice her to her family's cause, but as long as she wasn't doing harm to anyone, she did not let it get to her. Instead, she giggled, trying to ease the tension a little, saying after, "Under the radar of course, no one will ever know about our involvement…" Tsubaki then smiled a little teasingly, saying with a sexy tone, "But be assured, you will receive a very _handy_ aide."

Tsukiumi couldn't really explain how the woman's sudden sexiness affected her, since she could feel her chest suddenly beating hard, almost picturing this supposed 'aide' in her mind, not sure what she was imagining. But she shook her head and quickly recovered her emotionless-self, asking, "Why would you even help ME? It would mean less money for you, aren't you supposed to be all about that?"

Tsubaki chuckled, knowing that before, that certainly was the truth, specifically when her fellow civilian councillors still had power. Though now that it was no longer the case since the Third has completely seized control and passed it on to the new Hokage, Tsunade, she replied, "Before, yeah, but now things are different…" Tsubaki relaxed herself a little before she continued, "We are actually in talks with Cloud and Lightning to form a genuine truce…" Tsukiumi widen her eyes at that, visibly surprised, "There is no point with having this cold war continuing, so Lord Third had saw it fit to change the way things work, something that Lady Fifth completely supports."

Tsukiumi still had her eyes wide, her mouth slightly open as it finally dawned on her, "S-So you want to secure passage since we are in the middle of you two… well, Frost is too…" She then looked down as she finished, "With me in charge, you will be avoiding the risk of your VIPs falling for my brother's schemes as a bonus."

"Correct." Tsubaki asserted, a calm look on her face as she waited for the woman to speak.

Tsukiumi took a lot of time to think, not really knowing what to feel or do. While she usually would ask her father for advice, she knew that if she wanted to become the leader of her people, she needed to make this difficult decisions for herself, she couldn't have her father shielding her from mistakes for ever, she had to make her own and learn from them. But still, this was very complicated, she couldn't really trust the Leaf, Fire has always been greedy, just like the other four great powers, she just didn't know if she was making a deal with the devil or if she was just being too paranoid.

Tsubaki sensing the woman's confusion and insecurity, decided to leave it as it was for now, knowing that the temptation was already planted in the heiress' head. So she sat up and fixed her clothes a little, a small gentle smile on her face when she said to the confused blonde, "I understand it is a difficult decision to make, so I will leave you to your thoughts…" She started making her way towards the door, adding, "There is no need to rush, the offer will stand for years to come, so think carefully on your decision and if you accept, let me know directly…" She warned, adding sternly, "I am your contact, no one else."

Tsukiumi just dumbly nodded, observing as Tsubaki made her way towards the door and soon later, walked out of the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Tsubaki just sighed once outside, smiling at the guards who nodded at her before she made her way towards the blonde Leaf-nin waiting for her at the end of the hall, an amused smirk on her face when she spoke, "As our beloved would say…" Ino began, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she added her inquiry, "Everything aight?"

Tsubaki giggled, a small blush on her face when she thought of the man who held her heart and his rap obsession, replying after, "I guess, only time will tell."

Ino understood and nodded, the two making their way back to the rest of Team Ten to begin their trek back to the Leaf. There was really nothing else they could do here, the seed has already been planted in Tsukiumi and only time will tell whether she'll fall for the temptation or not, the rest after that, will be completely up to their mate.

* * *

"Naruto, look!" Akeno pointed excitedly at a stall some steps away from them, where apparently you had to throw some balls to a set of bottles so you could win something.

Naruto smiled lovingly at the beautiful raven-haired female, loving how cute and excited she was acting on this little escapade of theirs. Today was Akeno's birthday and Naruto wanted to make sure to do something she would remember, so knowing that the Himejima reject has never been to a festival, he investigated and found that a town nearby the Leaf was going to have one. So taking advantage of his small vacation, he asked Tsunade for permission to go and enjoy the festival, the Leaf leader wanted to send someone with him in case anything happened, but he managed to convince her otherwise, stating that it was just some minutes away and that he was still the Dark Swordsman, a name nobody took lightly anymore.

He then snuck Akeno out of the village and brought her here to Otafuku, ignoring the memories he had of this place for today as he wanted to show his Fallen Angel mate how much she meant to him.

Naruto just chuckled, placing an arm around her waist while he leaned his body on her back, whispering to her ear, "You want a prize?"

Akeno shivered by the contact, shaking her head a little before she turned to look at him, a wide smile on her face when she replied, "Yes!…" She started leading him by the hand towards the stall, a wide smile on her face that just like Naruto thought, had everyone around them completely stunned, her beauty outmatching anyone else's, "I want a teddy bear!" She added once they got to the stand.

The elderly man in the stall chuckled, saying, "It appears that you have work to do, young man."

Naruto chuckled as well, kissing Akeno's cheek when she blushed in embarrassment since she realised that everyone was looking at them with small smiles, surely finding such a sexy woman acting like a young kid really cute.

The silverette then said, "Yes indeed, old man…" He paid the man for a turn, adding, "But, anything for the one ya love, aight?"

The man laughed wholeheartedly when Akeno yelped and brought her gaze down, a mad blush on her face along with a small smile, her toes making circles in the ground as she found herself incredibly flustered by her mate's sudden declaration, "That's a real man." The man said with a nod.

Naruto just smiled before he focused on the game, three balls before him that soon later, were thrown at the bottles with deadly accuracy, succeeding in taking them all down and securing a prize for his blackette lover.

The man smiled as he reached for a small brown teddy bear, saying, "This is the one you wanted, right?…" Akeno nodded with a small smile, the man lowering the bear until he gave it to the woman who nodded her thanks, "Well, there you go! Have fun!"

Both Naruto and Akeno smiled at the man and bid their goodbyes before they went on to enjoy the festival, Akeno smiling all of the time as they tried almost every food, every game, everything the festival had to offer.

Naruto couldn't help but marvel at the innocence that Akeno was showing at the moment, a small pang of anger hitting his heart when he thought of her so called family who robbed her of such things, forcing her out of her home and sending her to the wolves by herself, it was certainly a miracle that nothing bad happened to her, _'One day Eisuke, one day…'_ He narrowed his eyes at the distance, as if he could see Akeno's uncle, a man that one way or another, was going to pay for everything he'd done to the Fallen.

"Naru!…" Akeno's voice suddenly won his attention, making him turn to look at the buxom female who said, "T-The lady over there said that the fireworks are going to start in some minutes! We have to get a good position to see them!"

Naruto just laughed and nodded, allowing the woman to pull him towards wherever she desired, forgetting his dark thoughts for the moment as he focused in enjoying his day with the birthday-girl.

It took the couple some moments to find a perfect spot, but they soon settled on a small hill that stood behind Otafuku, allowing them a perfect view of the whole village. They then sat on the ground, Akeno encircling herself with his arms while she rested her head on the crook of his neck, her eyes closing momentarily while she whispered, "Thank you, N-Naruto."

The male raised an eyebrow at that, his head tilting slightly as he inquired, "What for?" She didn't had to thank him for the date, it was both his responsibility and pleasure to show her and the rest how much he loved them and took his vow to them seriously.

Akeno buried her head a little deeper into his neck, mumbling quietly, "F-For… for giving me t-this wonderful new life…" She kissed his neck chastely, continuing after, "For g-giving me a new purpose…" She then leaned back a little to cup his cheeks, her eyes watered already while her small smile showed how much love she had for him, "For l-loving me as much as you do."

Naruto smiled before he leaned on, capturing her lips in a soul-shaking kiss that made every single hair of her body stand, moaning once he broke it, "There is nothing you have to thank me for, darling, in fact, I am the one that should be thanking you for choosing me."

Akeno rested her forehead on his, a small sad smile on her face when she said, "N-Nonsense, I am just a l-lowly reincarnate, a mongrel."

Akeno then yelped when Naruto grabbed her arms and tightened his grip on them, looking wide eyes at him as she realised that his eyes turned red, signalling his anger while he spoke, "Don't you ever speak of yourself like that again, Akeno! You are a beautiful living creature, no matter your background or your blood, it doesn't change who you are…" He calmed down a little as he saw her crying, tendering his grip before he brought her to his body close, hugging her tightly while he whispered, "No matter what people brand you as, you are and will always be Akeno…" He pulled her away a little to kiss her again, saying after, "My beloved Akeno."

Akeno stared at him with her violet eyes completely locked to his blues, completely, overwhelmingly, stupidly in love with him right now as she saw how truly honest he was being, the mark he put on her conveying his honest feelings to her. The fact that he accepted her as she was completely made it impossible for her to deny giving him the last thing she's been keeping off limits from him, whispering lovingly, "O-Oh Naruto…" She lunged herself at him, a ferocious kiss landing on his lips.

 **LEMON**

Naruto responded in kind, his hands travelling down her spine, sending delighted shivers through all of her body, until they finally settled on her butt, squeezing it ferociously while their tongues started to invade each other's mouth.

Akeno separated a little, her gorgeous face red as a ruby while her eyes could barely stay open due to the incredible lust that held her body hostage. She then started to grind her hips against his, lowering her face to his neck and while she licked it sensually, she whispered, "N-Naruto… I w-want my birthday g-gift…" She mewled when he caressed her ass even harsher.

Naruto smirked when he heard the woman, spanking her roughly after, eliciting a loud moan from the woman before he questioned, "What does my beautiful sunrise desires?"

Akeno could feel her body starting to overwhelm her with its incredible heat, whispering a reply, her voice shaky while her hands roamed all over his chest, "Y-You know…" She knew what he was playing at and what her punishment was going to be for not answering right, and she could barely wait for her penalty.

Naruto sniggered before he slapped her ass again, this time with more strength. Akeno definitely whimpered after a small gasp, he was capable of feeling her juices dripping over her panties, already able to pass the fabric of her red dress, "You have to be specific." He brought one hand to her breast and clutch it tightly.

Akeno mewled happily, absolutely loving the way her mate knew every little bit of her body by now. Not capable of holding her lust for much longer, she brought her hand down his body, sliding it below his pants and boxers and tightly gripped the flesh-stick that her mouth and hands were so accustomed to already, "Y-Your dick… I w-want it inside of me…" She started to slowly stroke it, licking his neck again while adding, "Pierce m-me, engrave it in my vagina t-that you are my A-Alpha."

That was it for the young dragon, Akeno's dirty talk completely blew his mind and put his animal instinct in the driving seat, flipping Akeno below him, a sensual yelp from the woman as he hiked her dress up, bringing his hand to her panties before he shred them with his nails, Akeno wailing blissfully as the slight pain that his elongated nails produced in her meat-flops.

Once Akeno's glistening entrance was out for the world to see, Naruto licked his lips, the Himejima breathing harshly as she stared at his mate's lust-crazed face, his now red slitted eyes locked at her entrance, making her almost orgasm by the predatory look itself, "N-Naru…" She whined while she humped her hips, impatient to get impaled since by now, Naruto had already licked and kissed every single part of her body, she needed him inside, right now.

Naruto focused back on his woman's face, growling menacingly when he observed the completely submissive look of his mate, the woman's begging was making it incredibly hard for him to remain sane. But not capable of saying no to his beloved, Naruto lowered his pants with one hand while the other held one of Akeno's legs up, freeing his monster and immediately rubbing it against her entrance, Akeno throwing her head back as she felt the excitement and fear of being moments away from losing her virginity.

Had it been anyone else, Naruto would've been careful with taking their virginity, but this was Akeno, the woman loved to be treated as a mere toy, it was her fetish and as her lover, who was he to deny her such thing?

So without any notice, he forcefully thrust into her, piercing her painfully while he fully sheathed himself in her, revelling on the feeling for a moment.

Akeno silently screamed, the huge amount of pain she just felt sending her to the very first orgasm of the night, her mouth as wide as it could while tears of love fell from her eyes, feeling incredibly happy to finally be one with the man she loved. The fact that he was indulging in her masochistic desires was also making her love him even more, more so when she knew that he did not entirely liked to treat her so harshly but even so, he was willing to do as she wished, willing to compromise.

Naruto did not gave her any moment to get accustomed to his size, the draconic male immediately setting the pace at a fierce speed, her blood, juices and tears spilling all over the place as he relentlessly pounded her.

Akeno then moaned loudly when she felt him grabbing her breasts by her swollen nipples, roughly pulling them towards him while his nails dug into her soft flesh. She whined a little when he took his penis out of her but she couldn't voice her retort when she was suddenly turned to her belly, moaning loudly again when he penetrated her without any announcement.

Naruto growled while he kept pounding her from above, using a little bit of wind chakra to augment his speed while he repeatedly spank the woman on both ass-cheeks, Akeno cooing happily as she tightly grabbed the grass below them, her mouth almost eating the dirt since her face kept burying in the ground due to the sheer power of her mate's thrusts.

Naruto absentmindedly heard the first firework going off behind him, making him remember that Akeno wanted to see them, so he snaked an arm below her belly and lifted her body up, bringing it close to his, forcing his penis even deeper within her, "Look Ake…" He whispered while he turned them around, the woman now able to face the village, "Look at the fireworks."

Akeno opened her eyes a little, just barely able to recover from the second orgasm she just had. She smiled goofily when she saw a firework going off, moaning loudly later when Naruto started thrusting again, she now sitting on his lap with her back tightly pressed against his chest, his hands squeezing her breasts while she held one with her left as the right one teased her sore clitoris.

Naruto could feel that the woman was close to losing consciousness, she was getting heavier in his arms and could barely even see. Thankfully, he was close too so wanting to send her off, he sunk his canines on her neck, Akeno screaming loudly while her vagina gripped him in a grip he's never felt anyone else do, immediately milking his semen.

"A-Argh… aaaa…" Akeno couldn't even think, all she could feel was how her lover's seed flooded her womb, her vagina working overtime to consume as much as it could before it had to spill it, not capable of taking in much more. The sensation of his teeth sunk into her neck while he channelled addicting amounts of essence in her was making her orgasm incredibly painful, her heart almost about to stop, just like she fucking loved it.

 **END LEMON**

Naruto panted a little before he felt Akeno going completely limp, her eyes closed and a happy smile adorning her face as she started to snooze, cooing inside his arms while she dreamily muttered, "I l-love you… N-Naruto…"

Naruto just chuckled while he tightened his hold on her, carefully moving his body towards a nearby tree, her still impaled with his penis, resting his back on the trunk once he finally reached it. He just grabbed his jacket and placed it atop of them, kissing Akeno's forehead lovingly as he muttered, "I love ya too, baby." He focused on the fireworks still going off above them, feeling really happy at the moment.

* * *

"Fire Style: Great Fire of Annihilation!" Sasuke screamed before he placed a hand in front of his mouth, his thumb and forefinger touching each other as they formed a circle through which Sasuke blew and an insane amount of fire was created, burning the grass before him.

The last loyal Uchiha landed after his attack, sweat running down his forehead while he panted heavily, feeling almost all of his chakra drained after using Madara Uchiha's legendary technique. He cursed under his breath when he saw that despite pouring almost all he had in that attempt, with his curse mark activated as well, the attack could barely reach the hotness of one of Naruto's natural fire attacks.

"It's n-not enough…" The blackette muttered while he punched the ground in frustration, his teeth tightly grinding against each other as he felt incredibly angry by the reminder of how weak he was in comparison to Itachi, "No matter how much we've trained… how much I've trained… he's still so far ahead…" He added while he closed his eyes and aimed his face down.

He was not weak, he knew that well, only the jōnin of the village were stronger than him. There was no genin nor chūnin that surpassed him, well, Naruto surpassed him, but he was proud to know that only by a little.

When it comes to raw power, no matter how much the Uchiha will try, he knew well that he will never be able to surpass Naruto in that area. His silver-haired brother was a true power-type or as Kakashi has put it, Naruto was the embodiment of Fire: fierce, relentless, untameable and absolutely devastating.

But that didn't depressed the Uchiha because he had a different talent that matched Naruto's, and that was finesse. Just as Kakashi also put it, Sasuke was the embodiment of Lightning: quick, precise, dazzling and lethal. Sasuke's main tactic against his brother was guerrilla-style fighting, he will wait for the right moment and when the silverette least expected it, the Uchiha delivers a crippling blow. It wasn't something he fell very proud of, but it worked, and in this sort of job, that was all that matter.

But even so, neither Naruto's overwhelming-style nor Sasuke's precise-style had any effect on the Uchiha killer, both of them getting the absolute shit kicked out of them days ago by Itachi himself, and that anger Sasuke to no end.

He was no longer the murderous ninja wanting nothing more than avenge his clan and kill the one responsible for their massacre, he has grown past that and had other dreams, other goals now. But he still wanted to bring Itachi to justice, killing him will bring nothing, will solve nothing, but putting him under true justice, will at least give the elder Uchiha some time to really come to regret what he'd done, if he was even capable of that.

Sasuke wasn't stupid either, he knew that despite Jiraiya making it easier for him to control Orochimaru's seal, he could still feel the curse trying to take over, to entice him to grow stronger by any means necessary. He might have listened to that voice back when he was more vindictive, but he was wiser now and when one day that voice told him that only Orochimaru could make him stronger, that's when he knew that it would do no good for him to listen to said voice.

He knew that Orochimaru could definitely make him stronger, there is no doubt of that and surprisingly, Kakashi himself told him so, but he also warned him that whatever he chose to do, Orochimaru was only looking out for himself and the price for easy power, usually outweighed the benefits. He also warned him that if he ever defects, Kakashi, as his teacher, will chase him down and bring his ass back himself.

Sasuke just chuckled back then and said that he knew that well, not to say what Naruto would do, probably chase him down all over the world if necessary. And because of that loyalty, Sasuke couldn't help but reluctantly admit that that's why he loved him, because no matter what, Naruto will always see him as his brother, and the Namikaze will always be Sasuke's brother as well.

The sound of someone landing behind him suddenly broke his brooding time, as Naruto so jokingly puts it, making the Uchiha turn behind to see the other person he surprisingly held close to his heart, Sakura Haruno.

It may be a shock to everyone, but Sasuke actually liked the female. Despite her early annoying self and that he barely stand her back when they were younger, she has grown to become a reliable comrade, strong and caring friend, someone he actually considered as the strongest candidate to be the one that helps him restore his clan, much to his silver-haired brother amusement since he seized every chance he got to tease him about it, being the only one on the know regarding his feelings for her.

"H-Hey Sasuke." The girl greeted him with a small shy smile, a slight blush on her cheeks as she walked calmly towards him.

Sasuke did not smiled widely, but he shocked her when his lips tugged upwards ever so slightly, nodding as he said, "Sakura."

The girl staggered back a little, really surprised to see such uncharacteristic warm welcome, more so when he specifically called her here to his home, confusing her because Naruto was not in the village at the moment and he rarely spend time with anybody unless his brother was with him. But she was not going to waste this chance to be with him alone, she may not be the fan-girl she used to be, but she still had feelings for him and she was now sure that they were honest.

So the pinkette shook her head and recovered a little bit of confidence, inquiring while her toes made circles on the ground, "S-So… you n-needed something?"

Sasuke sighed as he observed the girl, he knew that she was confused and he couldn't blame her since it was really weird of him to request for her. But something was eating at the Uchiha, he couldn't really tell what but there was a little ominous voice in the back of his head that was telling him to enjoy his life as much as he could, something was looming and he could feel it.

Hence why he decided to take Naruto's advice and spend time with their female teammate, if not in a regular date, at least as something that was the most comfortable for him, a training session, "Yes Sakura, I…" He struggled a little as an almost unnoticeable blush reached his cheeks, continuing while he turned his head to the side, avoiding her piercing green orbs, "I wanted to know if you… wish to train with me… today."

Sakura was aghast, completely caught off guard by her crush's words. She could not believe how excited and happy she was feeling right now, it was almost a dream come true since she knew exactly what training for the Uchiha meant, it was his way of bonding, just like Naruto's. That is exactly how she came to love the Namikaze, by training with him and learning to read him, that Sasuke was now giving her the chance to do the same with him, was certainly sending the pinkerette to cloud nine.

The Haruno shook her head and gulped a little, smiling widely while a determined fire burned within her, replying fervently, "O-Of course!"

Sasuke just snorted before he nodded his head towards the other side of the field, where his fire technique did not damaged the soil. Sakura immediately fell into step and walked side by side with him, eager to bond with her crush.

Sasuke for his part just looked up front, the foreboding voice now louder than before, making Sasuke sigh as he hoped that nothing happens that will destroy his new life, one that he was quite happy about with his brother, father figure and romantic interest. But he knew that life was cruel and when it strikes, the only way to survive was to be strong, as strong as you could.

* * *

"Soooo…" Naruto said as he walked coolly with both of his hands resting behind his head, strolling right next to his team as they all made their way towards the Hokage's office, "What'cha think the Princess wants us fou?" He finished while he scratched his nose tip.

Sakura pinched his elbow slightly, the silverette whining as she chided, "Naruto, be respectful to Lady Fifth."

Kakashi just chuckled as his students started bickering between each other again, his mind then focusing on what his leader may want. Though it was clear that they had a mission since their vacation was over, he didn't know whether the Senju heiress was going to send them to a high rank mission or a low rank. But with his team's luck, he knew that it really didn't mattered since chances were that regardless of the rank, their mission will surely turn into a mess.

The three teens stopped their arguing when Kakashi opened the door to Tsunade's office, the woman already waiting for them there as she nodded in greeting, the silver-haired jōnin bowing respectfully before he said, "Team Seven reporting for duty, ma'am."

The busty woman smiled a little, saying, "Good to have you back."

Naruto smiled, stating excitedly, "Yo! Princess! Are you gon send us kick someone's ass or what!?" He whined later though, as Sakura bumped him slightly on the head, muttering rude words to him under her breath.

Tsunade just snorted, saying, "I can only get used to this disrespect of yours, right?…" The ex-blond smiled goofily while he nodded, Tsunade not capable of stopping the smile from showing as she enjoyed the youngster's antics. But once she focused on business, her face completely fell and added, "But yes, I am sending you to a mission, your very first official A-rank, S-rank even."

Team Seven widened their eyes at that, completely shocked to hear the blonde Hokage saying that as they would be the first genin team in history to receive an S-rank, not even during times of war had it happened.

Kakashi feeling extremely worried, said, "L-Lady Tsunade… I d-don't feel too comfortable with this."

Tsunade sighed, her face relaxing a little as she showed how worried she truly was as well, but recuperating a little bit of her stern demeanour, she explained, "I know and trust me, if there was another way, I would do it, but this mission requires two specific things, a small team with the ability to face an army and capable of overthrowing a dictator, and a team that can go relatively unnoticed."

Team Seven all gasped after they heard the woman, even more shocked than before as Sakura whispered a question, "O-Overthrow a dictator?…"

Tsunade nodded, saying, "That's right…" She sighed, leaning back on her seat to begin, "Do any of you know the situation in the Land of Moon?"

The genin didn't know about it, well, Naruto did heard something about it thanks to Rosalia's latest report, but he couldn't say that he did otherwise he would raise a lot of questions of how a mere genin had such information, so he decided to remain quiet and instead, focused on his father as he nodded slightly and replied, "I've heard some things, there was a coup and a group of missing nin took control of the country, right?"

Tsunade nodded, adding, "That is the gist of it, but allow me to elaborate further…" She leaned on and rested her elbows on her desk, her chin accommodated on her folded hands as she continued, "A year ago, King Molt Sol Augustus was assassinated by the order of one of his royal councillors, Shabadaba…" She inhaled, "The traitor hired a group of missing nin and managed to turn half of the military on his side, succeeding in assassinating the King…" The genin raised their eyebrows in surprise, "The King still had heirs left, three children, the eldest named Zorzal, the second son named Diabo and the youngest girl named Piña Co Lada…" Naruto snickered, silencing immediately when Tsunade aimed a harsh glare at him, "Zorzal apparently tried to regain control of the country by force, but he was killed by the missing nin that once the two remaining heirs disappeared, killed Shabadaba as well and took the crown for themselves."

"Bunch of backstabbing bitches." Naruto muttered while he shook his head slightly, this type of situation were the ones that made his path to global understanding so difficult as he didn't really knew when someone might betray him.

Kakashi digested the information, saying, "So you're sending us to overthrow this false King?" His voice was full of reluctance.

Tsunade nodded, responding, "Yes and I know it's an incredibly tall order and unfair to ask you, but you're the only people we have with actual experience on the subject, you already freed two countries…" Team Seven nodded a little, not capable of debating that, "I'm also sending you because you are the team that has enough power to do this, but are also capable of going unnoticed easily…" She narrowed her eyes, adding sternly, "No one can know of our involvement with this, if any of the other major countries see that some of our people freed another country, they will start to get nervous."

Kakashi just sighed, still not feeling comfortable at all but he couldn't really argue anything, his leader's reasons were sound and even if they weren't, she was the boss, they were her tools to use as she saw fit. So seeing no other way and feeling the excitement of his genin who didn't seemed to mind this at all, surprisingly not even Sakura, he sighed and nodded, asking, "Who is our contact?"

Tsunade just sighed, knowing that she was asking too much of them but she couldn't trust such important mission to anybody else, "Your contact is the youngest child of the late King herself…" Team Seven were surprised by that, the Senju continuing, "Her mentor and guardian is an old friend of mine, he was the one that contacted me…" She leaned back a little before she spoke again, "One of you will meet the Princess in a bar at Todoro Port, on O'uzu Island, here are the exact details." She handed Kakashi a folder.

Kakashi gabbed the papers and nodded, stating, "As you wish, milady."

Tsunade then added with a stern tone, "According to my friend, the rebels themselves are feeling conflicted with who they want to follow, Diabo or Piña, listen to them, see their perspective, get their characters and then choose."

Everyone widened their eyes at that, Naruto saying unbelievingly, "Ya giving us control of the situation?"

Tsunade smirked a little, replying, "I am, as I said, you already have experience with this and if someone is capable of aiding the right person, that is you, Naruto." She smiled lovingly at the boy, hoping that he comes back safe so that she can have some time to be close to him, she has missed so much of his life, a mistake she will no longer continue doing.

Team Seven then surprised her when they all lit a fire in their eyes simultaneously, nodding determined before they saluted and made their way towards the gate of the village, it was a long ride to O'uzu and they needed to make way as soon as possible to avoid any further delay.

Tsunade turned her chair towards the window behind her, a hand placed on her chest, right above her heart, pleading to every god there was to take care of Kushina's boy. She knew that a lot of people will be angry at her for sending them towards such dangerous mission, but she was only doing what her sensei told her to do with those kids. They were high profile targets and no matter how much she tries to shield them, people will always be after them for one reason or another. The best course of action for them was to give them as much experience as it was possible, no matter how much it pained her to do so.

* * *

"D-Don't forget to take your extra rations of ramen, a-a-and your toothbrush…" Hanare dotted over Naruto as he stood before her with a scroll on his hand where he has stored everything he needed for his new mission, "You h-have to be presentable for when you meet this P-Princess."

Naruto smiled warmly at the woman, hugging her tight as he whispered, "Chill Ma, it's gonna be alright…" The woman sighed with her head buried in his shoulder, encircling him in a tight embrace as she nodded a little, "You gotta believe in us."

Hanare closed her eyes tight, hating this of being a stay at home woman. She could go back to the field since no one was telling her to stay in the house, but she found it more rewarding to focus on caring for her family, besides, she no longer had the gusto for the ninja life, she was over that now. But even so, seeing her family going into such a dangerous mission was making her fear greatly for them, "I d-do… is j-just…" She muttered, eyeing her lover while he stood by their side.

Kakashi just eye-smiled at her, saying while he caressed her cheek, "Don't worry Hanare, we will be fine."

Hanare sighed and relented, her eyes closed while she enjoy the warmth of her son for a little bit more before she released her hold and embraced her lover now, lowering his mask a little to give him a loving kiss, looking at the both of them to say, "You two come back home safe, okay?"

Both males nodded with a small reassuring smile and made towards the door, knowing that the other two members of Team Seven were probably already waiting for them at the gates.

Thought they were surprised when once Naruto opened the door, a brown-haired female stood before it, just about to knock. The woman had long hair tied in a lone ponytail, honey-coloured eyes and a fit figure. Hanare was confused by who the woman might be, but both Naruto and Kakashi knew that it was none other than Kushina Uzumaki, only wearing the henge that Tsunade used, it was the only way that the Uzumaki Princess could stroll around the village unnoticed.

"O-Oh…" Kushina muttered as she eyed her son, noticing that he was about to go on a mission since he and Kakashi were wearing mission gear. She had wanted to speak to him since it has been a week since she last saw him, she understood that they weren't close but she wanted to be near him as much as she could, she missed him a lot. So she had gathered her courage that day and went to look for him, but now that it appears that he is about to leave the village, her mood visibly deflated.

"Kushina?…" Naruto said surprised while his heart leapt some beats, not able to hold Minato's feelings quick enough to avoid it. But once he controlled those feelings, Naruto smiled at her and asked, "Waddup?"

Kakashi and Hanare stared at the woman from behind their son, both understanding what she wanted but decided to keep quiet. Despite Hanare's fear of losing Naruto to the red-head, she didn't really held any animosity towards her, she could understand how sad and desperate she must be feeling without a relationship with the silver-haired jinchūriki.

"W-Well…" Kushina stuttered, her hands fidgeting nervously while she looked at the ground, continuing, "I-I wanted to… s-see if you'd l-like some… ra-ramen…" She looked at him timidly, eyeing his clothes before she said depressed, "B-But I can see that y-you have a mission so… I-I w-won't be on your way."

The woman was about to walk away but Naruto stopped her by grabbing her by the arm, Kushina looking back at him a little surprised when he smiled reassuringly at her, Naruto placing a hand on her shoulder as he said, "Yeah, I'm about to leave but, don't worry, once I get back, I'll take ya out somewhere, aight?"

Kushina didn't knew if her son heard the same thing that she did, but she did blushed a little by the tenderness he was using with her, her heart jumping happily as she nodded with a small smile, replying, "I w-would like that."

Naruto just smiled and released her hand and shoulder, turning back to his father to say eagerly, "Aight then, let's go Pa!…" He balled his fist, a challenging smirk on his face as he declared, "We got another one to free!"

Kakashi just chuckled and kissed his lover's forehead before he nodded and bid Kushina goodbye as well, walking towards his so just as Kushina whispered, "B-Be careful."

Naruto looked at the woman and smiled reassuringly, a thumbs up aimed at her while he declared confidently, "Don't fret, we killers, baby!"

Kushina and Hanare chuckled as they observed the two men go their way, silence falling between them before Kushina looked at Hanare with a small smile and said politely, "W-Well, I won't disturb you anymore, have a good d-day."

Hanare though, stopped her again from leaving, Kushina a little surprised when she saw the honest and welcoming smile in Hanare's face as the blackette said, "Don't you want to come inside for a cup of tea? I know you might want to know more about Naruto."

Kushina's eyes started to water, shocked as she whispered, "Y-You… y-you w-would tell me about… h-him?…" She was honestly shocked by those words, she would've guessed that Hanare might feel some resentment towards her, but she could now see how wrong she was since Hanare's words were as honest as they get.

"Of course…" The woman replied with a reassuring smile, a gentle squeeze on Kushina's hand when she continued, "I understand you must be feeling very eager to know about him, and who am I to deny you such a thing?"

Kushina smiled sadly at that, her head down as she whispered wistfully, "H-His mother."

Hanare just sighed with a small smile, saying, "Yes…" She was not going to deny it at all of course, it was her rightful place, "But so are you…" Kushina looked back at her surprised, agape while the blackette continued, "It may be too late for you two to be mother and son, but there is nothing stopping you from becoming something more…" Hanare smiled widely after that, stepping aside as she urged the woman to walk inside the house, "So come on in, let's have some tea and I'll tell you all the embarrassing little things our boy has done."

Kushina took some time to recover from the happy shock she received, shaking her head before she giggled along with the woman, nodding fervently as she walked inside the Hatake home, eager to know every little detail she could of the boy who was once her son.

* * *

"Alright, time's up." Kakashi said to his genin as they all sat before him. They had arrived to O'uzu that morning and the silver-haired jōnin decided to give his team some hours of rest. He didn't really know what to expect from this mission but he knew that it was not going to be easy.

Ishidate's forces were spread throughout all of Moon, some of his men stationed even at the ports, like this one, so the risk of getting into a fight were high. They might be wearing a henge to conceal themselves but the feel of power still surrounded them, an experienced warrior who knew chakra well, could surely be capable of knowing that they were not normal.

Naruto smirked excitedly, saying, "Yeah baby, let's do this!"

Kakashi sighed as he said, "Now now, Naruto, calm down…" He focused on his son to question, "Do you remember everything that you must do?"

The other two genin watched as their silverette teammate nodded, saying in an all business tone, "Yes sir! I will henge myself as a twenty year old, walk into the 'Tipsy Bucket', search for a woman wearing a black leather jacket with a hoodie, she's supposed to be the Princess."

Kakashi nodded, adding, "Correct, you then have to discuss with her about anything, you cannot just walk in and pick her up, it will raise suspicion."

Sakura tilted her head at that, saying, "You mean that he should act like if he was flirting with her?"

Kakashi nodded, saying, "That's right, in fact, this is supposedly a test."

Naruto and his comrades lifted their eyebrows at that, the silverette asking, "What'cha mean?"

Kakashi sat on the edge of a desk, sighing while crossing his arms before he explained, "The Princess apparently wants to see if we are deceiving enough to aid them…" That confused the genin more, prompting the Hatake to say, "I really don't understand it completely either, but I would have to guess that she wants to see if we have the silver tongue required to sway their people, so she wants you, Naruto, to impress her. You are good with women, so get to her, throw a line and if you impress her, she will tell you to sit down, that will be her sign of agreement."

"Impress the Princess, huh?…" Naruto said while he smirked predatorily, thinking, _'Well, this could be fun…'_ Looking back at his father, hiding the excitement coursing through him at the chance of perhaps falling for someone else, he said, "Aight, I can do that, fou shou!"

Kakashi and the rest chuckled, the leader saying, "I know you can…" He straightened up then, looking at his son before he added, "She must be already there, so go and impress her, the quicker we do this, the less danger we'll find ourselves in."

Naruto nodded and after looking at his two teammates, delivering them a fierce smirk, the Namikaze made his way towards the door, trust in his seduction skills at an all-time high, he knew that he couldn't fail, he will not fail.

* * *

A beautiful red-headed female sat on a stool right before the bar, calmly drinking a glass of beer while she kept her eyes upfront, not wanting to look anywhere else since she knew that someone could recognise her as she barely disguised herself. She only fixed her head differently and put on more make-up than usual, not enough to look like a lady of the night, but enough to look flirtier.

Piña knew that she was taking a huge risk, even her brother tried to convince her to find another way to meet the Leaf-nin, but she wanted to be sure that they were capable of what they said they could do, toppling a dictator is difficult, more so when there is actually a good amount of people that support him. They needed someone to stage a not so violent take over, she didn't wanted more of her people's blood spilled.

So she came up with an easy solution, a flirting game. She was a beautiful woman, many men wanted her and many tried to impress her, some with words, others with gifts and a few even tried to kidnap her, but her father was always on the lookout and she was no push over-either. But since she's had so many suitors, she knew the game of seduction very well and something that might shock many, was that seduction was like a game of chess, of war, the most successful players, were the ones that only needed a handful of words and actions, nothing more. This was a perfect game to see if the ninja sent to help them, knew how to play the game of war well.

So far though, she has been hit on at least six times, from nice looking man to thuggish fellas, some ranging from being honest to totally creepy. But she herself had chakra and was a capable warrior, one of the best swordsmen of her country, so all it took for her to shut them up was a harsh glare. Though she now wondered if one of those men was their aid, if they were, she could say that she was feeling thoroughly disappointed.

Piña then sighed heavily, whispering to herself, "Thirty minutes more and I'm out of here…" She couldn't risk being here for too long, Ishidate had men stationed in the ports, it was too risky for her to be going around so nonchalantly, she could probably get away with it for some hours, but more than just a couple was a definite no no.

The red-headed Princess was about to sulk at the lack of interesting people but a hand poking her shoulder suddenly brought her face to her back, sighing at probably another disappointing effort. She was shut up however by the incredible specimen presented to her, a handsome blonde tall man, blue eyes that seemed to pierce through her very soul, he looked to be in his early twenties but there seemed to be something wrong with him, since he was panting and looking at her a little hopefully, "M-Miss…" He began, grabbing one of her hands pleadingly while he added, "Please help me, the woman that cheated o-on me is about to walk into this place and I don't w-want her to throw more insults at me, could you please, please, gift me with a kiss? Just to sell the idea that I have someone else."

Piña was a little stunned by the explanation, a little disappointed that this handsome man was apparently not interested in her. But the genuine mortification for his situation was clear and since she herself was wondering what it would feel to kiss him, she replied without even thinking, "S-Sure."

The man smiled warmly at that, making Piña blush at his sheer good looks before he brought her close to him, a hand on the small of her back while he captured her fiery lips in the most incredible and ferocious kiss she has ever been a part of.

 _'_ _M-My god…'_ Piña barely managed to think, her eyes tightly shut while her toes curled, both of her hands gripping the man's jacket tightly to not let go. There was a rush of something, she couldn't really put a finger on it, but she could easily say that it was the best sensation she has ever felt. It was a mere kiss, with some tongue included due to her own momentary lust, but it felt better than anything else, she could not understand how someone could ever cheat on this guy.

The man then gently released his hold on her, Piña still pushing her lips a little forward while a small whine escaped her lips, "N-Nooo…"

Naruto chuckled at the woman's face, almost lost in the sensation of having his divine essence poured into her. He knew that it might have been a dirty tactic to do it this way, but she wanted to be impressed and Naruto was a dragon, dragons never do a thing half-way.

Piña took some moments to recover, absentmindedly noticing that the door of the bar never opened, no one entered. Her eyes slowly surveyed the establishment, noticing that while there were some females, they were already here before the man appeared, meaning that there was no ex-girlfriend.

"Y-You…" She tried to berate him, but nothing rude could come out of her wet lips, she couldn't find anything to argue with the man that had literally stole a kiss from her.

Naruto just chuckled, a handsome devilish smirk on his face when he said, a tone full of confidence, "Sorry milady, but you have to understand my plight…" He moved his hands exaggeratedly, stating like a poet, "I've had this huge crush on you for the past fifteen seconds and I just had to do something about it."

Piña stared wide-eyed at the handsome man while her heart struggled to regain its regular pace, the woman suddenly blushing harshly while she moved her gaze to the side, avoiding the man as a small shy smile appeared on her face, thinking, _'T-This guy…'_ She could not believe how much the man affected her, it was unbelievable how fast her heart was going right now, signs of longing showing themselves stubbornly.

Piña inhaled a little, regaining some of her wit to whisper, "U-Umm… a-are you… i-interested in… a d-drink?"

Naruto just smirked, nodding while he sat next to the woman, the bartender giving him a pint while he smiled knowingly at the Namikaze, the silverette saying to the Moon Princess after he sipped his drink, "So, what's such a beautiful _Princess_ like yourself doing here?"

Piña finally recovered her confident self and smiled a little after she understood the man's words, really happy that he was indeed the ninja she was supposed to meet. She just breathed in before she locked her red eyes to his blues, replying, "Oh nothing much, just wanted to see if the _fire_ burned as bright as they say."

Naruto sniggered, shaking his head a little before he spoke, "And does it?"

Piña eyed him, still incredibly affected by his kiss, she couldn't get the feel of his lips out of her mind, her eyes almost shamefully roaming his magnificent frame. She shook her head a little, replying with a small honest smile, "More than I e-even thought."

Naruto smiled devilishly, leaning close to the woman's face as he whispered huskily, "Really, now?"

Piña blushed, her breathing ragged as she subconsciously brought her hand to his pants and gripped them, half-lidded eyes while she replied, equally huskily, "Y-Yes."

Just before Naruto could say anything else, the door of the bar was loudly opened, three man wearing military uniforms walking inside with a confident stride, looking around the bar before they caught a waitress, asking for a table.

Naruto was then surprised when Piña grabbed him forcefully by the collar of his shirt, locking her lips with his with such passion that it almost made Naruto a little submissive. He was about to return the kiss in kind when the woman stopped kissing him, hugging him tightly while she started nibbling his lobe, whispering with a hush, "They will recognise me if we stay here for too long."

Naruto silently nodded, his hands now roaming her waist, eliciting a moan from her while he whispered to her ear, "Then let's get out of here."

Piña moaned, her face red with embarrassment as she started wondering what was wrong with her, she was absolutely turned on right now, her body demanding her to let him have his way with her. So not really knowing whether she came up with the idea due to her sudden horniness or because there was no other option, she turned towards the bartender and said, "B-Bartender… _aaa_ … c-could you rent us a room?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow while a smirk continued to adorn his face, his mouth still kissing her neck as he let her do as she pleased. The bartender shared the youngster's knowing smile, nodding at Piña before he turned around and grabbed a set of keys, saying, "Enjoy your night."

Piña thanked the man before she grabbed Naruto's hand, hiding her face in his neck while she whispered, "Let's g-go."

Naruto just smirked, taking the woman towards the upper floor of the bar so that they could hide from the Moon soldiers. Though a part of him knew where the situation may take them, he really couldn't find himself to care at the moment, the Princess has somehow awaken his draconic lust and too bad for her, because it took a lot for it to disappear.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya lads have it! I hope it was to your liking, see ya on the next chap, cheers!**

 **Character List:**

Rosalia: SAO

Chifuyu Orimura: IS

Sakuya: SAO

Rin Asogi: Daughters of Mnemosyne

Tsukiumi: Sekirei

(I will add the rest when they actually appear in the story)


	27. The Dark Side of the Moon (Part 2)

**A/N: Yo waddup, squad fam! We're back!**

 **Completely forgot to add Piña to the list, I really just wanted to fricking post it. But she is from the Gate anime if anyone wants to put a face to her.**

 **Also, sorry for the erratic updates as of lately, but I am currently working on a project that I think you fellas will enjoy, so stay tuned!**

 **I really don't find anything else to say so let's get to it, enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **The Dark Side of the Moon (Part 2)**

Piña crashed her lips forcefully against Naruto's, the woman's hands roaming shamelessly all over his chest as she clumsily pushed him towards the room they rented, she repeating herself over and over again that it was all an act, that they had to be convincing, but her lies were quickly fading as the harsh truth of things was more present in her mind than seconds ago.

Naruto chuckled when she moaned after he caressed her incredible butt, probably the best one he's seen since Ayame's. The red-headed Princess was relentless, ferociously kissing him while he groped her, her moans making him act even more like an animal, he honestly didn't know what was going on with him, he was too fucking horny right now.

"Aren't ya too into this charade of ours, huh?" Naruto asked her with a teasing tone after Piña cupped his groin, the woman's lust filing his nostrils so much at the moment that it almost made him wish he couldn't smell at all.

Piña stopped for some seconds, face incredibly red as she seemed to realise how rash and lustful she was acting, as if in a moment of clarity. Hence why Naruto was so surprised when Piña opened the door to their room and lunged herself at him, her legs locked behind his back while he carried her weight by her butt, Piña saying with no clouded eyes, "I k-know but… I c-can't help it…" She moaned as her hips started grinding against his, seemingly acting on their own, "I h-have never felt l-like this with anyone…" She hid her face on his chest, whispering shyly with a whimper, "P-Please… d-don't stop…"

 **LEMON**

 _'_ _T-This… woman…'_ Naruto thought as he could feel his restraint going away. He knew that he should stop things, Ddraig had specifically warned him from the very start that he could not have casual sex, whoever gets exposed to his semen, gets bound to him forever. He should tell her that, he should warn her about the things that will change in her life, he should warn her about the ambition she would be a part of, he definitely should.

But he didn't.

He honestly didn't understand what was happening to him, he has never lost control of himself like this. But when he focused back on the woman, he was already pinning her on the bed, him on top of her while he shredded her clothes violently, the woman yelping and moaning as his hands cupped her perfectly shaped breasts, his eyes now red and angry since his draconic side was now at the driver's seat.

"P-Please…" Piña whimpered, not at all scared by the ominous eyes of her soon to be lover. She could not explain how this man was making her feel, it was the greatest sensation of her life, such rush was indescribable. But she wanted to see him, the true him, "D-Drop your i-illusion …" She pleaded while he assaulted her nipples, the male stopping to look at her shining eyes as she added submissively, "I w-want to see the real y-you when you f-fuck me."

Naruto smirked at the woman predatorily, Piña shivering delightfully as he upped his torso, his henge slowly fading to reveal that not much was different. The hair that used to be blond was now replaced by a beautiful shade of silver she's never seen before, the cute whisker-like marks on his cheeks were gone, his canines were longer and overall, he now looked much younger, "As you wish, my Princess."

Piña moaned when he finally took out his damn clothes, admiring his slightly lean but mesmerising torso, some scars here and there to show that he was someone with experience, both in and out of the bed. Her eyes then finally landed on his waist when his hands rested on the hem of his pants, the clothing disappearing in a flash and leaving a monster free, aiming straight at her.

"U-Uuuuuu…" Piña whined while her hips started humping on their own, almost as if trying to impale themselves at the presence of such magnificent tower.

Naruto smiled evilly, noticing how the woman seemed to be completely lost in her lust, just like him, "Suck it." He said commandingly, his voice incredibly powerful and almost divine in her ears.

Piña didn't know why, but she obediently moved towards him, crawling slowly until she was finally in front of her prize, licking her lips a little before she gave it a temptative kiss, her eyes twinkling excitedly when she opened her mouth wide and swallowed his penis eagerly, it wasn't long before she was gagging herself on it.

"Grr." Naruto growled as he started tracing his fingers sensually over the woman's spine, feeling her body shivering at his touch while her sucking became even more eager. He then smirked when he finally reached her pants and with a simple wind jutsu, he shredded them along with her panties, leaving her cunnie now fully exposed, almost pulsating in anticipation.

" _M-Mooouu…_ " The female mewled happily after she had to let go of his penis when she felt Naruto's fingers invading her vagina, pumping them, causing delicious tremors to assault her body before she managed the strength to return to her previous task of sucking him to completion.

It didn't take long for Naruto to feel her walls constricting his fingers, signalling that she had come, earning a grunt from him as he too released right inside her throat, the sounds of she struggling to drink all of his seed only serving to augment his already dangerous lust.

Piña finally managed to drink all of his seed, finding the taste not so good but not caring at all for that now, "E-Eeepp…" She yelped cutely when he was suddenly behind her, his hand burying her face on the mattress while the other one raised her hips until her butt clashed against his midriff, able to see his hard rock penis rubbing against her entrance from her vantage point.

Naruto did not asked anything, cocking his hips back a little until she herself guided him inside the Promised Land, both groaning in pleasure when he was fully sheathed within her.

"M-More…" Piña whined as she started thrusting her hips back to meet him half-way. She was not a newbie, she wanted him to be fierce with her, she didn't know why but her body was almost at sync with his animalistic side, no coherent thought crossing her mind at the moment.

Naruto complied with pleasure, augmenting the strength of his thrusts while he gritted his teeth, almost angry at this woman who dared play with the dragon, "F-Fuck…" He whispered when he felt her walls tightening around his penis, sending him into an even fiercer frenzy.

Piña was now practically lost in pleasure, her tongue was out, lolling around as she now bounced up and down on his member, Naruto now below her while he caressed her breasts.

"Grr!" Naruto growled again, this time a little louder after he repositioned himself on top of her, both of her legs tightly grasping his waist, not daring to let him go anywhere.

"F-Fuuuuck!" She screamed when she felt her third orgasm of the day hitting her like a rock, knowing exactly that she was not letting him go from her grip, she wanted him to finish inside her, she needed his seed. She knew it wasn't a good idea but, _'Fuuuuuuck it…'_

Naruto finally delivered the most powerful thrust of their little tryst, Piña's mouth as open as it could when she felt an insane amount of liquid pouring inside of her, almost making her lost consciousness out of the sheer pleasure the feeling brought.

 **END LEMON**

Naruto finally regained himself, panting a little, still above the woman, before he let his body fall beside her, his arm covering his eyes while he cursed himself for losing control like that, _'Fuck… I just bounded a woman to me without her fricking consent… way to go, Naruto…'_

Piña was of a similar state, wondering in her mind, _'W-What the hell happened?…'_ She absentmindedly traced her palm over her womb, as if sensing the man's sperm inside of her, _'It w-was too d-damn good…'_ She then looked to her side at the man resting, gulping before she said, "H-Hey…" Naruto looked at her, Piña loosing herself a little in his now back to blue eyes before she shook her head and questioned, "H-How… old a-are you?"

Naruto looked surprised for a little before he chuckled mirthlessly, covering his eyes again with his forearm before he replied, "That depends…" He could feel Piña's confusion, so he continued, "If you're asking for my real age, then I am nine years old…" Piña widened her eyes, not believing him for a second, "If you're asking for my human age, I am fourteen…" He the sighed after he lowered his arm to his side, staring at the roof before he finished, "And if you're asking for my accumulated age, I am thirty-six."

Piña stared shocked at the man, not really knowing whether he was lying or not, there was an unmistakable glint of honesty in his words, scaring her because she was so confused by everything that just happened, "W-What?…" She managed to mumble weekly.

Naruto just sighed again, knowing that he had messed up and now he could only deal with the consequences, after a short nap that is, "Rest…" He said before he closed his eyes, his breathing even as he added, "I will explain everything after we take some moments to rest, my team is still waiting for us and they will get worried if we don't meet them before dusk."

Piña just dumbly nodded, her eyes closing since she too was feeling really tired. She could even feel how her body moved closer towards him on its own, allowing sleep to claim her while she struggled to keep her questions away, at least knowing that after some minutes, everything will be answered to her.

* * *

"So, you have nothing?" Ishidate asked bored and a little annoyed while he observed from over his throne to one of his commanders who was kneeling right before the throne altar, Ishidate's two companions standing by his side, smug smirks on their faces.

The Commander gulped, his head bowed while he replied, "I-I'm afraid so, m-my lord…" He looked up a little to add, "The h-heirs, they don't seem to be i-in the island anymore."

"Are you betting your life on that?" A female spoke, a dangerous glint in her sadistic pink eyes when she aimed a palm towards the Commander, petals surrounding the man as she inquired.

The man gulped loudly, sweat running down his forehead since he knew that he could get killed by the sadistic child-like woman at any moment, so he wisely mended, "N-No, m-m-milady! I-I…" He inhaled deeply to continue, "U-Umm… I w-will continue looking w-with all of our f-forces."

The woman continued smiling, looking like a scary clown as she lowered her palm and the petals disappeared, the Commander releasing a relieved sigh before Ishidate spoke again, "Then stop wasting your time…" The orange-haired male leaned on his throne, a frown on his face when he continued, "We have gotten away with our little… topple… for quite a while now, I am sure that soon, the major countries will intervene, killing those damn heirs is the last thing we must do to establish our government for good."

The Commander nodded frightfully before he saluted and made his way out of the throne hall with haste, not wanting to anger his leaders more.

A tall and bulky man standing right beside Ishidate observed as the soldier ran off scared, commenting to the man in the throne, "What makes you think the major countries will intervene?"

The woman too looked at the orange-haired man, adding to her teammate's question, "Yeah, I mean, as long as we pay them their fees, they won't really care about us."

Ishidate laughed mirthlessly, his head shaking slightly while he muttered, "Oh Karenbana, Kongō, you have always been short-sighted…" He leaned back on his throne, his chin resting on his fist, "Good thing I'm the leader of this team of ours."

The woman named Karenbana narrowed her eyes at the man, asking in between gritted teeth, "Well enlighten us then, oh mighty King!"

Ishidate just laughed, waving his free hand as he said, "Alright, alright, calm down, you'll shrink even more…" He ignored the angered growl the woman sent at him in order to explain, "While the major countries are indeed greedy, money it's not the thing they want the most."

Both Karenbana and Kongō raised their eyebrows at that, confused, with the brutish man inquiring, "Then what is that they want the most?"

Ishidate chuckled, replying, "For things to remain the same…" Knowing that his companions were confused, the mastermind sighed and elaborated further, "The 'Great Five'… they want to remain a closed circle, they spend as much resources in trying to stop minor countries to turn into major ones as they spend them on themselves…" He inhaled, "The Land of Moon is still one of the richest countries and now that it has a leader that is a missing nin, the balance of things could change."

The brute still seemed to have trouble understanding, but the woman caught on to what her leader was saying, muttering, "Meaning that we could inspire more missing nin to take a minor country for themselves…" She smiled sadistically then, adding, "Can you imagine the chaos?"

At the word 'chaos', Kongō smiled stupidly, chuckling excitedly as he clashed one of his fists on a palm. Ishidate too chuckled, saying, "Indeed, it would be exhilarating…" He narrowed his eyes at the distance then, adding, "But our fun can be short if those damn heirs send for help."

Karenbana frowned at that, nodding frustrated while the buffed male stated with a gruffly voice, "Then I'll go and look for them myself…" He started walking down the throne, adding as he made his way, "I'll destroy the land if I have to."

Ishidate and Karenbana sighed, with the false King saying, "Just make sure to leave some things untouched…" He smiled evilly, adding, "We can't damage this land's re-sale value after all."

Kongō just smirked as he nodded, disappearing from sight moments after, leaving the false King and teammate alone as the woman inquired, "What do we do if they already have help?"

Ishidate seemed to think about it for some moments, genuinely considering the threat. He knew it would be foolish to think that the heirs were going to fight them on their own, Diabo may be a reckless and arrogant fool, but Piña was not. Seeing nothing else, he just smiled and replied, "Well, if they do, we fight…" He then locked his eyes to the woman's to continue, "And if we fall, we make sure to go with a bang."

Karenbana's smile couldn't get any wider after those words, nodding fervently as she waited for some action with excitement, eager to see what sort of chaos they could unleash on this new challenge presented to them.

* * *

Piña stared blankly at Naruto while he stared back nervously, studying everything her face showed, which was not much. The redheaded female for her part struggled a little to digest everything that was just informed to her, it all sounded so surreal.

 _'_ _L-Let's recapitulate…'_ She thought, biting her lip a little, _'H-He's the famed Dark Swordsman, just the man I wanted for this… b-but… he's not human…'_ She started locking her red eyes to the man's beautiful blues, as if trying to see his bare soul, _'He's a dragon… a god… a-and I… I a-am now his…'_ She started shivering a little, seemingly afraid of her future now that it was revealed that she just bounded herself to him for eternity, _'H-Hell… I am i-immortal now…'_ She honestly didn't know what to think of the situation right now.

"S-So?…" Naruto whispered, the nervousness of the man clear as day since she has taken quite some time to answer.

Piña definitely felt surprised to see him nervous, since she was now bounded to him and he could apparently make her do as he wanted, seeing him nervous did alleviated her somewhat as it showed that he was not so bad. Still, she finally spoke, "I-If you help my people…" She gulped a little, looking down at the bed and her still naked body, "Y-You may do to me as you w-wish… I a-am yours…" She knew she sounded reluctant, but she was reluctant. He seems nice and has treated her well all this time, but looks can be deceiving, more when the person has such amount of power.

Naruto sighed heavily after he heard her answer, noticing her fear and uncertainty spilling into her quivering voice, _'Great job Naruto, you definitely did it this time…'_ He admonished himself, still not knowing what the hell took over him that completely bypassed his control over himself, "Don't say it like that…" He spoke, a small unamused chuckle escaping his lips before he continued, "You make me sound like a villain." He smiled tenderly at her, trying to ease her worries a little.

Piña did looked back at him, a small smile managing to form on her sexy lips, finding herself feeling swayed by the man's attitude, "I-I'm sorry… I… I-I j-just don't know what to say."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair while sighing, saying after, "You shouldn't worry so much, I am not going to force into anything you don't want…" He looked at her straight at her eyes, "I actually have to apologise, I don't know why the hell I lost mahself so badly back there…" He looked down, "I should've stopped it, warn you beforehand…" He then looked back at her, genuine regret in his eyes as he finished, "I am sorry."

Piña was taken aback by the honesty he was showing, making her realise that he was not a bad man, just young and still not fully capable of controlling himself. Now a little calmer, she said with a small smile, her hand resting on his knee, "L-Let's talk about this after w-we free my country, p-please?"

Naruto smiled at her, nodding while he replied, "Yeah, that sounds good…" He got off the bed then, walking towards their clothes and after he handed Piña's hers, he said, "My team will get worried if we take much long."

Piña just nodded, grabbing her clothes and donning them before she made her way to follow the man towards his team. She was definitely afraid, confused and uncertain, but she could see that Naruto was not a bad guy, _'W-We'll see…'_ She thought with a sigh, focusing her mind completely into freeing her country, it was the most urgent thing right now and thankfully, they had just landed the help of the Dark Swordsman himself, her apparent new mate.

* * *

"Umm…" Piña mumbled as she took the Leaf-nin towards the complicated path that leads to her movement's headquarters. It has been two days since she and Naruto slept together and immediately after they had dressed, they made their way to his team and did not wasted any time to get a boat and travel to the Land of Moon's mainland, everyone knowing that time was of the essence. She was thankful for the all business demeanour that Naruto was wearing right, since it allowed her to think their situation a little clearer, "I apologise in advance for my brother." She said, a small apologetic smile aimed at the four masked figures walking behind her.

"Why?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow, eyeing her teammates while she inquired.

Piña just looked at the front, saying after a small chuckle, "Diabo is quite… stubborn…" She sighed, adding, "He is not happy at all with receiving your help."

Kakashi just sighed, commenting, "Is it going to be a problem?"

Piña could now see the abandoned bunker that served as their base, walking inside and nodding at the two soldiers stationed there that immediately saluted at her and her companions, "He's going to try to make it a problem…" She looked at them over her shoulder, her eyes lingering on Naruto a little longer before she concluded, "I'll make sure he behaves."

The Leaf team all nodded at her as she led them to a room where three people awaited for them, a tall blond man, a buffy grizzled-haired male and a black-haired man, all looking intently at the newly arrivals.

Piña nodded at the men working for her cause, looking at the Leaf-nin to introduce them, "Leaf ninja, this is my mentor and shield, Grey Co Aldo…" The grizzled-haired male nodded at them with a smile, "This is our most trusted Commander and leader of our military forces, Korega…" The black haired male nodded sternly. Piña then looked at her annoyed brother and said after a sigh, "And this is my brother dearest, Diabo."

Diabo scoffed, not at all impressed when he said, "Why the masks? Too ugly for public appearance?" He smirked smugly when he heard the angry growl coming off from his sister.

The Leaf-nin didn't showed anything, though Naruto being Naruto, did not liked when somebody acted all smug, so shrugging nonchalantly, he shot back, "You didn't wanted people to know that you received outside help, aight Sir Dumbass? Showing our already known faces to everyone will just serve as the opposite."

Everyone but Diabo sniggered at the young man's words, Diabo stating in between gritted teeth, "You damn brat."

Before her brother could say anything more, Piña quickly intervened, her tone cold and authoritarian as she spoke, "That's enough Diabo, you're the one acting like a brat…" Diabo just growled at her slightly but remained silent as she continued, "The Leaf does not want anyone to know they're helping us, so they will use masks to cover their faces during their stay here."

The Moon men nodded at her, with Grey saying with a smirk, "Tsunade doesn't want to tickle the other four major countries, huh?"

Kakashi nodded, saying, "Indeed, two countries have already had a change of government with the aid of the Leaf, adding another one will just set off alarms."

Diabo placed his palms on the table, leaning on a little as he said warningly, "As long as you stay away from our throne, I don't care, this is our land, not yours."

The Leaf-nin just nodded, no one commenting anything since none wanted to deal with the annoying heir. Piña just sighed then, looking at their help, "With that set, let's start explaining the situation…" She looked at the table before her, where a miniature of their land was built, and added, "As I explained back in O'uzu, this situation is different, a hostile takeover will not do any good to us."

"How so?" Sasuke asked since Piña only said that without explaining anything.

Grey sighed, taking over for is charge, "Differently from Wave and Spring, here, the people are too afraid to even lift a finger against Ishidate."

The Commander of Moon's forces then added, "Not to say, that all the military stands with him."

Naruto sighed, asking, "Why? I would guess that people will want freedom."

Piña frowned when she elaborated, "Because everyone's too afraid to do anything and he has the support of most noble houses…" She narrowed her eyes while she added, "Plus, Ishidate has a special gauntlet that somehow petrifies whatever he touches."

"Everyone who's ever tried anything against him, stands petrified at the entrance of the castle…" Diabo added before he balled his fist in anger, saying after, "Including our elder brother."

Kakashi massaged his chin in thought, saying after some moments of silence, "So if I understand correct, you don't want us to take the throne back by force because most people will fight us back out of fear for Ishidate, correct?…" The Moon people nodded at the assessment, "So the thing here is to convince the people to fight back."

Naruto looked at his father as Sasuke inquired, "But how are we doing that if everyone's too scared to move?"

Kakashi sighed, not liking what his mind came up with but being in a situation where time was a priority, there was nothing else he could come up with, so said, "Before the shinobi era, there was a tactic that the old Warring Clans used to not only destroy their enemies numbers, but also their courage…" He looked at the people gathered, adding, "It was referred to as 'Preying'."

Everyone but Grey seemed to be confused by those words, none of them knowing what the Leaf jōnin was saying, Piña asking, "What does that means?"

Naruto seemed to recall a little bit of his studies, tilting his head while he spoke, "You mean the one in which they killed the lieutenants first?"

Diabo scoffed at that, stating angrily, "If you can kill Karenbana and Kongō so easily, why don't you just kill Ishidate as well?"

Grey scratched his chin, saying to Diabo a little annoyed, "Use your brain for once, kid…" He paid no mind to Diabo's curses as he understood what Kakashi was implying, "The army will still protect him and we'll only end up killing our own comrades and we want to avoid that as much as we can…" The man smirked at the Leaf leader, saying, "This tactic is perfect."

Piña, a little irritated by not being in the know, said, "Well can you explain to us what this tactic is!?"

Kakashi chuckled, scratching his scruff sheepishly as he said, "To put it simple, we assassinate Ishidate's most important people, in this case his lieutenants, but we do it in a way that sends a message, to both Ishidate and your people."

Sasuke nodded, finally understanding, "We let the people know that they are not untouchable."

Sakura then added, "And Ishidate knows that we're coming for him."

"More importantly, that we can touch him." The military's Commander commented as he nodded, now understanding as well.

Piña nodded too, now on the know, asking, "Then how do we do this?"

Before Kakashi could answer, a soldier came running through the door, catching his breath as he announced, "S-Sorry! But we receive a m-message from the western post, it a-appears that there is a search team being led by Kongō himself!"

Everyone just stared at the soldier before Grey chuckled excitedly, stating, "Seems like we just got our first chance."

Kakashi just nodded and said, "Indeed…" He turned towards the soldier, saying, "Take us there and tell us everything you have to on the way."

The soldier seemed a little lost at taking orders from the strange masked man, but seeing that none of his real superiors said anything and in fact seemed to be listening to the man instead, he nodded and started leading them towards the western post in haste, knowing that there was no time to lose.

* * *

Piña awaited nervously inside an abandoned bunker in the western side of her land, a small group of her men guarding her as they all showed the same nervousness than her.

She was instructed by Kakashi to act as bait to lure one of Ishidate's teammates into attacking her, the very man leading the search party currently looming some metres away from her. It was a highly risky plan she knew, since she was not strong enough to deal with Kongō by herself, the man was capable of fighting dozens of soldiers at the time. Though now that she had some of the so called essence in her, she wondered if she could.

But she rid her mind of reckless thoughts, she had to stick to the plan otherwise it may fail, the lives of her people were at stake here, "We can't fail…" She muttered to her nervous men who paid attention to her the moment she spoke, "This is for our home, remember that." She encouraged them with a dazzling smile, surprising herself at how good she was with hiding her true emotions.

Her men seemed to have gathered some courage after they saw their leader so ready and confident, all of them nodding and hardening their eyes, waiting for the inevitable confrontation that is to come.

Piña and her men didn't had to wait long, as suddenly, a loud bang was heard coming from the other side of the bunker, a cocky and gruffly voice taunting loudly, "Hahaha! Come out and play, Princess! I know you're here…" The sound of his men walking into the bunker followed before he added, "Your sweet scent is something I cannot forget."

Piña shivered in disgust at the lusty tone the brute used, wondering if it was the side effects of being bounded to someone, therefore making every other man seem creepy and horrendous, or just because she genuinely found the muscle-brain creepy as a whole.

Whichever the reason though, the woman named after the famous drink turned towards her men, stating with a confident tone, "This is it, this is where we begin our country's liberation! Let's show them all!"

Her men responded in kind, roaring before they charged forward, purposefully avoiding Kongō as they allowed him way towards their Princess.

Piña was thankful for once that Kongō was a mere brute, not capable of thinking beyond where will he punch next, because any intelligent warrior would've noticed the trap as he confidently made his way towards her, a cocky grin on his face when he spoke while smashing his fist on his palm, "Well Princess, I knew you would come out sooner or later…" He leered, readying a jump towards her after he added, "Let me break that gorgeous face of yours!"

Piña was able to dodge the jump, but lost her footing a little after the man hit the ground, impressively making the room shake. She was quick enough to recover however, unsheathing her sword and sending a slash at the man's back, managing to scratch a little before he jumped away.

"Arg!…" Kongō whined while he shook his body, his smirk returning when he commented, "You managed to land a hit, how daring." He jumped at her again, a sadistic look on his face at all times.

Piña cursed, using a little bit of her chakra to augment her body's strength and jump away fast enough, cursing Naruto a little since he forbade her to use much chakra as her control over her new power was almost null.

Piña landed some steps away from Kongō, the man growling angrily, saying, "Stay still, you bitch!" With impressive skill, the man moved his lower body and somehow managed to kick Piña on the gut, sending her skidding back some metres until she crashed against the wall.

"Argh!" Piña whined, the pain of smashing against the wall making itself known while the man leered slowly towards her with his sadistic smirk in place. She supressed a smirk of her own however, when she noticed a small white lizard crawling over the brute's clothes, quickly making its way towards the man's neck.

Kongō laughed victoriously, almost within arm's reach of the Princess as he declared, "You had your fun, now I'll have mine, with my fists and your face!…" The man was about to hit the woman but he suddenly yelped, feeling something pinching his neck, "What the h…" He became dizzy all of a sudden.

Before he could finish the sentence however, a shadow appeared behind him, a kunai in hand aimed straight at the man's back. But shocking Piña, despite being dizzy, Kongō still sensed the attack, managing to move his head away from the stab and twisting his arm to catch his attacker, a smirk on his face when he looked at the masked figure, "Ja! Thought you could get the best of me that ea-easy, huh!?" His voice was a little shaky, but he still seemed as imposing as ever.

Before Piña could get up and do anything, she was surprised when the masked ninja looked straight at Kongō's eyes, the familiar form of the infamous sharingan appearing in the eyes of the figure for a second, stunning Kongō greatly.

The large man staggered a little, whispering surprised, "T-The s-shar…" He couldn't finish his sentence though, since a kunai was imbedded into his skull, another masked figure appearing behind him, seizing his distraction to deliver the killing blow.

"Good job." Kakashi whispered to Sasuke as he removed the kunai from the now dead Kongō, observing as his other two students walked into the room, their jobs seemingly finished.

"Do you need medical attention, Princess?" Sakura asked the redheaded woman while she helped her up.

Piña massaged her sore back, a small smile when she replied, "N-No, it's alright thank you, a hot shower will do…" She looked towards the figure she knew was Naruto, asking, "M-My men?"

Naruto smiled behind his mask, replying, "They're alright…" He pointed over his shoulder, where sounds of men talking to each other could be heard, "They're binding all of the soldiers we knocked out, though, there were four casualties, all from Ishidate's side."

Piña just sighed, her eyes casted down as she mourned their deaths for some moments, saying after she looked at Kakashi, "Now what?"

Kakashi and Sasuke picked Kongō up, Naruto walking towards them before he took a scroll out and placed it before the dead man, Kakashi and Sasuke lowering the body of the man and Naruto sealing it inside the scroll after he was on the ground, picking the scroll up and keeping it on his pocket.

"The next part will be done by me and my team, your part is done…" Kakashi said before he looked at the woman, an eye-smile visible on his mask as the jōnin added, "You should go and rest, trust me, you'll know soon what the next part of the plan is."

Piña felt really confused by those words, but a quick glance at Naruto made her relent, her mate silently telling her to just do as he said and let the rest to them, "A-Alright, just be careful." She said after some moments, eyeing at all the ninja who nodded back at her in understanding.

Piña started making her way towards her men, her eyes staying with Naruto for some moments before she disappeared from the room, her voice now blending with the voices of her men down at the entrance of the bunker, ready to make their way back to their headquarters.

"Let's do this then." Kakashi ordered his team while he too made his way out of the bunker, the next part of their plan now in motion.

"Yo bro…" Canym whispered inside Naruto jacket, an angry tone on his even higher pitched voice that came with his miniature form when he added, "You better not make me fight like this again! It's degrading!"

Naruto spoke back in a hushed tone, hoping that his team wouldn't listen to their conversation as they travelled through the woods, "Shut it, Junior! I told ya! Amma get ya some nice fishes after this, I promise!"

Canym's anger disappeared immediately, the small lizard wiggling excitedly as he made his way back to Naruto's pocket, whispering something about being treated as the king he was.

Naruto just snorted, muttering lowly, "Some King you are…" He then focused on the task at hand, his mind now completely on game since he knew that the true test was about to begin, Ishidate will now be aware that they're coming for him and while it will put him under pressure, forcing him to make mistakes, a mad ruler with paranoia tended to do a lot of damage to the people, Naruto just hoped that at the end of the fight, the casualties tally can be kept at the minimum.

* * *

"Make way for your majesty!" A guard screamed to the gathered crowd as he and his fellow guardsmen led their King towards the beheaded statue of the late King Augustus that was erected in the city's town square, murmurs of the citizens getting even louder as they observed their usurper walking towards the thing that attracted them all.

"Well…" Karenbana muttered as she stared at the statue, genuine shock showing on her face when she continued, "Didn't see this coming."

Ishidate just narrowed his eyes, managing to keep the slight panic that took his body hostage as he witnessed the body of Kongō, beheaded just like Augustus' statue. The false King walked a little closer to the corpse, the head of Kongō hanging at the side of the body, lingering by a rope, "What?…" He muttered when he noticed the letters written above his body on a big cartel, "Not so untouchable now, 'King'?…" He read aloud, dazed as the words started to make sense in his mind. Ishidate's eyes lit up with fury then, turning around to the gathered people to scream, "Who did this!?"

The people of the city just shied away from their King's mad eyes, no one knowing what to do or say since they all knew how volatile the usurper was. Karenbana noticing how Ishidate was starting to act paranoid, decided to intervene before he started making mistakes that may cost them later, "Ishidate…" She whispered harshly at his ear, the man looking at her over the corner of his eyes when the female continued, "Stop, you're making it worse."

Ishidate inhaled deeply a couple of times, realising his mistake. He nodded at Karenbana and swiftly recovered his confident demeanour, knowing that at this very moment, him appearing weak could spark a flame of rebellion in the people, "Clean this mess up and make sure you search for any clue…" He started ordering his men, adding as he made his way back to the castle, "Whoever did this will pay slowly." He made sure to say it aloud so that the people returned to their regular frightened-selves.

Karenbana felt a little alarmed when she saw how the people did got scared again, but not as much as they used to do before this, "This is bad." She whispered to her leader while she walked beside him.

"This is exactly what those damn heirs want…" Ishidate stated, his eyes up front, confident and unwavered, "But this is not their work."

Karenbana was confused at that, inquiring, "What do you mean? You just said that this is what they wanted."

Ishidate sighed, replying, "Yes, but they've had plenty of time and opportunities before to assassinate one of us, they only didn't because they couldn't, not even Grey can do something like this."

The female finally seemed to see where the tall man was going, stating, "Meaning that they got help."

The false King nodded, adding, "Probably from one of the Great Five…" He gritted his teeth, cursing under his breath before he said, "Damn those bastards, I knew they weren't going to let this go, not with those two heirs still alive."

Karenbana just lowered her gaze, lost in thought for a moment, trying to come up with a solution, but alas, there was none, things were going to get very difficult for them now, "What do we do now?"

Ishidate balled his fists, saying, "We hunt them down, they want us to feel cornered, it won't work if we corner them first…" He looked at his remaining teammate over his shoulder, ordering, "Don't stray too much from the castle, if I am correct, you will be targeted next, so be alert at all times…" He then aimed his eyes back up front, to the castle, finishing while he and the woman with their guards crossed the gates, "Whoever did this, knows what they're doing, this is no longer going to be easy."

Karenbana just nodded dumbly, still confident of their triumph, but now a looming feeling in her gut, trying to overtake her confidence with fear and anguish, because while Kongō was without question the easiest to get out of the three of them, he was still the strongest, taking him down was without a doubt, no easy feat.

* * *

"W-What?" Piña asked weakly as she stared agape at the soldier who just barged in the war room. She, along with her brother, mentor and Commander were discussing the mission before the soldier walked in and said something that shocked the four of them greatly.

The soldier gulped, slightly out of breath before he repeated himself, "T-That according to our people in-inside the city…" He looked at the woman, continuing, "The b-body of Kongō lies h-hanging from the statue of Milord Augustus, b-beheaded and with a taunt l-left as message for th-the usurper!"

Even Diabo shivered at the sheer brutality, everyone there giving a silent thanks to the creator for not sending them to live in the times where this was a common tactic, "T-Thank you for informing u-us, you may go now." Diabo said to the man who nodded and disappeared from the room moments later, leaving the Moon high command alone once again.

"Well…" Grey started saying, sighing before he continued, "It has certainly begun."

Before anyone could comment on the man's words, four masked figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling them all as Kakashi said with an eye-smile, "I take it you've heard then."

After they regained their wits, the four members of the resistance nodded dumbly, with Grey saying with a small chuckle, "If you are the supposed 'tree-huggers' of the Big Five, I shudder at the thought of what Rock would do in this situation."

Naruto shrugged, replying honestly, "Probably barge into the castle and kill everyone on sight."

Once again, the Moon royals and co. shivered at the ninja's words. Since their country has never been a military power, they weren't so versed in the art of warfare and all of its despicable tactics, now understanding why the minor countries were so afraid of the so called 'Big Five' and most of the time decided to just stay in line and not indulge their anger.

"W-What is next now?" The Commander inquired after some moments of silence, seemingly being the first one to recover his tongue.

"We give it two days…" Kakashi began saying, adding after a pause, "Then we go for the woman."

Piña, not wanting to endanger her people even more, asked, "W-Why wait? Why not now that Ishidate is on edge?"

Kakashi focused on the Princess when he replied, "Because it hasn't sunk in yet…" Knowing that those not of ninja career were confused, he elaborated further, "He knows that we're coming for him, he knows that we're going after Karenbana next, he knows all of that but he is still confident."

Sasuke then added to his teacher's words, "He still doesn't acknowledges the fear though, that's where time comes in."

Naruto nodded, saying as well, "Give it some time and the fool will start to see danger everywhere."

No one even uttered a word, not knowing what to do or say after hearing such cunning and brutal plan. They all realised that the three subordinates of the man were teenagers, Piña knowing exactly about their age, so it was shocking for them to see such young people talking like cold-blooded killers, which funnily enough, was one of the many ways to describe ninja.

"What do you know about the female?" Kakashi then asked after a long silence.

The Commander shook his head, being the one responsible for scouting and gathering information on the ninja group known as the 'Wandering Ninja Clan', "W-Well…" He cleared his throat, speaking much clearer after, "We know that she uses a special kind of poison that slows you down…" The Leaf-nin nodded at him to continue, "She combines this with an illusion, she can control petals or something like that."

"Genjutsu." Sakura muttered, her team nodding their agreement.

The Commander didn't know much about the subject, so he continued, "Out of the three, she was usually the one that acted as a rogue, seizing the smallest chance to deliver a killing blow…" He inhaled, saying after, "That's all we know of her abilities and as for her personality, she gets angry whenever you say something about her looking like a kid…" Naruto snickered lowly, Piña looking at him with a raised eyebrow as the Commander kept going, "She is incredibly sadistic and cunning, but rumour has it, that she is very… promiscuous."

"So seduction will be." Kakashi muttered as he turned to look at his son, Sasuke and Sakura looking at him as well with amused smirks behind their masks.

Naruto noticed the looks, groaning loudly, stating annoyed after, "Seriously fam? Y'all ninjas want me to wet mah prick on this shit?"

The Moon people staggered back by the bluntness of the young ninja, Piña feeling a small pang of jealousy that confused her greatly. As for the Leaf-nin, they just chuckled before Kakashi said with a pat on the boy's shoulder, "Well, that's up to you, leading her to a bedroom will be enough."

"If you're desperate though, well, that's another thing." Sakura stated while shaking her head, amused at the groan of her goofy teammate.

"I hate y'all…" Naruto muttered before he looked at Piña, feeling her jealousy through their bond. But not having time for such things, he just started walking towards the exit of the room, saying on the while, "Fine, fine…" He stopped for a moment, looking at his father to question, "Where do I hang her?"

The Moon fighters again shivered at the nonchalance with which he spoke, Piña feeling slightly afraid of the man that unwillingly became her mate, not really knowing what to think of him after all of this.

Kakashi massaged his chin, thinking it over for some seconds before he replied, "There was a large monument some metres away from the castle…" He focused on the boy then, trying to contain the pain of putting his son through this for the moment, it was necessary sadly, "It should push Ishidate further into paranoia if you hang her closer to him."

Naruto nodded and said before he left, "Aight, see ya in three days."

Piña observed as the young man disappeared form the room, a little disappointed that he didn't stayed so that they could talk about their situation. She instead covered her personal interest by asking an innocent question, "Why leave n-now? Didn't you said that we had to wait two days?"

Kakashi nodded, explaining, "Yes, but seduction missions require a background to be successful."

Diabo tilted his head, annoyed that during all of this he hasn't had anything to say, so wanting to at least make himself known, he added another question, "What background story could he possibly establish in two days?"

Kakashi looked at the Prince, replying blankly, "A strayed fisherman? A treasure hunter looking for relief? A simple passer-by?"

Piña looked at her brother with a small amused smirk, enjoying the angry frown of the man as he hastily made his way out of the room.

"I think that's it for now then?" Grey asked the Hatake.

"Yes…" Kakashi nodded, saying after, "We can only wait for Naruto to finish his mission…" He then walked towards the door, his genin following behind as he left some words, "We should all take this day to recover our strength, tomorrow we must discuss our final assault."

Piña, Grey and Korega all nodded and watched as the three ninja disappeared, Grey commenting, "Well, you heard the man…" He looked at his charge, "You should rest, Princess, you were part of the mission as well."

Piña just dumbly nodded, biding goodbye to the two men and making her way towards her private quarters, a small sense of worry as she thought of her mate, _'A-Am I really g-getting attached to him?…'_ She asked herself, confused but strangely, not all that surprised. She just hoped that Naruto's mission goes without a hitch, he still had a lot of things to explain to her.

* * *

Naruto smiled charmingly at the white-haired short female sitting right across him as she excused herself to the bathroom, apparently a little tipsy but Naruto could tell that she was faking it, probably to seem like just a naïve young girl, not the sadistic right hand woman of Ishidate that she truly was.

It has been two days since he arrived to the main city of Moon and for those days, he has been passing up as a bounty hunter, knowing that while he may not look so much like a warrior, he did not looked harmless enough to pass as a fisherman or mere treasure hunter. An experienced ninja like Karenbana would be able to see through the deception easily.

As a bounty hunter however, he had more freedom in acting a little tougher, going around conspicuously, asking for a supposed target of his that he knew used to have ties with the Wandering Clan, giving him an automatic target on his head, just as he wanted.

Naruto caught the look that the cute waitress was sending at him, almost begging him to walk away now that Karenbana was not here. She and everyone inside the pub had warned him about the woman, who had the nickname of 'The Mantis', basically because every guy or girl she's picked up, has never been seen or heard from again.

The bartender and owner of the place told him to look away the moment that Karenbana first entered the bar and spotted him, a sexy smirk on her childish face as she walked towards him with a sway of her hips, playing the seduction game from the get go.

Naruto had just looked at the man and told him that he could take care of himself, but that he would heed his word and would be careful around her.

That was two hours ago and after that, he greeted the short woman with a smirk of his own and accepted her invitation for a drink, walking with her towards the private booth of the establishment, silently chuckling as he saw the patrons shaking their heads in sympathy while he walked by, probably already giving him for dead.

Though despite his confidence right now, he knew he had to be careful, as Ddraig had explained to him what happened the day he and Piña had sex. Apparently, he as a young and healthy dragon, was in heat, meaning that he had way less control of his urges than normal and any provocation could prove fatal for his restraint, case and point Piña.

The silver-haired Namikaze had to tread carefully with the female since he could lose himself in lust and accidently bound her to him, like with Piña. He couldn't really bring himself to kill her if he does that, it would be like betraying his own promise to always do right by his mates, no matter what happened or what circumstances they find themselves in.

 ** _"_** ** _A-Aren't you too accepting of the fact that you are going to fool someone into sleeping with you just to kill them?"_** The silky and worried voice of Kurama resounded inside of his head, the woman's blue eyes filled with worry as she saw this colder attitude that has slowly started to show more often after his encounter with Itachi. She will do well on her promise, she will remain by his side from now on, but she did not wanted to see him turn into the very thing he's supposed to defeat. No matter what, he could not turn out like his grandfather, the mere thought of it broke her heart.

Naruto sighed, knowing that just like Kurama, his mates had all stated the same thing, noticing that he was more accepting of cruder methods. But while he knew that it was a dangerous way, he had to get used to be on edge, at odds with his corruption curse, it was the only way for him to be capable of controlling it, _"I know and I really wish I could say something to ease your worries now, Kurama…"_ He sighed, picturing the red-headed buxom woman casting her head down in sadness as he continued, _"But I can only ask that you trust me."_

Naruto suppressed a frown when he pictured the woman nodding shyly, not at all convinced by his words but having nothing else to do but to agree. He had to supress his disappointment in himself because Karenbana was currently walking towards him, a seductive smirk on her face as she skipped her seat and sat right on his lap, Naruto raising an eyebrow as he said amused, "My, I thought you went to the bathroom to cool yourself down, didn't worked I guess?" He snaked his hands on her butt, squeezing it a little.

Karenbana moaned, hiding the frustration of knowing that after she had her fun with him, she was going to have to kill him. She didn't wanted to for sure, the blond man currently massaging her butt was without a doubt the handsomest man she has ever seen. His sun-kissed hair flowing wildly in medium sized spikes, his incredibly deep and mesmerising blue eyes that seemed to pierce your very soul, and those cute whisker marks on his cheeks, he was the full package.

But unfortunately for him, he was asking questions about the wrong people and despite being an openly promiscuous woman, she had a reputation to uphold, being the Mantis was a full time job at times. So choosing to just enjoy the moments she will have with him, she brought her mouth next to his ear, whispering seductively, "Mmm… I c-certainly… _aaoouu…_ tried…" She bit his lobe, adding, "But thinking a-about you destroying me down there was just making it impossible for me to calm down."

Naruto had to suppress the sudden lust that sprouted in his groin, the woman's dirty talk was definitely affecting him. But he managed to calm down as he remembered that Kurama had promised him to 'help' him a little with his heat, seeing as none of his mates were around, well, Piña was, but he didn't know where he stood with her at the moment, he wasn't about to go and order her to bend over and let him fuck her.

Instead, the disguised ninja smirked sexily, whispering back at the short female, "Then what are we waiting for?"

Karenbana just smirked, leaning back a little on his lap before she got off of him, grabbing his hand and after leaving enough money to cover their bill, she led him towards the exit of the bar, Naruto winking at the sad waitress and bartender who looked at him with pity.

Naruto was surprised that Karenbana had taken him towards a small house not too far away from the pub, a small one story home that appeared to serve as her little safe haven for her lustful escapades.

Karenbana opened the door hastily, Naruto closing it after he walked in and finding himself pinned against the wall, the small woman pushing her body close to his while she ferociously kissed him.

Naruto suddenly turned her forcefully though, pressing her back against his chest while her small but rubbed eagerly on his clothed member, Naruto needing some moments to calm his lust, "My, someone's eager to get fucked." He whispered huskily on her ear.

Karenbana moaned, throwing her head back as he started to trace one hand over her clothed vagina while the other hand roughly groped her left breast. The lust in her mind was enough to cloud her senses, making her unable to notice the small white lizard that crawled from under Naruto's sleeve and bit her on her neck, the creature hastily making its way back to the man's jacket.

"W-What are… _oooouuuu…_ " She started saying, feeling dizzy and incredibly turned on, almost painfully, "… d-doing to meeee…" She whined while she tried to free his member, eager to have it inside already.

She wasn't able to see how Naruto lost his charming look and changed it for a cold one, whispering to her ear, "Killing you."

Karenbana widened her eyes when she felt the kunai on her neck, but it was too late to do anything as Naruto had already slit her throat and something that she could recognise as a foreign toxin was making her incredibly dizzy. She just started thrashing in his arms while he held her mouth close, muffling her struggles while she died.

Naruto closed his eyes, shielding his heart from doing such things. He could silence her more but he wanted to show some respect to her, withstanding the cold and horrific feeling of killing someone was something he vowed to always do whenever he took someone else's life, it was the punishment he thought was deserving of such horrible act.

He sighed heavily once he felt the woman's body going completely limp in his arms, her eyes now dull and lifeless, her pulse no longer existent, "Sorry." He whispered, genuine regret as he lowered her down and proceeded to do the most gruesome part of the mission, beheading her.

"You okay, bro?" Canym inquired as he peeped his tiny head out of Naruto's jacket. A little unnerved by the sight of Naruto beheading the girl with swift precision, the silverette male closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply.

"No…" Naruto replied honestly, opening his eyes slowly to see the head of the woman being held by his right hand, the body some centimetres away from him, huge amounts of blood spilling into the floor coming out from both the body and head, "L-Let's just get this over with." He added a whisper as he started cauterising the body and head so that they would stop bleeding, knowing that he only had a couple of hours to hang the body to the monument near the castle, it had to be done in the middle of the night in order to avoid detection.

He completely missed Kurama wiping some tears away inside his mindscape.

* * *

Ishidate continued to pace around his studio as the sun started to show over the Land of Moon. The man has been unable to keep his eyes closed ever since the death of Kongō, his front might seem as fierce and unstoppable as ever but inside he was starting to lose his confidence.

He knew exactly what game was been played here and it pissed him off that despite having the knowledge of it, it still ate him away easily, "Infallible tactic after all." He muttered to himself as he leaned forward, using his arms to sustain his weight over the desk before him, feeling exhausted.

The door to his private studio was suddenly burst open by a frantic looking commander of his. The man inhaled deeply before he straighten himself up and said with a stutter, "M-M-Milord, s-something happened."

Ishidate's eyes widened a little before they narrowed, nodding at the man to take him towards the source of the problem, a foreboding wave washing over him as he made his way towards the city.

The false King's dread only augmented when he immediately heard the murmurs of the populace, observing how they all gathered around the monument close to the castle, already having a feeling of what happened.

"Make way for your highness!" One of his guardsmen screamed at the gathered crowd, the citizens turning to look at their oppressor before they all averted their eyes as he made his way towards the monument.

Ishidate gritted his teeth, using all of his experience to mask the true feelings that coursed hotly through his veins, appearing scared and shocked right now will only spill bigger trouble for him.

He instead narrowed his eyes as he muttered to himself, "'Not so invincible now, huh?'…" He balled his fists, a mixture of both anger and fear taking his heart hostage as he witnessed the beheaded body of his last teammate, Karenbana. The woman was hanged in a similar manner to that of Kongō, her body swaying a little due to the breeze as her head hanged by her side, dangling from a rope attached to her shoulder, her expression a calm serenity that came with knowing that you couldn't escape your fate, "Clear the place…" He started ordering his men, turning around to the now highest in command before him as he added, "Take her body back to the castle and send someone to investigate the bar she used to get her fuck-toys, her killer surely met her there."

"Y-Yes sir." The Commander replied a little unsure, feeling the pressure coming from all around them, specifically, from the citizens of Moon.

Ishidate too felt that, turning towards the crowd as he screamed, "Go back to your business!"

The false King couldn't help but turn around quickly and make his way towards the castle in order to hide the fear that showed on his face as the populace nodded, but didn't showed fear. He knew that he was losing his aura of intimidation, he could even feel how some of his very own men looked at him with doubt.

"I n-need to kill those bastards…" Ishidate muttered to himself as he continued walking, his voice loud enough for only he to hear, "They w-will not take a-away the crown from me!…" He gritted his teeth, fantasies of him slaughtering Diabo and Piña playing in his head as he finished his thought, "N-Never."

He didn't really knew if he was defeating paranoia, or had already lost to it moments ago.

* * *

Piña and her people along with the three Leaf-nin awaited for the latter's last member to arrive. News about Karenbana's death had already reached them and a message from the silverette himself arrived later, stating that he will be there in a couple of hours.

Piña was worried, it was starting to get difficult to hide as she learnt that Karenbana, just like Kongō, was left hanging on a monument, her beheaded body left as a message while her severed head limped at its side. It made her really wonder what type of man Naruto was and she was getting desperate for some alone time with him in order to get some answers. She just vowed to not let him go anywhere after this meeting was done.

The Princess had to bring her focus towards the door when it was opened, the figure of a masked young man walking inside to make his way towards his team, nodding at his leader while he spoke, "Mission was a success, sir."

Kakashi just nodded while a heavy sigh escaped his lips, knowing that his son was feeling the heavy weight of an assassination. It was always a different feeling from that of killing during battle to try and save your life. When you assassinate someone, they are most of the time unsuspecting of the ordeal and the face of shock and fear the targets always have when they realised what happened is something unforgettable, and as Kakashi once told his students, something they should never forget as the moment you stop caring about killing, was the moment you had already lost your humanity.

Sakura walked towards Naruto, grabbing his hand while she whispered, "You okay?" She knew that Sasuke wanted to ask that as well but being the guy he was, she decided to spare him the embarrassment by asking herself. Not the she wasn't worried for Naruto as well.

Naruto just sighed, his eyes a somewhat sombre blue when he replied, "The less I talk about it, the better."

Sakura and the rest of Team Seven just sighed in unison before they nodded, allowing the young lad to have his own way of repentance for now.

Piña for her part found herself a little more at ease after watching the exchange, noting the genuine regret her mate was showing at doing such cruel act. She had to focus on her brother though, as the blond man spoke, "If you're all done with patting each other's shoulders…" He ignored the growl coming off from Piña in order continue, "We still have a false King to deal with."

Kakashi found himself almost at wit's end with the bratty heir who has done nothing but complain about their presence. The Hatake had been thinking over the past few days he's been here on whom was he going to support to lay claim of the throne, and it was fairly easy to realise that Piña was the best option.

If Diabo gets to claim the crown for himself, he will more than likely close off the borders of Moon, making trade with the Big Five an even bigger hassle that it already was before when his father ruled. It will certainly become a hostile land towards any of the major countries and considering how the Land of Moon was one of the most frequently visited countries by the nobles of the big lands, having him as a ruler will create an alarm whenever a noble or VIP decides to visit, as it would be up to the respective shinobi village to add an even more expensive security detail. Not to say anything about the fact that they will have to suffer another arrogant leader.

The Leaf had enough with the Fire Lord as it was, thank you.

Piña on the other hand was a talented diplomat and way more charming than her brother, having an amazing skill with her words that it even surprised Kakashi when he heard her speaking to some of her men. She would undoubtedly be a lot more open to cooperating with them as she was already showing it right now with how easily, almost blindingly, trusted him with the directions. Though Kakashi had the slight suspicion that his son had something to do with it, _'It wouldn't be a surprise…'_ He thought while he stifled an amused snicker, always entertained by Naruto's almost inhuman abilities with the fair sex.

The problem was though, that most of the soldiers supported Diabo and for what he's heard from the common populace of the nearby towns, most of the people would rather have him as the King since he was the only one with proven military accomplishments. Piña on the other hand was usually seen as the caring and beautiful damsel of the land, not someone that would impose a commanding aura, she did had supporters, many, but Diabo outdid her in that department. Though Kakashi was sure that if Piña shows her true capabilities as a warrior, many will start to side with her, possibly bringing the odds to her favour.

But returning to the rude Prince, Kakashi surprised them all when he suddenly walked towards the large round table that served as their war map, leaning forward towards the Prince to say, "I understand you not liking having us here, but let me make something clear…" The Hatake released a little bit of his chakra, making even his genin sweat as they remembered that even with all the power they had, Kakashi was still superior to them, "We may be helping you right now because of both being a personal favour and something beneficial to the Leaf…" He stopped his chakra flare, focusing on the blond man who was struggling with his own saliva, "But just as Ishidate is considered a threat to the stability of the region, you can be branded like that as well, so you should be very careful with how you speak to people willing to aid you, because usually they also have the power to take everything from you, otherwise why would you ask for their help?"

Diabo did gulped, but still managed to gather a little bit of bravado as he growled, "A-threatening me!?"

Instead of Kakashi answering however, Grey was the one that said with an authoritarian tone, "No, he's telling you the way it is…" The elder man narrowed his eyes at the middle child of the late King, adding warningly, "So behave, there is a reason for why Fire won all of the three Great Wars."

Piña needed to intervene before things got more tense, sending a mental curse to her arrogant brother, not believing how he was so stupid to think that he could behave like that with people powerful enough to free a country by themselves, more so when said people came from the most powerful country in the continent.

So wanting to avoid more arguments, she said to Kakashi, "Please M-Mister, forgive my brother…" She bowed a little, ignoring Diabo's huff to continue, "We're all on edge here."

Kakashi just sighed, finally finding himself more calm and less irritated, so he bowed back at the Princess and spoke, "It's okay, Princess, I just wanted to point out that we're not going to get anywhere by arguing."

The Princess nodded, looking at her people before she looked back at the Leaf-nin and asked, "We understand that."

The Commander then spoke, "What's next now?"

Kakashi replied while he massaged his masked chin, "Well, we wait other two days to allow Ishidate's paranoia to be at its fullest…" He then focused on the two heirs, adding, "Then, the heirs finally make their comeback."

Diabo and Piña raised an eyebrow, the woman looking back at the jōnin to inquire, "I thought that we were going to assassinate Ishidate."

Kakashi just sighed, explaining after, "That would work if Ishidate was a genuine usurper, but he has the support of some of the nobles of the land…" The Moon people nodded with frowns adorning their faces, almost imagining the treacherous nobles, "So if we assassinate him, someone from the rebelling nobility will take his place as fast as Ishidate's death arrives, you will have no way to prove that it was you that killed Ishidate, so some people will doubt that you did anything and more than likely will want to just be at peace, so they will side with whoever has control already."

Grey nodded while he hummed, understanding as he said, "I see…" He looked at the heirs before he continued, "If the heirs show up to personally rile the people to a rebellion, they will show them that they haven't forgot their promise of freeing them again."

Kakashi nodded as he added to the old man's words, "Correct, the appearance of the royal children will also be a morale lifter for the citizens, they thrived under your father, so they will more than likely rather go back to being ruled by your family again."

The two heirs finally understood the plan, so both nodded, Diabo still wearing an annoyed frown as Kakashi added, "Then rest and prepare, we will be going into the capital loudly and through the front doors…" He focused on the Moon people, finishing with a severe tone, "It's going to be a tough fight and I don't know if we will be able to convince most of the rebels to our side, so be prepared to fight your own people."

Piña winced as she reluctantly nodded, as reluctant as her other comrades. She saw how they all started to make their way towards the doors, so she quickly moved to intercept her mate and grabbed his arm, the boy turning a little confused at her as she whispered, "C-Can… we talk?"

Naruto just nodded before he looked at this team and shrugged, the three other ninja just snorting as they all made their way outside, leaving the two alone in the room, "Waddup?" He asked, turning his body to face her fully.

Piña blushed a little when she found herself losing to the man's incredible blue eyes, that golden slit of his that served as a pupil turning a primal urge in her that she struggled to keep in check, answering after some moments, "Let's g-go somewhere e-else."

Naruto just nodded and allowed the woman to grab his hand, having a small inkling at to what she wanted to speak about. So knowing that he had to explain his actions, he mentally prepared himself to try and show her that despite it all, he was only doing what was necessary to secure a future for his family, even if she didn't wanted, she was included in said family as well.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he observed Piña and Diabo walking in front of him and his team, a little bit conflicted about how his discussion with her ended up two days ago. She hasn't spoken to him ever since.

It didn't really ended up badly, nor was she purposely avoiding him since these past two days were spent preparing the strategy to invade the capital, as well as Piña and Diabo practicing their speeches to lit the fire of rebellion into the citizens' hearts. But still, on the few occasions the two were left alone, she didn't really said anything and neither did he, deciding to just let the woman be and focusing on helping her and move on after.

The reason for why he was willing to just let her go and be on their separate ways was not because she had refused or anything like that, he was just simply choosing to give the woman time to come to the decision on her own.

Their talk two days ago basically revolved around the actions he has been committing ever since he arrived to the Land of Moon, more specifically, his coldness at seducing a woman just to kill her later. He could understand the woman's fear as she was seeing something completely different to the charming and goofy man he was outside a mission, she wasn't used to his 'Dark Swordsman Persona', as Sakura puts it.

She just wanted to know which was the real one, the one that made love to her or the one that was willing to spill blood to further his goals. There was a time where he would have answered that he was the one that made love to her and that his ninja side was just to cope with the hardships of his line of work, but he was no child anymore, he has seen and experienced things that have changed him in a way that did worried him, not to say his mates as they have been very worried at seeing him acting so cunning and cold, but he couldn't really help it, every day he walked in this path to understanding, he saw how genuinely unwilling people was to understand each other, it frustrated him.

So he decided to be completely honest with her and replied saying that he was both. With those he loved, he was as tender as he was during their lovemaking, but with his enemies he was not going to go easy on them, more so if they harmed someone he loved. He finished pointing out that while it did bothered him, the other moniker for which he was known besides 'Dark Swordsman', was even more fitting than the aforementioned one, making her gulp and nod reluctantly in understanding.

The woman had just replied after some moments that she was just too confused and afraid of the future, asking if he could take away her immortality, in the case that she refuses his offer.

He reluctantly nodded and winced when she seemed relieved for a moment before she apparently caught his discomfort, trying to defuse it by saying that she just wanted to know all of her options and that as soon as they free her country, she will give him her answer.

He focused back on said Princess when she stood beside her brother, facing the gathered crowd as they all murmured excitedly, some of them screaming and roaring at the appearance of the royal children, surprising Naruto at how truly loved the royal family was in this country.

The silver-haired Uzumaki couldn't listen to the heirs' speech, as his father nudged him and the rest of his team, nodding them to follow him to a more secluded area.

Kakashi sighed once he stopped some metres away from the gathering, making sure not to stray too far since it would raise suspicion, leading his team towards the roof of a building behind the heirs, motioning them to play it as if they were standing guard. The silver-haired older male sighed before he said sternly, "We have to make sure that Piña is crowned, not Diabo."

Team Seven widened their eyes at that, understanding perfectly what their leader was implying, "Wo wo wo…" Naruto started saying before he continued, "Ya sure 'bout that, fool?"

Sakura then added, "Yes, Sensei, are we really sure? I mean yeah, the Prince is an asshole, but…" She lowered her voice to a whisper, "Killing him is not going to win us any favours with Moon."

Kakashi just sighed again, nodding, "I know, that it's why we are going to make sure that Ishidate is the one that kills him…" He eyed his genin, none of them feeling sure about the order. He just massaged his temples, stating, "It's a direct order from Lady Tsunade, heck, from the Fire Lord himself."

Team Seven just nodded reluctantly, Naruto gritting his teeth as he understood what the Feudal Lord's game was, he wanted to have a woman in charge of the country so that one of his sons could marry her, use her position to the Land of Fire's advantage, _'Oh, the irony…'_ He thought as he realised how hypocritical he must sound right now at feeling angry for the Feudal Lord's plan, he was doing the very same thing after all, _'She's my mate tho…'_ He added to his reasoning, she may choose to part ways with him, but that didn't mean that their bond could be broken, it was eternal, she didn't knew that of course, but he did, and the thought of someone using his mate like that, made his dragon blood boil hotly.

"So are you going to let this usurper continue to have his way with OUR country!?" The voice of Diabo won his attention towards his back, down at the plaza where he and his sister were rallying the people.

Piña then added, lifting her silver sword up after the people roared a 'no', adding to her brother's words, "Then let's take our country back! Together!"

Naruto smirked as the people agreed completely with the heirs, most of them accepting the weapons given to them by Piña's army, while some of the women and children went back towards their homes, choosing for sheltering themselves until the fight ended.

"They're coming." Sasuke whispered next to him, making Naruto turn to look at where his brother was looking, observing as a wave of Ishidate's military made their way hastily towards them.

Team Seven shared a look and nodded, disappearing in a flicker, only to reappear right behind the heirs, startling them as Kakashi said, "Ishidate's men are coming…" The heirs widened their eyes, "One of you has to stay here while the other accompanies us to take Ishidate down."

Piña tilted her head, asking, "Why?"

Kakashi focused on her when he replied, "You wanted to avoid as many casualties as possible, correct?…" The heirs nodded, prompting the Hatake to continue, "Well, there has to be some soldiers that are not okay with Ishidate's rule, so if one of you stays and talks to them, there is a chance that some of them will change their mind."

Piña and Diabo widened their eyes as they understood, both of them looking at Grey for a moment as he only shrugged, leaving the decision completely to them, "I'll go and kill that bastard…" Diabo started saying, looking at his sister to add, "You have always been better with words."

Piña bit her lip, not really wanting to let her brother go to fight Ishidate. Not just because she was worried for him, but also because deep inside, she did not wanted him to claim the crown. But not really having anything to argue his logic with, she just sighed and nodded, stating, "Be c-careful."

Diabo just smirked and turned to look at the ninja, declaring, "Let us move, then!"

The Leaf-nin all nodded at the Prince, Kakashi grabbing the man's shoulder so that he could flicker him along with them. Meanwhile Naruto and Piña looked at each other for some moments, Naruto smiling behind his mask a little before he disappeared along with his team.

Piña couldn't help but smile slightly, something that Grey managed to caught as he said teasingly, "My, aren't you quite taken with the blue-eyed ninja, Princess."

Piña blushed a little, a rush of memories from their lovemaking suddenly assaulting her at the tone her mentor used. She managed to recover quickly though, remembering that the fight for her home was about to start. She also didn't wanted to show anything to her mentor since he knew her better than anyone, so she just said under her breath, "Let us not waste any more time, Grey."

Grey just chuckled while he shook his head slightly, knowing exactly what his charge was doing. But he quickly developed a stern look as well, the time to free their country has come and mistakes could not be allowed at such crucial moment.

* * *

Naruto jumped to dodge a slash coming from one of the commanders of Ishidate's loyal army, the man surprisingly quite skilled with the sword, not at the par to Naruto, but still competent enough.

Out of the corner of his eye, he observed as Sasuke fought another commander while Sakura battled three regular guards, the pinkerette showing amazing dexterity as her body flowed graciously, avoiding every slash and attack the guards tried to deliver.

Closer to the throne, Kakashi and Diabo were currently engaging Ishidate himself, the false King wearing a furious scowl as he tried to petrify the two attackers, screaming profanities at every second.

Naruto sidestepped, avoiding a stab aimed at his gut. He then held the blade of the weapon, drawing a shocked gasp from the Commander before he grunted in pain as Naruto elbowed him on the gut with such force that it knocked the wind out of him, the man struggling to remain conscious after such hit.

The silver-haired jinchūriki knew that they wouldn't even struggle with these enemies if they were to use their real abilities, but Tsunade had strictly forbade them to use them. They were only allowed to use the standard ninja moves; clones, substitution, henge and regular elemental jutsus. If they were to use their true abilities, they would be risking someone recognising them from the Bingo Book and it will easily put a face to them, letting the world know that the Leaf was helping the heirs, something that had to be avoided at all costs.

So while it made their job a little trickier, Naruto couldn't deny that it also made it more fun, it had been a long time since he fought with taijutsu only, "Just go to bed, old man." Naruto muttered at the Commander who gritted his teeth, now strong enough to make a run at the silverette.

But the Commander failed to see that the Naruto before him was a simple clone, his fist facing through the masked ninja, the Commander cursing, "W-What!?…" He couldn't add anything to his thought though, as his sword now found itself embedded from his back, right through his heart, killing him instantly.

Naruto once again pushed the bad taste of his mouth that appeared whenever he took a life to the back of his mind, choosing to focus on his father and Diabo as they struggled with Ishidate, the man's gauntlet was an extremely dangerous tool, even for seasoned warriors like Kakashi.

Seeing that Sasuke was okay with his opponent and that Sakura had only one enemy left to deal with, he decided to aid his father, using his black clothing to camouflage with the shadows of the large pillars that held the giant roof in place.

Naruto managed to sneak behind the false ruler, the man seemingly too busy to notice him as he dealt with Kakashi and Diabo. Naruto taking the opportunity, used wind chakra to augment the speed of his lunge, moving as fast as a kunai, using the blade of the deceased Commander to try and cut Ishidate's feet tendons, succeeding with only one.

"Argh!…" Ishidate screamed when he felt the slash, his left foot staggering a little as it was now almost impossible to use appropriately, "Curse you!" He still surprisingly managed to continue fighting though, his fist heading quickly towards Naruto who was crouched some steps away from the orange-haired man.

Naruto managed to dodge the hit, witnessing as the place where the fist landed, suddenly turned to rock, though it was weird because the floor was already rock. He had to focus on Diabo as he said arrogantly, "Just give up, Ishidate!…" The blond Prince aimed his sword at the struggling Ishidate as he slowly straightened himself up, his left foot now practically unusable, "You are surrounded." The heir finished with a smirk, his free hand pointing all around them, making Naruto realise that not only Sakura and Sasuke were already here, but Piña, Grey and some more men were running towards them, the woman leading the charge.

Ishidate stared at Diabo as he walked slowly towards him, a victorious smirk on his face while the steps of their comrades reverberated through the throne room. The last of the Wandering Clan knew that it was over, his foot was useless, he was low on chakra, he was surrounded and for what he could see and hear from outside the castle, most of the army, if not all, had already chose to side with the heirs. It was also probable that the nobles that supported him were already dead or captured.

But still, Ishidate had one last card that he was going to use. The moment he took the power for himself, he knew that something like this might occur, so he added a new feature to his gauntlet, one that'll make sure to leave a lasting impression. He sneakily shook the gauntlet, an almost unnoticeable 'blip' sounding from it as Ishidate lifted his arms in surrender, enjoying the smug smirk of Diabo as he walked closer towards him. The false King also knew that the Princess was within range, so just as he was about to be apprehended by Diabo, Ishidate laughed maniacally and screamed, "If I'm going down! You all go down with me!"

Team Seven had caught his actions, they all heard the 'blip' and they all knew what it meant. They also knew that Diabo was walking towards his death and as much as they did not liked to, they had an order and they had to fulfil it, so they allowed Diabo to move closer and fall alongside Ishidate.

Naruto however, was in a crossroad. As a Leaf shinobi, he had to abide to the Fire Lord's word and do as he said, Diabo dying will also benefit his own ambition, as it will remove an unwilling leader from the road. But Diabo was Piña's brother, despite how much they bickered and disagreed, even though there was no huge attachment between the two, he was still her brother and he made a vow to always do right by his women.

It took him two seconds to come to a decision, everything moving in slow motion as he could already see the gauntlet glowing and shaking, ready to explode. Naruto was about to make a dash towards Diabo to pull him out of danger, but as he tracked his team's movements, he felt his heart stopping when Piña entered his peripheral vision, the woman now in full range of the blast.

Naruto did not wasted a moment, changing his course now towards his mate, managing to push her away from the blast that shocked everyone but the Leaf-nin.

"N-Naruto…" Piña whispered when she felt his body on top of hers, shielding her from the blast moments ago, it was clear that he was in pain if the wince on his face was anything to go by.

Naruto struggled a little for breath, his back suddenly really cold and somewhat tense, almost unable to move a muscle there, "Yo… y-you aight?" He managed to whisper to the Princess, his blue eyes showered with worry for her.

Piña nodded shyly as she found herself lost in his eyes, about to reply when one of her mate's teammates, the female, spoke alarmed, "Your back!" Sakura came running towards him, her hands already coated with green aura as it touched Naruto's back.

Piña manoeuvred herself from below him, listening to the female ninja as she told him not to move and stay as he was so that she could crawl easily form beneath him. It was when Piña could now fully stand that she saw the problem, Naruto's back was petrified.

The woman just brought her hand to her mouth, covering her gasp as she was filled with worry for the young man, "I-Is… is h-he going t-to be alright?" She whispered a question to the medic ninja, a strange urge to hold the silverette close to her appearing in her heart all of a sudden.

Sakura sighed in relief once she finished her scanning, nodding slightly while she replied with a hush, "He will, I can remove the effect in a couple of days." Naruto just sighed along with Piña, both immensely relieved by the news.

It was then that Grey suddenly whispered, a stunned look on his face when he spoke, "Diabo…"

Piña looked at her mentor for some moments before she remembered that her brother was practically in front of Ishidate before he blew himself up, her head snapping back towards the throne only to be shocked by the sight. Everything that surrounded where Ishidate and Diabo once stood, was turned to charred stone, but there was no sight of her brother or Ishidate.

"D-Diabo?…" Piña whispered, lightheaded all of a sudden, needing Grey to hold her in order to not collapse as she started thinking the worst.

"He's gone." Kakashi muttered under his breath, everyone turning to look at him surprised when he nodded towards the centre of the explosion.

Once Piña focused on the centre, she could finally see what the jōnin saw, which was many small rocks splattered near the centre, all of the tainted with fresh blood, meaning that Diabo and Ishidate were firstly petrified before the gauntlet's explosion shattered them into dozens of pieces.

Piña took some moments to process it all, knowing exactly what it all meant. She surprisingly managed to recover her wits, inhaling deeply with eyes closed before she opened them again, now capable of standing on her own as she said to the people in the throne room, "L-Let the people know that it's over…" She looked at Naruto for a moment, noticing how his eyes were casted down at the ground, feeling a sense of guilt from their new bond, "There is much to do now."

Grey just nodded to the Princess and observed as she walked towards the ninja she has apparently taking a liking to, kneeling by his side and just staying with him as the female ninja did her thing on him. Casting a last look towards the destroyed throne and the remains of Diabo and Ishidate, Grey sighed and made his way towards the entrance of the castle, the people needed to know that the Land of Moon, was once again free.

* * *

Naruto sighed while he made his way towards the castle, massaging his back as it was still a little sore from being petrified, but thankfully Sakura was versed enough with medical ninjutsu that she was capable to get rid of the petrification.

But right now his mind wandered towards the last three days that he has been stuck in a room, forced to rest until his back was healed enough to move it. Over those three days, the Land of Moon underwent its change towards the official status quo, that being Piña taking the crown and being named the new Queen of the land, there was no one else to contend with after all.

There was also a day to mourn those who perished on Ishidate's coup and on the last one, especially to mourn the deaths of King Augustus and his two sons. A trial for the traitorous nobles was also held in public, needless to say, it didn't ended well for the greedy usurpers.

As for Piña and Naruto's relationship, well, it was certainly complicated. Naruto could tell that she didn't disliked him, in fact, she was quite worried for him and spent almost all of her free time watching over him as he rested and recuperated from his injuries. But she refused to tell him anything about her decision regarding how they will move forward, heck, she barely spoke during all the times they were together, the only thing that Naruto could see in her eyes, was a thoughtful glint as she observed him, something seemingly bothering her or confusing her, Naruto couldn't really tell.

But now, it seems that she will finally give him her answer, since she has called him towards her personal office inside the castle.

The Uzumaki then focused back on the now when he arrived to the door of her office, knocking it a few times and entering once he heard her urging him to. Naruto looked at the beautiful woman, her light-blue royal attire only serving to accentuate her good looks, "Your highness." Naruto said respectfully with a bow, not really knowing how to refer to her right now.

Piña smiled a little, shaking her head slightly as she said, "Please N-Naruto, there is no need for such t-titles…" She then locked her eyes to her mate's blues, once again feeling lost in them as they observed her intently, knowing exactly that he was feeling the same urge that her right now. But somehow managing to control her primal necessities, she sighed and leaned back on her desk, her gaze suddenly casted down as she asked with a whisper, "D-Did…" She struggled a little, "Did y-you and your team let my b-brother die?"

Naruto couldn't deny that he was surprised by the question, his eyes widening a little while his mouth opened slightly behind his mask. He now realised what was bothering her during all this time, she knew that they had chosen to let Diabo die so that she would take the crown instead, being the best for the Land of Fire. So having a debt to her, he answered truthfully after a sigh, not tearing his eyes away from her, "Yes…" He saw her wince, her eyes closing before he inquired, "How did you knew?"

Piña struggled to find her voice for a moment, not really knowing what to think of him now after he confirmed what she already suspected, "I-I… I s-saw you…" She finally met his eyes, continuing, "I saw you struggling to move before Ishidate blew himself up…" She bit her lip, her eyes now looking elsewhere while she added, "Plus, i-it isn't hard to see that I was t-the best choice for your country… a-and… your ambition." She didn't really know if he did it for that. If he did, she will decline joining him for sure, even if it strangely hurt to even consider it, she didn't know if she was capable of pledging her heart and body to a man that didn't cared for what he destroyed in the process of achieving his goal.

Naruto sighed, crossing his arms before his chest as he replied, "I will not lie to ya…" Piña focused on him when he continued, "I did considered it, but at the end of the day, I made a promise to you and all of my other lovers to always do right by you no matter what, I couldn't break that promise, doesn't matter if you choose to stay with me or not, you are still my mate, our bond will never go away, until you or I die at least, so I will always do right by you…" He sighed, massaging his neck before he finished, "That is why at the end, I chose to save Diabo."

Piña brought a hand to her chest, looking down at the ground as some tears started to fall from her red orbs, whispering, "B-But I c-came in…" She could picture him nodding, so she continued, her voice breaking with confusion and despair, "T-Then why!? W-Why did your t-team chose to l-let him die!?" She now knew that Naruto was not going to let him die but she still knew that his team, or at least his leader, had chosen to let Diabo die, she needed to know why.

Naruto sighed again, closing his eyes for some moments before he replied, "It was an order from the Fire Lord himself…" He saw her head shooting up to meet his eyes, her eyes as wide as they could, showing her shock. He knew that he shouldn't be saying such confidential things, but she was his mate, no matter what, "Having Diabo in power will result too much of a hassle for them, having you instead, will give him a chance to push one of his sons into marrying you."

Piña felt her cheeks reddening when he saw Naruto growling almost unnoticedly, jealousy clear in his voice as he revealed the truth. But shaking her head for the moment, Piña pondered on his words and finally understood what was going on, Land of Moon was still one of the richest countries in the continent, if a son of the Fire Lord marries her, it will give the man even more resources to spend on his luxuries, "A-Always wanting more…" She whispered with a little bit of anger showing in her words, referring to the say that minor countries had regarding the Big Five, which was that they always seek for more.

Naruto just nodded, not really having anything to contend that with, it was the sore truth after all, "Yes." He just replied honestly.

Piña stayed quiet for some moments, pondering on everything she now knew about him, his team, his village, his country and his goals. She took some moments to finish, but she kept her head down while her eyes searched for him, a small blush on her cheeks and her fingers fiddled nervously together, asking shyly, "A-Are… u-umm… a-are you jealous?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the strange question, surprised that she heard his growl. But focusing on her at the moment, he snickered lightly as he replied, "Yes…" The woman shrunk cutely at that, Naruto losing his amusement before he added honestly, "No matter what, I like you and the thought of you being with someone else does bothers me…" He sighed, massaging his back as he finished, "But as I told you that day, you are free to do as you wish, being staying with me, marrying someone else, refusing me entirely, or having me along with someone else… I will not like it, but I will not force you to anything, you are free and as long as I live, I will make sure you always have a choice."

Piña had her teary eyes locked at him, seeing the honesty painfully showing in his deep ocean-coloured visors. It made her make a choice, a choice that while difficult and still full of uncertainties, she did not felt anything wrong with it, in fact, choosing the opposite felt just wrong, "T-Then…" She whispered, Naruto focusing on her as she struggled a little before she finally finished with a small smile, "Y-You have proven y-yourself to me… d-despite being a direct or-order from your leader, you w-were going to save Diabo… f-for me…" She started walking towards him, her gaze still downwards while she continued, "My b-body already responds t-to you and o-only you…" She stopped when her forehead rested on his chest, Naruto embracing her tenderly as she eyed him now, a small smile on her face while tears fell from her eyes, though, they were happy ones, "S-So I a-am yours."

Naruto smiled, looking at her directly as he said lovingly, "And I am yours, forever…" He captured her lips in a soul-searing kiss, making her moan while she closed her eyes in complete ecstasy, knowing that with no one else will she ever feel like this, "I will always do right by you, Piña."

The red-headed Queen nodded with a shy smile, resting her cheek on his chest as she whispered with her eyes closed, "I know…" She has never felt more certain about anything like now. Though the woman panicked a little, saying once she looked back at him, "B-But I will have to get married one day! I w-will be asked to l-leave an heir yes or yes!"

Naruto frowned at that, uncertain at the notion. Koyuki will eventually have the same problem and he has yet to find a solution. But not wanting to panic the woman, he smiled reassuringly at her and hugged her tighter, replying, "Don't worry 'bout it for now, we'll cross that bridge when we have to…" The woman once again rested her cheek on his chest, the Namikaze resting his chin above her head as he added, "For now, just refuse any proposal if you want, when you get pushed into it, we'll deal with it."

Piña closed her eyes and nodded, still a little afraid of the potential situation but for some strange reason feeling completely reassured by her mate's words, it was incredible how strongly he affected her heart.

The two stayed like that after speaking, Piña revelling on the feeling of being in the arms of her man before she developed a mischievous smirk. Their tender moment has now passed and as his new mate and knowing that he was leaving soon, she felt the need to enjoy the benefits of being his lover.

* * *

Sasuke kept his eyes up front as he walked some steps in front of his team. They had just arrived to O'uzu after finally finishing their business in the Land of Moon, there was really nothing left for them to do and they had to leave as soon as they were ready since they still had to avoid anyone noticing that a Leaf team was in Moon.

So they said their goodbyes to the now Queen and her mentor in private and they sneaked from prying eyes, the Queen providing them with a ship that took them towards the main land of the continent.

And so, they were now walking through the roads, heading towards the nearest big city so that they could take a caravan and get back at the Leaf as soon possible.

But Sasuke was currently preoccupied with some pondering, there was something wrong and he could feel it, like an ominous cloud hovering above him, threatening to release a torrent on him. He really didn't know what was going on, but he didn't liked it.

"Sooooo…" The voice of his silver-haired brother suddenly won the Uchiha's attention to his side to see that Naruto was now walking beside him, a teasing glint in his blues that made the blackette sigh, already knowing that he was not going to like whatever the jinchūriki had to say, "I heard that you and Sakura had a…" Naruto leaned closer to Sasuke's face as he finished with a teasing whisper, "…date."

The host of Ddraig and Kurama laughed when he noticed the almost invisible blush that appeared on his brother's cheeks, the Uchiha grunting irately as he replied after a huff, "It w-was just a spar, Dobe…" He avoided his brother's gaze, knowing exactly that Naruto was not believing a single thing he was saying, "Nothing more."

"Riiiiiiight…" Naruto said while he laughed as he saw his brother's embarrassed expression, wanting to tease him more but stopping when Sakura suddenly rushed towards them.

"H-Hey! What a-are you guys talking a-about?" Sakura said while she blushed a little, embarrassed and angry for being left out.

Naruto noticed the challenging eyes his brother was sending at him, daring to say something stupid to her. Naruto being Naruto however, couldn't help himself whenever a chance to tease his usual stoic brother appeared, so he just shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Nuffin much…" He smirked evilly when he added, "Just teasing your boyfriend here."

Sakura's face went completely red while Sasuke's face went as red, if not more than hers too, though Naruto knew that it was not out of embarrassment, but of anger. Anger made known as the Uchiha said enraged in between gritted teeth, "Dobe!"

Naruto laughed loudly at that before he showed Sasuke his tongue and made a mad run to get away from his enraged sibling, Sasuke chasing closely behind as Sakura screamed while she followed them as well, "W-Wait! D-Don't kill h-him, Sasuke!"

Kakashi for his part just smiled warmly while he observed his students actually behaving like hyperactive teenagers for at least a moment, it was such a rare sight nowadays that it made him wish that things could stay like this forever. But sadly, he knew that it was only momentarily, as they were probably trying to forget about all they'd done during their recent mission. So just like them, Kakashi decided to just enjoy the sight and let his troubles go to the back of his head, if just for this moment.

* * *

Ryū walked through the streets of the Leaf, making her way towards the Hokage Tower, feeling a little defenceless as she noticed the stares she was receiving from everyone she passed by.

She was currently wearing civilian clothing as well as having her mask off, leaving her face free for everyone to see. She found it somewhat amusing to see almost every men and even some women finding themselves helpless from looking at her, all of them almost drooling as she walked by. She knew she was good looking, but she didn't thought she was THAT good looking.

Apparently, she was wrong.

She had already turned down three courageous men who blocked her way and offered their companionship to her. She felt a little annoyed by the constant interruptions, but she also found it somewhat surprising that even the handsome young man that also offered his companionship, made her feel somewhat repulsed. It was weird because she had noticed that if the man was not one Naruto Namikaze, she did not found it pleasant to be around him.

Speaking of said jinchūriki, she felt a slight wave of nervousness creeping her belly as she closed in on the Tower, knowing that it was moment to place her request for a personal mission, Danzō was getting restless over it. She couldn't help but feel both giddy and fearful at knowing that she was close to be with him alone for a considerable amount of time, it made her heart flutter.

She continued to go over her story so that she wouldn't mess it up as she waited in the line, moving every time a person finished with their request. It was when she was finally before the young chūnin that she focused back on him, smiling warmly, the young man finding himself unable to stop the blush as he saw the most beautiful woman he has ever seen saying, "Hello."

The chūnin fixed himself up, trying to look as handsome as he could in the presence of the beauty that had the attention of everyone around, greeting back, "G-Good evening, ma'am…" He managed to control his voice when he added, "W-What can I d-do for you?"

Ryū just replied, smile still in place, "Yes, I will like to place a request for a mission."

The young man nodded, saying with a gulp, "D-Do you know h-how to rank your mission or d-do you need help?"

Ryū just shook her head, saying, "I already know the rank, is an A-rank."

The chūnin was surprised by that since she didn't seemed like nothing more than a common civilian, a beautiful civilian at that. But focusing back on his work, he handed her a form and said as she grabbed it, "A-Alright, please f-fill the information in there…" He observed as the woman did so, waiting for some moments until she finished it and handed it back to him, the man inquiring after, "Any team or ninja in particular that you want to request?"

Ryū just smiled wider, incapable of hiding her excitement as she replied, "Yes, I will like to request Naruto Namikaze alone."

Every man in the room that knew who the boy was, immediately cursed him mentally, all of them fed up with the youngster's legendary luck with women, they just flocked helplessly towards him every damn time.

The chūnin just forced a smile, jealousy coursing his body but not saying a thing, speaking after some moments, "Alright t-then, I will pass this down to Lord Hokage, since this is a request that asks for a specific shinobi, more so when is Lord Namikaze, he is the one that will decide what to do."

Ryū nodded with a smile, already knowing the procedure well.

The young ninja then finished writing Naruto's name in the form, reaching towards where the name of the requester was after, looking at the goddess before him to ask, "W-What is your name, miss?"

Ryū smiled, feeling a little strange at for the first time in years, using her real name again, "Grayfia…" She paused for some seconds, saying it fully, almost not believing she was saying it again, "Grayfia Lucifuge."

* * *

 **A/N: Oooo, Grayfia's here! Though she's been here for a while, cheers to all of those who had already figured out who she was. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and see ya fellas later, cheers!**


	28. Wish You Were Here

**A/N: Oooooooooo, I finally have this chapter out! I've been wanting to get to this one practically since I started this story. Some stuff before we begin.**

 **I may re-write this chapter in the future, I am pleased with it, but not thoroughly convinced, the problem is though that I am extremely busy nowadays and I just wanted to release this chapter as soon as I finished it. But I will let you lads now if I do, the chapter I consider it to be good and fulfilling, so we'll see how it goes and how much time I can get.**

 **A lot of you have messaged me asking about the Harem, I haven't answered your messages because as I said, I'm really busy and I only log in to update the story. But I will answer here, the Harem I no longer know who will be in it for sure, everything changed the moment I decided to add characters from other franchises, there are some that are still unmovable since as I said at the start of the story, I have the main arc already done. But I have decided to not let anything out about who will be in it and who will not since I don't want to compromise myself into putting them just because I already said they would be in it, sorry if it annoys you. But you can still send me your suggestions regarding who you want to see in it, just make sure to explain to me a little bit of their background if they're not from Naruto or DXD, and what could the bring to the table, I still refuse to add women just for the sake of it, there is a reason Harem stories are so badly looked at and I want to deliver a good story, break the mould and all.**

 **There is a huge revelation in this one and the explanation of it will be at the end of the chapter, so be sure to read it.**

 **Let's get to it then!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

-BITTER-

 **Wish You Were Here**

 _Flashback_

 _Ten year old Sasuke Uchiha found himself sighing as his feet dangled above the surface of the water. He was currently sitting on the pier of the small lake where his father first tested his very first jutsu, the fireball jutsu._

 _Four months have passed since his brother, Itachi Uchiha, slaughtered his own clan and he couldn't deny that he still had trouble believing it. But he knew that it happened, no matter how many times he woke up thinking it had all been just a dream, every time he walked down the stairs, his mother was not there to kiss him good morning, nor his father was there to nod at him sternly._

 _And certainly, Itachi was not there to smile at him and flick his forehead as usual._

 _But despite the loneliness, he still managed to make do. Mustering enough strength to continue going to the Academy, if just to get strong enough to avenge his clan and kill his own brother for what he'd done._

 _"_ _Damn heat." He muttered to himself while he sighed, not liking the recent heat wave that assaulted the Leaf._

 _"_ _Hey…" A voice the Uchiha recognised well said behind him, making the blackette turn to look at the silver-haired boy known as Naruto Uzumaki. Regarding the prankster, Sasuke found himself strangely comfortable around him, despite knowing that he was Itachi's apprentice and that Naruto himself saw the elder Uchiha as his own brother, it didn't deter Sasuke from the fact that the Uzumaki without a doubt shared his pain, it strangely made it easier for the two to go by. Though they hadn't really spoke to each other after that day on this very same lake, eliciting a raised eyebrow on his paled face as the Uzumaki continued talking, "I was gon get some ice cream, want some?"_

 _Sasuke felt a little shocked to see him apparently asking him to hang out, something that no one had ever done before, though we knew well that it was mainly because he purposefully made himself to be an arrogant asshole, he liked solitude and found that it was the only way for him to get it. But despite himself, an ice cream did sounded really good under this weather, so he just nodded slightly before he stood up and walked right next to the Uzumaki, both of them silent all the way._

 _Sasuke noted the slight discomfort of the ice cream man as he gave them their purchases, though the Uchiha didn't really know if it was because of Naruto or him, as nowadays some people seem to look at the Uchiha with pity, something that bothered him greatly._

 _"_ _So…" Naruto started saying once they found a nice place to sit on, staring at the front as some smaller kids played around, "Fricking heat, am I right?" The ex-blond chuckled clumsily, knowing how lame he sounded just now._

 _Sasuke found himself unable to stop the snort from coming, licking his ice cream before he replied, "Isn't the weather something you bring up to a girl for an ice breaker?"_

 _Naruto coughed a little, scratching his scruff sheepishly as he said, "Y-Yeah yeah… I know…" He sighed, licking his sweet before he added, this time more seriously, "It's just… awkward."_

 _Sasuke nodded, understanding completely what his fellow ninja-wannabe was talking about._

 _The two then fell into a silence, both of them focusing on their ice cream, not really knowing what to say or do. It took the Uchiha quite a while to suck his own pride to say, almost whispering, "You… y-you beat me." He was talking about today, in which during their usual spar at the Academy, Naruto for the first time defeated him, and quite easily in fact, making Sasuke realise that the silverette had indeed always held back on their spars._

 _Naruto sighed, his head down while he replied, "Yeah."_

 _Silence again, both of them struggling to find anything to say to the other. It was strange really, it was as if both wanted to be close to each other as much as they wanted to stay away from the other._

 _Sasuke then said after a long sigh, almost resigned, "W-Will…" He struggled for a little bit, his Uchiha pride trying to stop him from wording his request, "Will you… t-train me?" He managed to say it at last, almost blushing at the embarrassment of practically admitting that Naruto was the strongest._

 _Naruto snapped his head towards the blackette in a second after he registered the heir's words, his eyes wide while his mouth was slightly agape, saying after some moments, "Y-You want me…" He pointed at himself, unbelievingly, "To train ya!?"_

 _Sasuke grumbled under his breath, closing his eyes while sighing before he opened them again and while focusing on the distance, he answered, "Yes…" He could picture the Uzumaki's disbelief, so he explained, "You are… were… my brot…" It even hurt to think of him, "I-Itachi's apprentice…" He saw out of the corner of his eye how Naruto winced at the name, feeling the very same pain at the moment, "If w-we are going to beat him, then we have to get as strong as we can." He finished._

 _Naruto raised an eyebrow, greatly surprised as he said, "We?"_

 _Sasuke just nodded, heavy for a second before he said with a small smirk, "You said it yourself that day, didn't you?…" He looked towards where the lake was, "Back at the lake…" Naruto nodded at him, prompting the Uchiha to add, "I guess you have as much right to avenge my mother as I do."_

 _Naruto stared at Sasuke for some moments, completely baffled. He knew that the Uchiha was setting his pride aside to ask for his help, it was something monumental as far as he could tell since for what both Itachi and Mikoto told him once, the Uchiha were an extremely prideful clan, almost to a dangerous level._

 _Naruto did considered it for a moment, not really knowing what to say. It wasn't that he didn't wanted to teach the last loyal Uchiha what he knew, it was just that he had somewhat vowed to never use anything Itachi taught him, he was still incredibly angry, confused and hurt for the elder's betrayal. But he then came to a conclusion, he hasn't spoken to anyone, only Kakashi but barely, maybe having a friend that truly understood what he felt, would be helpful._

 _So the Uzumaki sighed and nodded with a smirk, saying, "Aight then fool, ya fool!…" He stood up excitedly, not even waiting for the Uchiha as he started making his way towards the nearest training ground, "Let's go! There's no time like today to start!"_

 _Sasuke actually snorted as he observed the slightly younger boy walking away, muttering some things that the Uchiha couldn't really understand. But somehow, the Uzumaki's excitement was infecting him as well, prompting the Uchiha to stand up and make to walk beside the Uzumaki, for the moment trusting his gut that was telling him that he could do well with a friend by his side._

 _End Flashback_

Sasuke couldn't help but smile a little at the memory, it was without a doubt one of his fondest. He really didn't knew why he started remembering it all of a sudden, more so when he was completely focused on his training at the moment, which was getting the 'Bringer of Darkness' genjutsu down.

He dodged the kunai his sensei threw at him, smirking as he could almost feel his third tomoe, he knew it was near from activating and once it did, he could finally step up his level, hopefully even capable of surpassing Naruto.

The Uchiha then started making a set of hand seals, saying once he was finished, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" A small barrage of balls of fire was then shot at the silver-haired jōnin who quickly made a set of seals of his own.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" Kakashi declared as he pounded the ground with his palms, the place shaking slightly before a wall of mud sprouted form the soil, shielding the Hatake form the fire his student sent at him. Kakashi suddenly widened his eyes however, when he heard the distinctive chirping of lightning heading his way, forcing the Copy Ninja to jump away from his spot, barely managing to avoid the powerful wolf made of lightning that crashed against where he once stood.

Sasuke panted, already feeling his chakra at low levels since the lightning wolf was one of his strongest attacks, thus, one of the most taxing.

Kakashi feeling exhausted himself, landed again on the ground and after covering his sharingan, walked towards his tired student, patting his head as he said proudly, "You're almost there Sasuke, I can feel it…" The Uchiha nodded with a small smile, "Now…" Kakashi started adding, "Why don't you come with me? Hanare is making tomato soup, your favourite."

Sasuke almost beamed at his sensei's words, his obsession with the fruit almost as big as Naruto's with ramen. So wanting to spend time with the man he saw as a father figure as well as with his brother and Hanare who always treated him like a mother would, nodded quickly, cleaning the dust from his clothes before he started walking behind his mentor.

He once again was incapable to stop the small content smile from showing on his face.

* * *

Danzō walked through the corridors of his creepy base, almost no light to illuminate the way, though it didn't deterred him in the slightest since despite being in his old age, his senses were still almost as sharp as when he was back in his prime.

The Root leader was not walking alone, as his two strongest soldiers were dutifully guarding his back, none of them uttering a single thought as they all approached their destination.

Terai immediately moved before the old warmonger in order to open the door for him, the bandaged man walking inside the room with Ryū in tow before Terai fell into step again, the three of them walking towards the beautiful woman scribbling something on a small notebook as she observed a window.

"Chief Asogi…" Danzō said to the woman who now realised that their leader was here, the female standing in attention. Rin Asogi was without a doubt a beauty, dark-green wavy hair that reached just above her butt, her creamy skin glowing slightly with the light of the room as her piercing emerald green eyes were covered by a pair of glasses, her face gentle and alluring, but her eyes did showed a little bit of sadism in them. The woman listened intently as the Shimura veteran added an inquiry, "Is everything good to go?" He was not pleased with the fact that they had to wait more than they had originally thought, it gave the Uchiha more time to control the curse mark even more. But thankfully for what Terai could gather, the last loyal Uchiha was still incapable of fully controlling Orochimaru's power, meaning that they still had a chance.

Rin nodded slightly, turning to look back at her notes as she replied, "Yes sir, the complications that aroused during the awakening are now dealt with…" She then focused back on the glass beside her, saying after, "Everything is in order to begin."

Danzō actually smiled slightly, unable to hide his excitement at knowing that he was finally going to be able to destroy that snake bastard. Orochimaru had tampered with his plans way too much, even more so than what the Shimura foresaw, and it was time to return the favour.

"Excellent…" The Shimura started saying before he focused on Terai to order, "Terai, you know what to do."

Terai nodded and grabbed a camera from the desk, aiming it at the window and snapping some pictures, opening the camera after in order to get the photographs out and keep one on his pocket, nodding at his leader once he was done.

Danzō just nodded and said, "Now go and wait for the right time, preferably during the middle of the night."

Terai bowed and replied, "Yes milord, it shall be done." The masked ninja then walked out of the room, leaving Danzō, Ryū and Rin alone.

Danzō then focused back on the window, asking to the head of his conditioning program, "Can we expect any complications?"

Rin sighed, crossing her arms below her bust before she replied, "Nothing beyond the shock of the experience…" She then hummed a little, thinking about other stuff before she added, "Perhaps some inability to move or something like that."

Danzō nodded, saying after some moments of pondering, "That is good, it'll make it easier when he have to get rid of her."

Rin raised an eyebrow, seeing why would the war-hawk want to get rid of the woman. It didn't interfered with her personal goal, so it didn't mattered for the greenette but still, wanting to point something out, she asked, "Mmm, wouldn't the Uchiha stop his mission if you kill her?"

Danzō nodded, stating as he made his way towards the door, nothing else left to do for the moment but to wait, "Yes, that is why we will kill her after our jinchūriki kills him…" He smirked and stopped a little, adding, "The Uchiha will be branded as a traitor, I will make sure of that…" He then looked back at the two females, saying over his shoulder, "And if we play our cards right, then the Namikaze will be the one to kill the Uchiha, he will be left broken and without a cause, easy enough for us to pick him up."

Rin just nodded with a small shrug, not really caring one way or another, she had her own mission and all she needed was the Shimura, dead or alive.

Grayfia for her part just gritted her teeth as she started walking behind the old man, feeling incredible hatred for this man coursing hotly through her body, somehow managing to suppress it all otherwise Danzō would realise. Everything she just heard disgusted her, it definitely made her feel even more at odds with what she would do during the mission she had along with Naruto.

But, the silver-haired beauty calmed herself down a little, trying to convince herself that she had nothing to do with this, she had to focus on her mission for the coming days. One way or another, she had to find out what was Naruto's relationship with the woman being held in that medical room, the thought to be dead matriarch, Mikoto Uchiha.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke laid lazily above the Hatake's house, on the roof, both looking at the darkening sky as they rested the delicious food they just had, courtesy of Hanare.

It was this type of moments that both Leaf ninja enjoyed the most, where they got to just be quiet and enjoy each other's company, not needing a single word to enjoy the moment, they were brothers and knew each other better than anyone else, there was no need for words.

Naruto sighed and turned his head to his side slightly, looking at his brother to say, "Yo, Teme…" The Uchiha grunted, acknowledging the silverette, prompting the Namikaze to continue, "Ya remember that time I pranked you at the same time you did me?" He started laughing at the mere memory, probably one of the funniest he had.

Sasuke just snorted, his eyes still closed but his mouth tugging up a little, finding the memory amusing instead of annoying as it once used to be, "How could I fricking forget about it, Dobe?"

 _Flashback_

 _Naruto couldn't help but snicker lowly as he made his way towards his home, unable to count the moments in which he knew that his black-haired best friend will be running around the village, hopefully, stark naked if anything goes according to plan._

 _He had managed to sneak a rumour into Sasuke's fan club that the Uchiha was going to choose a girlfriend by the end of the day, all they had to do was go to his house and wait for him to appear. The Uchiha of course knew nothing about it, neither did he knew that Naruto had devised a way to insure that once Sasuke steps into a specific spot, hell will break loose._

 _The ex-blond was so excited about his ultimate prank that he failed to realise that once he reached the door to his apartment, he had stepped on a strange symbol, written with black ink on the floor right before his door._

 _By the time the Uzumaki heard a noise, it was already too late since suddenly, right from below him, a large blast of corrosive liquid shot at him, Naruto screaming as he felt his clothes melting, realising that the liquid was a special kind of acid made to dissolve protective gear._

 _The son of the Fourth cursed as he immediately started to undress completely, knowing that there was no way to get rid of the acid and by the time it finished his clothes, the acid will start to affect his skin, and he did not wanted that._

 _"_ _Uff…" Naruto sighed relieved as he finally took out his pants, his boxers being the only thing that stayed on his body, thought it was also being affected by the acid. But just before he could even do anything else, a raging scream was heard coming from right behind him, dozens of more feminine screams joining the first one, making Naruto gulp as he slowly turned his face behind to see the most horrific of his nightmares coming to fruition, the whole bunch that made out his fan-girls group was standing right in front of his house, all of them blushing and squealing as they observed the man of their dreams with only a pair of boxers, Naruto quickly grasping the small piece of cloth that remained to ensure that they didn't saw the goods, "Fuck…" That was all he managed to mutter before the girls jumped at him, Naruto trying to open his door and cursing when he realised that it was locked and it was too late to get the spare keys he had hidden below the rug, his only course of action now, was to run, "Sasuke!" He screamed as he tried to escape the hormonal mob._

 _At the Uchiha estate, in the main house of the now deserted clan compound, the lone inhabitant of it smirked as he could almost hear the screaming of Naruto's fan-girls, knowing that for the first time, someone actually pull one on the infamous 'King Prankster of Hell', "Had to be me." He whispered, proud of himself._

 _He knew that it was a harsh one but the Uzumaki certainly deserved it with all the pranks he's been pulling on him as of lately, it was long due in the Uchiha's opinion._

 _The blackette was so immersed in his accomplishment that he failed to realise two crucial things as he stepped into his shower, a towel being the only thing covering his privates. One, the excited murmurs that started to sound right outside his home, and two, the strange symbol he just stepped on._

 _It was too late when he finally fell his body being pulled to a different place, coughing a little as the smoke from the summoning cleared before him, making him realise that he was outside his house, "What the…" He started saying, but couldn't finish when he heard a collective gasp from right behind him._

 _He knew, oh he fucking knew what was behind him, he could almost feel the females hormones raging in their bodies, trying to get out of them and lunge at their target, who happened to be him._

 _"_ _SASUKE!" One of them screeched so loud that it almost made him wish he couldn't hear, his ears hurting even more when the rest of the females screamed alongside her, all of them lunging at him once they recovered from the shock._

 _"_ _D-Dammit!…" Sasuke cursed under his breath as he tried to run into his house, cursing again when some of the older females managed to surround him and stopped him from entering. He could see that the only escape he had now, was to get out of the compound and try to lose them in the village, so he just sighed and managed to substitute himself with a log from a near tree, making a run towards the village as he screamed, "Naruto!"_

 _Surprisingly, after ten minutes of running around, Naruto and Sasuke came across each other, both stopping right before the other, not knowing whether to laugh at the other, or to try and murder each other._

 _"_ _Dobe." Sasuke said in between gritted teeth, tightly grasping the towel on his waist._

 _"_ _Teme." Naruto matched the Uchiha's harsh tone, his hold on his ripped boxer as strong as the one Sasuke had on the towel._

 _Just before the two could do anything, a not so far away female voice screamed, "There he i-is!"_

 _Not needing anything more since the other mob was also quickly approaching, no doubt both fan clubs will lose their minds once they saw that the two most desired teens in the village were almost naked and defenceless, both just looked at each other and gulped, nodding at one another and quickly running in opposite directions, deciding to leave the killing for after they get rid of the furious women, and some men, that were hot on their tails, though both knew that it was going to be one hell of a night._

 _It was that day that the legendary 'Hunt A Hunk' chase would come to be, a day no one in the Leaf will ever dare to forget._

 _End Flashback_

Both teenagers couldn't help but laugh even louder as they recollected the event, it was without a doubt, one heck of a night. It took them almost five hours to finally lose the mobs, both of them finding hiding in the middle of the Forest of Death, luckily, the young girls didn't had the courage to walk into the deadly place.

Naruto massaged his stomach after the laughter attack he was just assaulted with subdued, wiping some tears from his eyes as he commented, "Damn boi, gotta give it to 'em fools, they knew what they wanted." He laughed again.

Sasuke too laughed, though more subdued this time, adding as he shook his head, "I still can't believe you actually went that far."

Naruto chuckled, saying back, "I still can't believe that YOU, the infamous brooding Uchiha, actually pulled a joke on ME! The famous king of pranks!"

Sasuke snickered after that, closing his eyes again as he whispered, "Yeah well, you deserved it."

Naruto just shook his head, his eyes closing before he muttered with a smile, "Can't argue that."

Both then fell again into their usual comfortable silence, enjoying the breeze of the peaceful night that showered them. It was definitely in moments like this that the two remembered why, just why they were so inseparable.

* * *

Sasuke jumped through the roofs as he enjoyed the breeze of the night. He had spent the rest of the day in the Hatake household, chatting with the people he has come to see as family, even enjoying the teasing that Hanare was giving him regarding Sakura as Naruto had 'accidentally' let it slip that he may, might, probably had feelings for the pinkerette of their team.

That fucking Dobe.

But it was certainly refreshing, not even with his biological family he had such wonderful memories, truthfully, only with his beloved mother did he shared some special moments, moments that drove him through the day and to avoid becoming an avenger going mad.

With his father, Sasuke had relative to no relationship whatsoever. The Uchiha patriarch practically spent all of his day on his office at the Police HQ, only coming home to dinner and sleep. Heck, for what he could tell from seeing at his mother, Fugaku didn't even paid attention to her, he was sure that had his mother not being the matriarch of the clan, she would've probably filed for divorce long ago, it was no secret that she was not happy.

And as for Itachi, well, he had a lot moments with him, good, bad and neutral. Before Naruto, Itachi was the one with which he spent almost all of his day, well, whenever the eldest son had time of course, he was after all, an ANBU captain.

But even so, Itachi was still quite reserved, something that apparently was also true for Naruto since while Itachi did showed him as much love as he did Sasuke, the Uchiha traitor was still somewhat stoic with both, smiling here and there, but that was it.

So barring his mother, Sasuke found it refreshing to be around cheerful people like the Hatake family, sometimes wishing he wasn't so stubborn when Kakashi invited him to live with them. But seeing as Naruto didn't really lived there, the Namikaze had his own apartment a couple of steps away from Kakashi's home as well as having a room inside Sasuke's house, which he used at least once a week, Sasuke decided to be strong and remain in his own home, he still had some good things to remember there after all.

The Uchiha suddenly stopped when he reached a particularly deserted park right before the Uchiha compound, capable of feeling four different chakra signatures that he knew did not belonged to the Leaf, "Show yourselves." Sasuke muttered, not at all frightened, he was Kakashi's apprentice, there was no room for hesitance in that title.

Just after he spoke, four figures appeared surrounding him, the four people smirking devilishly as a strange slender man with what seemed to be another head on his back said after a snicker, "Well, well, well, not so defenceless, I see." The strange man had light-bluish hair, long enough to cover one of his eyes, green lipstick on his lips while black markings surrounded his eyes, his strange head sharing the same thing. He was wearing a black shirt and black shorts with a brown tunic over them, an arrogant smirk on his face at all times.

The largest man of them all, a ninja with three weird tufts of orange hair on his otherwise bald head, his eyes as orange as his hair while he kept them almost perpetually narrowed, his face scrunched as if angry, wearing a similar attire to the rest, "He's still crushable though." He added as he crossed his arms, not at all impressed with the Uchiha.

A dark skinned shinobi crossed his incredibly freaky six arms, his black shaggy hair tied in a lone ponytail, similar to that of Shikimaru, a hugely ridiculous purple rope-like belt on his waist as he scoffed, adding to his teammates' words, "Don't even understand what's the big deal with this guy."

The last one of the group, a short and slender female with fiery red hair, almost similar to that of Kushina, though less lively. She had dark brown eyes and had an impassive look on her face, her attire similar to the rest while she also had a hat that seemed to serve to keep her hair in place, Sasuke had to admit that the female was quite the looker despite her rough exterior, "Let's just fucking get this over with." She spoke, her temper suddenly broken as she showed the nervousness of being in the strongest village without permission.

Sasuke finished his survey of them, capable of discern the cursed marks on their necks, meaning that this ninja worked for the snake traitor, surely here to either abduct him, or convince him to go, "Finish with your introductions?" Sasuke just said dryly as he crossed his arms, not at all frightened or worried by the four who were by no means weak, he still knew he could hold his own against them.

The Sound-nin did lost their smirks once they realised that their target was not even winded by the threat they posed, making the strange two headed male say, "Well, I guess I can see why Lord Orochimaru is interested in you."

Sasuke just snorted, saying, "Juts get to the point…" His eyes suddenly turned to the two tomoe sharingan, the Sound-nin trying to scoff at him, but found themselves strangely unnerved when purple smoke started to surround the boy, all of them knowing that he was willingly calling on the curse's power, probably to show them that he could control it, to an extent at least, "My patience is practically non-existent." He added with his red eyes aimed at the apparent leader.

"Fuck." The redhead cursed under her breath, tensing along with the rest of her team, only her leader seemed to regain his wits.

"Alright, alright…" The blue-haired male started saying, trying to calm the blackette down otherwise he could alert nearby ninja due to the sudden chakra peak, "I can see that you already know why we're here."

Sasuke stopped the flow of his chakra, his eyes turning back to his onyx colour before he said, "Why should I even listen then?…" He shrugged, not really finding any reason for why he should go to Orochimaru, "There is nothing that the snake paedophile can offer me that's good enough to make me defect."

The Uchiha was surprised to see that the four ninja seemed to be angered by his comment on their leader, Sasuke hiding his smirk as he saw why his brother loved to rile his opponents all the time, it certainly made the job a lot more entertaining.

"How about more power, you dipshit?" The fiery redheaded female said, almost ready to jump at the blackette.

The leader added, "I can see that you are able to control the curse mark to an extent…" The strange man then smirked, adding, "But you haven't even unlocked the second stage of it, if you're using its power, then that means that you understand how useful it is, imagine how stronger can you get if you unlock the second stage."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man talking, actually considering the new information. The power that the curse mark was without a doubt undeniable, it definitely gave him a huge boost, enough to match his brother's current strength, and that was no easy feat.

But still, he was happy with his current life, he couldn't really find any reason to leave, he could get as strong here with his brother, "Tempting…" The Uchiha started saying, the Sound Four smirking before they frowned by the boy's next words, "But not enough…" He started walking away, passing by the two headed male as he said, "I suggest you leave before anyone else notices your presence."

The leader of the Sound Four growled, knowing that there was no way that they could go back to Orochimaru empty handed. The problem was that they could not kidnap him, because he was strong, maybe even stronger than them, a fight with him right now, will only attract unwanted attention. So, the Sound-nin resorted to his trump card, saying with a small smirk, "Too bad, because for what Lord Orochimaru told me, he was willing to tell you all about his time as Itachi Uchiha's partner, everything he learned from him…" He stopped his smug laugh from coming when he saw the blackette stopping on his tracks, "Give it a thought, we will be waiting for you ten kilometres at west from here." He then nodded at his teammates and the four disappeared, knowing that the temptation was already present in the Uchiha.

Sasuke actually found himself leaning towards accepting, his darker thoughts winning over his rationality at the moment. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply though, opening them later as he kept his hands on his pockets and made his way home, muttering with a small smirk on his face, "Not enough."

* * *

Sasuke knew, he immediately knew that something was off the moment he walked into his home, he could feel a presence inside and since it did not belonged to his brother, he knew that said presence had no business in his home.

The thing was though, that the presence seemed to know that Sasuke knew about him or her, since there was no sign of alarm when the Uchiha walked into his home.

"What?…" Sasuke mumbled when after he walked inside, he noticed that there was a lone photograph right below him, flipped over, not letting him see what showed. It was after he picked it up that his eyes widened while his heart suddenly stopped, his mouth agape while his eyes remained frozen on the image.

"Lord Danzō wishes to speak with you…" The voice of the intruder suddenly was heard, but Sasuke didn't even looked at him, Terai could see that the Uchiha heir was completely shocked to see the picture, "I trust you understand who holds the cards here?"

Sasuke felt his anger rising to heights he didn't even knew existed, his hatred towards a man he barely knew now surpassing the one he had for Itachi by far, he knew very well what was going on, though he still couldn't tell whether the picture was real or not. So knowing that he needed to make sure and that he knew what was next, Sasuke made to lean on a nearby desk, seemingly trying to catch himself from falling. Though unnoticed by the Root ninja, Sasuke had sneakily used the façade to switch pictures with one of the few that rested above the desk, breathing harshly as his hands tightened their grip on the picture.

Terai observed the Uchiha with a critical eye, pleased to see that he was reacting as expected. The Root member just pushed on, "Well?"

Sasuke looked at the man out of the corner of his eye, a serene look on his face as he inhaled, straightening himself again and saying, "Lead the way."

Terai nodded but before they moved, he snatched the picture from the Uchiha's hands and burnt it with a fire jutsu, knowing that there was no need for it anymore.

During the way, Sasuke considered everything he thought the Shimura wanted from him, but ultimately all he could think of was maybe his genes, he knew that his mother was no longer able to conceive so she was useless for breeding, leaving him and Itachi as the only ones capable to create more Uchiha. But he didn't thought that that was the case since for what the old man Sarutobi had told him, Danzō was one of the main protesters against restoring the Uchiha bloodline, meaning that he only held his mother, if she truly was her, for the purpose of forcing him to do something for him, and the only thing that clicked his mind at the moment, was Orochimaru.

Sasuke then cursed under his breath as he walked into the secret entrance, his hatred for the war-hawk growing even more when he realised that his base ran below the Uchiha compound, wondering how in the hell was the old fool capable of building it without anybody noticing.

"Lord Danzō is waiting for you inside." Terai said to the boy once they reached a door, stepping aside to allow the Uchiha entrance.

Sasuke walked into the room, his face impassive and not betraying a thing, only faltering when once inside, he saw the old war-hawk, calmly looking through a glass that gave view to another room. Sasuke felt his heart clutching when he saw the woman he loved the most right before him, there was no doubt that it was Mikoto. She was submerged in some sort of tank, a short and a bra covering her modesty while a mask provided oxygen for her, floating in the water, a calm expression on her face.

"The liquid is the only thing keeping her alive…" Danzō began, his eyes never wandering from the powerful matriarch, "It has taken us quite a long time to keep her stable enough for this."

Sasuke balled his fists, somehow managing to keep calm, he knew that he was surprising the man by his calm attitude and that was exactly the point, Kakashi had taught him that during such circumstances, the best way to make your enemy falter, was to show them that you had no fear. He just took in his mother for some moments, wanting nothing more than to get her out of there and protect her from the world, but he managed to inquire, "How is she alive?" He wanted to kill this son of a bitch so bad but he knew that at the moment, he held all the cards, the only thing Sasuke could do now, was play along and get as much information as he could.

Danzō frowned a little, not liking how the Uchiha was behaving, he was too calm for his liking. But even so, the old ninja knew that he had the boy in his hands now, so he replied, "It was definitely a surprise but for what my men found, she was next to Fugaku, barely alive…" He looked at the young man for the first time, adding, "It appears that Itachi missed her heart."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, finding it extremely suspicious that Danzō had time to get his hands on his family before the Hokage, because he knew that the Sarutobi had no idea about this. There was another thing he found suspicious, stating as much when he said, "Itachi doesn't miss." He knew that there was no way for Itachi to miss the woman's heart.

Danzō narrowed his lone eye at the Uchiha, turning towards the matriarch again before he commented, "Indeed, meaning that he let her live on purpose, or something happened that made him miss."

Sasuke widened his eyes for a millisecond when something clicked, remembering when Naruto told him that he had managed to throw a shuriken at Itachi's hand before he stabbed Mikoto, meaning that the Namikaze had actually saved the woman he loved. But knowing that there was something more important to attend at the moment, he narrowed his eyes, looking at his mother as he said, "I suppose that you want me to do something for you, giving me my mother once I'm done?"

Danzō frowned, not entirely liking the way the boy was acting, but still being confident in his plan, he nodded slightly, saying, "Impressive indeed, most would've cracked by now…" He looked at the Uchiha, who was completely unwavered, "But you are not most…" Seeing that the boy was not going to say anything, Hiruzen's rival continued, "It's very simple actually, I want you to kill Orochimaru."

Sasuke looked back at the man for the first time, a raised eyebrow after he listened to his words. It took the Uchiha some time to actually understand what was going on, the bastard was the one that helped Orochimaru during the attempted invasion. The Hokage himself had told him and Naruto that he believed that Danzō was the traitor, but he had nothing to prove it so couldn't go after him. The old Sarutobi only warned them to be extremely careful around Danzō, since apparently the man was getting bolder with his moves, something that the Uchiha could attest now with utmost certainty.

But since Sasuke didn't wanted to endanger his loved ones by revealing that he knew the truth and that he wasn't the only one, he sighed and turned back to see his mother, saying after, "So you want me to defect?"

Danzō nodded, stating, "Yes…" He looked at the boy, speaking once again, "I don't care how you do it, or how much does it takes you, just do it…" He looked at the woman again, continuing, "Do it and I'll not only give you your mother back, but I will personally make sure that you are not branded as a traitor when you do come back."

Sasuke knew that the man was lying, there was no way that Danzō would let him live after he completed the mission, he just knew. But playing the fool for now, Sasuke narrowed his onyx eyes and asked, "How do I know you'll keep her alive? How do I know you'll keep your word?"

"How do I know you'll keep yours?…" Danzō begin countering, surprising Sasuke at how good the man truly was with this game of chess, "I'm not stupid, Uchiha, you'll get really strong under Orochimaru, you have to if you are to have a chance at killing him…" Danzō focused on the boy to finish, unwavered, "Don't act as if you'll gain nothing from this, both of us have something to win and something to lose, at the moment though, I am the one that has the say."

Sasuke suppressed the predatory smirk that threatened to appear on his face, he had to give it to the old man, he was definitely a very dangerous player. But he scowled, a small growl to admit defeat, he sighed deeply, closing his eyes before he basked them on his mother's presence for a moment, walking towards the door as he said, "You make sure to keep your end of the deal, I'm not the only one that will destroy you if something happens to my mother again."

Danzō narrowed his eye as he observed the Uchiha leaving, knowing that he was going to do as he was told. But something, something in those last words made the old war-hawk actually falter, he didn't know why, but there was a feeling in his gut that told him to heed the Uchiha's words, "No matter…" He muttered as he brought his gaze back to the matriarch, adding with a small smirk, "By the time this is over and Orochimaru is dead, I should already be Hokage." Root was the Leaf's only salvation, and he as the village's true hero, he had a responsibility to save it from its foolish leaders, he was their only chance at survival.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _Sasuke woke up suddenly, turning his head around as he rubbed his eyes, trying to dissect why he had woken up. It didn't took him long to realise that it was still the middle of the night, a small grumble coming from his stomach, letting him know that hunger was the reason for his sleep deprivation._

 _He sat on the bed, sighing a little before he stretched and yawned, standing up and making his way downstairs to get something to eat._

 _He raised an eyebrow however, when he saw that the lights on the first floor of the house were on, some noises coming from below. For a second he felt alarmed, thinking that someone might have broken in, it wouldn't be the first time. But he then saw that the door of the guest room was open, a room that he gave to Naruto, so he calmed down when he realised that the silverette was probably the one downstairs._

 _The Uchiha heir continued walking down the stairs, turning to his right once he reached the first floor and walked into the living room, rubbing his eyes due to the light before he raised an eyebrow, confused when he saw Naruto holding a glass of milk, transfixed looking at a lone photograph at the end of a desk, his mother being the only person in it._

 _Sasuke knew that Naruto loved his mother deeply, the jinchūriki himself stated so after he accepted the room that Sasuke gave him. Naruto took some time to agree since according to him, any time he walked by the compound, he would remember Mikoto. So the Uchiha could tell that Naruto cared deeply for her, though in what way, he was not so sure._

 _Until now that is, because Naruto had a small blush on his cheeks, looking at the woman's picture dreamily while a sad smile adorned his face._

 _Wanting to be sure once and for all, he leaned on the wall, smirking as he observed the boy he now saw as a sibling not even noticing his presence. Sasuke then just cleared his throat, Naruto immediately turning to look at him, alarmed, his milk spilling all over the place and cursing before Sasuke said, "Something caught your attention, Dobe?"_

 _Sasuke had to suppress his amusement when Naruto blushed even harsher, stuttering when he replied sheepishly, "W-Wha!? N-No!…" The ex-blond scratched his scruff sheepishly, laughing nervously as he continued, "J-Just… u-umm… l-lost in t-t-thought… that i-it, fool!"_

 _Sasuke smirked, muttering, not believing a thing, "Really?…" He started walking towards the blushing jinchūriki, walking past him and stopping right before the picture of his mother, grabbing it and smiling sadly a little before he turned back to his brother, a teasing smirk on his face when he said while pointing at the frame, "Because I could've sworn that your eyes were glued to my mother's photo."_

 _Naruto started sputtering like a fish out of water, thinking, 'D-Damn… h-how do I e-explain this sh-shit, yo!?…' The Uzumaki just tried to play it off, laughing loudly before he declared, "N-Nah! J-Just… umm… r-remembering some moments with h-her… that's all." It wasn't a complete lie._

 _Sasuke though, knew that it wasn't the whole truth either, so he snorted, countering, "You were practically drooling, Dobe…" He lost his teasing mode after some moments of enjoying Naruto's plight as he tried to explain himself, the Uchiha asking seriously all of a sudden, "What do you really felt for her, Naruto?" He wasn't angry, which it even surprised him, he was just genuinely curious._

 _Naruto sighed when he knew that he could no longer hide his feelings, Sasuke already knew him too well and it was almost impossible for him to lie to the Uchiha, so he just scratched his scalp and while aiming his gaze down, whispered, "Aight, I… a-at the time…" He began, inhaling a little before he continued, "I really thought of h-her as… sort of like a mother…" It was somewhat weird for him to explain his feelings for the matriarch, he wasn't even sure he knew the extent of them, "Though now that I think about it, I maybe never really thought o-of her as a mother…" He took the photo from Sasuke, looking at the woman with such adoring eyes that it even surprised the Uchiha, "I only know that I loved… love her."_

 _Sasuke knew that Naruto did not wanted to talk about her, the Uchiha himself also feeling a little uncomfortable with bringing her up, so he only nodded and made his way to the kitchen, listening as Naruto placed the photo back on the desk before he made his way back to his room._

 _They didn't talked about the subject for almost two years._

 _End Flashback_

Sasuke snorted as the memory played in his mind, finding it amusing that his brother fell in love with his mother even before the Uzumaki knew what the hell 'love' meant. Though for what Kakashi once told him, it really showed how genuinely in love Naruto was of Mikoto.

He knew that as his best friend, he should've be weirded out by the fact that Naruto was in love with his mother, and it did bothered him for some time, though he never really thought about it much, he didn't wanted to and thankfully Naruto either. But as his bond with the Uzumaki deepened and once he knew him better than anybody, he started to think that maybe, had his mother survived, he would've pushed her into Naruto's orbit.

Yeah, it sounded weird, he knew, but his reasoning was quite simple, there was no doubt in his mind that Naruto was the only person who would absolutely wage war against the world itself for Mikoto, there was nothing that he wouldn't do to ensure her happiness and as his son, her happiness was his priority, age difference not considered, as much as it even weirded him out, he had to admit that there was no other man with whom he would like to see her begin a new life, perhaps Kakashi.

"It seems that even after all, he will end up taking care of her…" He muttered after a snort, a small sad smile on his face as he finished preparing the essentials for his trip to Orochimaru's base, "They deserve it though, each other." He added with a genuine smile, knowing that after everything the two went through and once his mother awake, undoubtedly crushed by the defection of her two sons, they at least will have each other to lean on, just like he had Naruto.

"D-Dammit." He cursed himself when he noticed the drop of salted water falling on top of his backpack, knowing that he was crying right now.

But he couldn't help it, it hurt, it hurt so fucking much to leave. He was not going to see Sakura anymore, to see where their relationship could go. He was not going to be able to see his mentor again, the man he saw as a father and that has taught him everything he knew. He was not going to be able to see Hanare anymore, the woman who has made sure to be around him and give him as much affection as she could, like Mikoto used to do. Heck, even the Rookie Eleven, he was not going to be able to hang out with them after missions.

He was not going to be able to be with his brother anymore.

Fuck, it hurt, he knew very well that this was probably the end of the road for his and Naruto's path, where they would reach a crossroad and bid each other goodbye to follow their own way. He knew that this was going to devastate Naruto as it was devastating him right now, it broke his fricking heart.

But despite the circumstances in which he was leaving, he could not deny that at the very end, it was for his benefit. He had his own dream, his own ambition and he knew that it would eventually lead him and Naruto into this very crossroad, it was the price for being special.

Jiraiya had once told him and Naruto that they were big players in the game known as life, that the two of them will reach a place in the upcoming events that nobody else could match. But despite the pride it made him feel to know that, he also couldn't forget what Jiraiya warned them about, that the thing that what those who envy their power failed to realise, was that major players were also the ones that ended up having to make the biggest sacrifices, and this one was definitely one of them.

He sighed after some moments, closing his eyes before he grabbed an envelope, grasping it tightly before he placed it at the middle of his bed. He then made his way out of the house, locking the door and resting his forehead on it for some moments before he jumped towards the nearest roof and headed towards his escape route.

The Uchiha enjoyed the breeze of the night for some moments, not daring to look at the direction of his brother's home, knowing that he had to gain as much distance as possible because there was no way in hell that Naruto was not going to come after him, "Stubborn idiot." He muttered with a small sad smile, landing on a path and stopping some seconds to catch his breath.

He didn't realised the familiar female that was sitting on a bench behind him, Sakura gasping when she recognised her crush suddenly appearing, "S-Sasuke?…"

The aforementioned male cursed, closing his eyes while he sighed deeply, berating himself for his carelessness, "Sakura…" He started saying before he looked at her over his shoulder, not capable of facing her fully, "What are you doing here?"

Sakura staggered a little before she walked towards him slowly, her heart beating at a dangerous speed as an ominous pang assaulted her heart, "I-I… I h-had a strange f-feeling…" She clutched her heart, her eyes watery when she continued, "S-Something told me that I h-had to be here…" She felt confused when the Uchiha looked back at the front, noticing his backpack now, her tears falling as she seemed to realise what was going on, "W-Where a-are you… g-going?" She still wanted to believe that it was just a misunderstanding, that he was only out for an early morning stroll.

Sasuke sighed deeply, his head lowering as he whispered an answer, "Away."

Sakura widened her eyes, stuttering, "W-What do y…" She gasped though, when the boy suddenly disappeared from view.

Sasuke later reappeared behind the pinkerette, snaking his arms around her waist, hugging the shocked female from behind and after kissing the back of her head, he whispered, "I'-I'm sorry."

"S-Sasuke…" Sakura managed to whisper back as she held his hands before she suddenly felt a hit on the back of her neck, her world going black while her mind registered the truth, he was leaving the Leaf for good.

Sasuke caught his crush before she hit the ground, managing to restrain all of his feelings as he put her back on the bench, clearing some strands of her pink hair to clear her large forehead, kissing it before he inhaled and started walking towards where the Sound Four awaited for him.

He stopped for some moments, turning behind him to look at his home for what it could probably be the last time, cursing destiny with a smile before he jumped away, disappearing with the night.

* * *

"Then I just heard the pervert screaming like a little girl!…" Naruto said, stopping to laugh a little before he continued, "A bunch of dudes chasing after his perverted ass!" He laughed even harder as the memory seemed more vivid.

The woman before him, a regular looking brown-haired female laughed in kind at the tale. While she might have always hated her late husband's sensei's perverted antics, finding them infuriating, she couldn't deny that sometimes they were funny. The woman was none other than Kushina Uzumaki wearing her henge, she was currently enjoying launch with her once son, feeling extremely happy that he didn't forgot about his promise before he left for the Land of Moon.

She had awoken that day doing the regular things, getting a shower, making some breakfast for her and Yūgao, kissing her daughter goodbye and heading towards the study to meditate in order to recuperate her strength. Her heart of course, longed for the silverette, whenever she was left alone in the Namikaze manor, she would always find herself heading towards the room that was supposed to belong to Naruto, spending all of her day there, occasionally going to visit Hanare who surprisingly, ended up becoming a very good friend, she never denied her information on the boy and she was immensely thankful for that.

But right before she dived into her meditation, somebody knocked on the door, confusing her since she knew that only a few people know she was alive. So she breathed in and focused her senses, a kunai hidden below her sleeve as she walked towards the door, ready for anything.

It came to be quite the happy shock when Naruto was the one waiting at the other side, Kushina finding her words lost as he told her to get ready since he was taking her out for breakfast. She didn't waste any time and did as told, fixing herself before she cursed and applied her henge, meeting the boy downstairs again and following as he took her to the café they were currently in.

They had spent the whole morning chatting amicably, Kushina finding it really hard to not smother the boy with affection, she still saw him as her son after all. But she decided to just enjoy the moments he was willing to give her, she didn't really cared for anything else other than her children.

Kushina giggled, a small blush on her cheeks when she commented, "Serves him right, it may be funny once in a while but most of the times, it's really infuriating."

Naruto couldn't help but curse himself when he felt his heart skip some beats as the woman giggled, Minato's memories assaulting him for a second, reminding him of all the things his biological parents had shared. He managed to control himself however, sighing before he agreed, "I hear ya, but you know the old fool, never gonna change."

Kushina smiled warmly at him, nodding her agreement.

The Uzumaki Princess was about to add something else when all of a sudden, an ANBU wearing a cat mask appeared. Kushina about to greet her daughter since she knew that it was Yūgao, but she stopped when she felt the tension on her, tension slipping into her words as the Captain said, "N-Naruto, Lady Fifth needs you in her office, immediately."

Naruto did not missed the tension, fear and worry Yūgao was feeling, their bond making it as clear as water. He didn't waste any time, nodding and standing up, immediately making his way towards the Hokage Tower, not caring that Kushina was hot behind him, speeding alongside Yūgao.

* * *

Tsunade tried to remain as calm as possible as she observed the team that Shikimaru had assembled composed of Kiba, Chōji and Neji, with the Nara acting as their leader. Beside them, was a sobbing Sakura who was being consoled by Ino, all of them wearing grim expressions as they awaited the last person, the one that everybody knew was going to be near losing his mind.

The Hokage cursed under her breath, damning herself for sending Kakashi to an errand early in the morning, right before her men found Sakura unconscious. Team Seven's leader was going to be out for a couple of hours and since only the genin were available for this, she found herself with the heavy burden of having to choose the strongest of them all to go after the Uchiha.

She saw everybody tense when a serious looking Naruto walked into the room, the henged woman she knew was her surrogate daughter Kushina walking behind him along with her ANBU Captain. Tsunade thought that perhaps, having the Uzumaki here will be a good idea, she was not at a hundred percent back to business, but she was definitely ready to throw a couple of punches, not to say about her vast experience on the field.

Naruto eyed everyone in the room, feeling the worry and fear of the two mates of his that were present augmenting heavily as he walked to stand before the Hokage, his eyes lingering a little on Sakura as she refused to look at him, Naruto's heart being hit by an ominous pang.

"What's going on, Princess?…" Naruto started saying, greatly confused as nobody dared to look at him, not even Tsunade, "You called for me."

Tsunade closed her eyes, opening them a little before she briefly glanced at Shikimaru who nodded his understanding. She then focused on Kushina, who was getting really worried for the atmosphere, but turning back to the one that mattered here, she replied after a sigh, her gaze, that of a Hokage, "Sasuke has defected."

Naruto could feel his world crumbling down, Ddraig cursing inside his host as he used his power to suppress the sudden attempt of the corruption curse to take over, seizing the boy's breaking down the moment it happened. Kurama for her part, channelled some of her chakra in him, trying to be affectionate and calm him down since she could tell that this was going really bad.

Naruto ignored everything however, his eyes suddenly turning red while red smoke started to come off of him, everyone in the room tensing as the boy inquired, his voice now slightly demonic, **"S-Say w-what?"**

Tsunade couldn't look at the boy, glad that he didn't realised that Shikimaru had him locked in place with his shadow prison technique. She focused back on her godson, not able to hide the pain of seeing him crumbling down as she explain, "My men found Sakura knocked unconscious on a bench, it was early in the morning so she had nothing to do there…" She inhaled, noticing how Shikimaru was starting to struggle, "After she woke up, she informed us that she saw Sasuke with a backpack and that he claimed that he was going away."

Naruto remained rooted on his spot, the boy turning to look at his teammate, Sakura wincing and afraid of him as she avoided her gaze, not capable of saying anything, only nod her agreement.

Naruto started having trouble breathing, he knew it was true, he couldn't feel the Uchiha in the village anymore. He had also been feeling a foreboding sensation on his gut for a while now, he knew that they were not lying, **"Then what the fuck are we waiting for!?"** He knew where Sasuke was heading, he knew very well but still, he couldn't understand why he would do that. As far as he knew, Sasuke had told him that he was happy here, they had made a promise back when they were kids, to grow together.

Tsunade tensed, knowing that the jinchūriki was close to losing it, she saw as the genin behind Naruto shared some of their chakra with Shikimaru who was now sweating, Kushina trying with all of her might to refrain herself from hugging her son, knowing already how much his bond to the Uchiha meant for him, something shared by Yūgao.

But the Hokage calmed herself again, replying sternly, "For what some of my men told me, they encountered the four that were with Orochimaru and Kabuto during the invasion, meaning that they are no pushovers…" She rested her chin above her knuckles, narrowing her eyes at Naruto, trying to use her own aura to subdue him, but alas, it was to no avail, "We have to prepare fir…"

She couldn't finish her sentence however, as the silverette exploded, stating, **"Prepare my fucking as…"** Naruto tried to move, but couldn't do it, his eyes lowering to see that Shikimaru was restraining him. He only looked behind, everyone, even his mates and Kushina, cowering at his intense gaze, the boy whispering warningly, " **Shikimaru."**

Kushina couldn't believe what was happening, she knew very well how much Naruto loved Sasuke, he was his brother, his best friend, his rival, his very equal. She couldn't stop herself from tentatively walking towards him, only Ino, Yūgao and Tsunade knowing who the woman truly was as she whispered helplessly, "N-Naruto… p-please…"

Naruto seemed to either not care or not being capable of listening to anything, as he only growled and after a flex of his body, a powerful burst of area threw everyone to the floor, his body now fully covered with his draconic aura, a set of four essence wings on his back as he stated angrily, almost to himself, **"I'm n-not… I'm n-not l-losing my brother… n-not again…"**

Nobody had the strength to hold their worry as they observed how one of their strongest, the goofy friend they all loved, was slowly losing his mind, their heart aching at the sight, nobody could really know what kind of pain he was enduring right now.

Tsunade held her hand up to the ANBU that appeared inside the room, silently ordering them to stand back, Naruto was already very fragile right now and a wrong move could prove catastrophic for them, "N-Naruto… please… calm down…" She pleaded, no longer as a Hokage, but as someone who loved the boy dearly, the pain in her eyes at seeing him like this clear as day.

Naruto did seemed to calm down a little, but not enough, as he still growled angrily before he stated, **"I'm bringing him back…"** He produced a three pronged kunai from his pocket, those on the know widening their eyes and trying to reach him before he could leave. But Naruto was too fast and he threw the kunai with incredible power, his red and angry eyes aimed at the pointy object until he felt it was at a good distance enough, disappearing in a dark crimson flash, the power he had leaving a small burst that once again, made them stumble a little.

Tsunade regain her stance, alarmed and worried as she cursed, "Dammit!…" She looked back at the people inside the room, her heart stopping when she could no longer felt Naruto's presence inside the village, "Mira!…" Kushina shook her head, focusing on the woman she saw as a mother when she used her codename to go around the village, "Lead this team, take Yūgao with you, whatever happens, make sure that at least one of them come back!" Tsunade ordered, breathing harshly, dreading the outcome of this.

Kushina turned her gears around and changed her attitude from that of a worried mother, to that of a hardened warrior, nodding and quickly ordering, "Let's go!"

The genin team felt a little confused as this stranger started ordering them, but a quick glare from the Hokage and all of them feeling worried for their friend made any protest silent as they nodded and followed behind the two elder women, ready to tackle this battle head on.

Ino stayed behind as Sakura lunged herself at her, burying her head on the blonde's chest as Ino whispered soothing words to her. Though the Yamanaka could barely think straight, she was incredibly worried for her love since due to their deep connection through the mark, she could feel his raw emotions as clear as day. The sun that she usually depicted him as, was now raging violently, a dark and hateful red surrounded it as it seemed ready to explode. She knew that all of her Harem sisters were incredibly worried, all of them feeling their mate's distress clearly. But all they could do for now is trust him, trust that he will be capable of beating his own darkness and be ready for when he comes back, he was going to need them more than ever.

* * *

Naruto landed angrily on the ground, his essence wings receding into his back again, his dragon-like cloak disappearing until it was only a thick coat of smoke that covered him. It wasn't that he had calmed down, it was just that Ddraig had told him that for what he could feel from the Sound-nin, they were not worried about Sasuke, meaning that he was not being kidnapped.

No, he was keeping his power down because he knew where this would end, he knew that it would take a confrontation with the Uchiha, so Naruto had to make sure that he had enough strength to fight him, Sasuke was without a doubt his equal after all.

So no longer capable of flying, otherwise he was going to risk wasting too much of his stamina, Naruto started sprinting on all fours, his speed as fast as the Thunder God's, knowing that he had no time to waste, even if it meant doing this on his own since he already had at least a couple of hours ahead of his comrades.

He stopped abruptly however, when he found a large and fat orange-haired man standing before him, a smug smirk on his face as the man spoke, "Well, well, well, you were the one chasing us?…" The man laughed, mocking Naruto as he added, "What a disappointment…" The man focused back on the jinchūriki, oblivious to the danger he was truly in, "But I guess, you'll at least make for a fine meal."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, growling like an enraged beast, the man shivering confused as Naruto spoke, his voice deep and demonic, **"I don't have time for you."**

The man, for some strange reason, completely lost his arrogant demeanour when he suddenly felt the aura around them thickening, dropping some degrees as his body shivered in what he could recognise as fear, "W-What a…" He couldn't finish his sentence however, as Naruto had already passed him, the man struggling as he gurgled, "U-Urgh." When he brought his hands to his neck, the man now realised that the boy had shredded his throat, his eyes losing life seconds after.

Naruto didn't even looked back as he continued running towards the rest of the Sound-nin, knowing that Sasuke had to be with them.

"Who the fuck are you!?" A rough female voice suddenly made the Namikaze stop, realising that he was finally before the other three ninja. Though there was a new one in the mix, a white-haired male who Naruto could tell was the strongest of the team.

"Wasn't Jirōbō supposed to take care of whoever was chasing us?" The dark skinned male that had six arms added, his body tense as he could feel the danger the newcomer posed.

"Look at his hands." The white-haired male then pointed out dryly, above a branch, not at all afraid of Naruto.

The remaining Sound Four widened their eyes when they did as told, gulping when the boy started growling as a large amount of blood coated his clawed hand, the enemy ninja realising that the identified Jirōbō was more than likely already dead.

"Deal w…" The white-haired man was starting to say before the large cylindrical coffin he was carrying started to make noises, the Sound ninja being forced to let go of the box as the lid was thrown away from the inside, smoke coming off the moment nothing covered the container.

Naruto widened his eyes when he caught a glimpse of his brother, though this time, Sasuke seemed to be a little bit deranged, his body covered with black markings while purple smoke covered his frame.

Sasuke couldn't believe how strong he felt, he had to give it to Orochimaru, the power of his curse mark was without a doubt great. He caught a familiar scent however, making him turn to look at his side to where his brother was watching him wide-eyed, the Uchiha managing to suppress a momentary pang on his heart in order to look at the Sound-nin, stating, "Deal with him." He dashed away then, an incredible boost to his speed as he disappeared in a second.

"Who the fuck put him in charge!?" The red-head stated angrily, preparing her stance anyway since she knew that they will have to deal with the strange boy one way or another.

"Do as Lord Sasuke says, Tayuya…" The white-haired man spoke commandingly as his body was suddenly pierced by his own bones, preparing his stance while he added, "All we have to do is to stall him enough time."

Naruto snarled, his anger rising to dangerous levels as he could already feel that Sasuke was gaining a huge advantage. So knowing that he had no time to deal with these ninja, he gathered as much essence as he could and after he felt enough, he stood up on two feet and declared, **"Doomsday!"** He clashed his palm with the soil, the ground trembling for some moments before an insane amount of spikes started sprouting from the earth.

The Sound-nin found themselves forced to dodge the deathly spikes, knowing that there was no way to break those as they were made of pure mineral.

Once the attack ended, the Sound-nin looked towards where the boy was supposed to be, the two headed male saying with a stutter, "D-Damn… is he g-gone?"

Nobody said a thing as they all kept their eyes on where the Leaf ninja was supposed to be, now no one in sight, "W-We can still catch him!" Tayuya said before she made to run towards where the boy surely headed, chasing after her leader's new vessel.

The apparent leader however, stopped them, stating as he narrowed his eyes at the distance, "No, there are more signatures coming, two of them particularly strong…" He heard his team cursing, all of them turning their bodies to where their leader was looking at as he continued, "If the boy is indeed worthy of Lord Orochimaru, than he should be able to deal with the silver-haired brat."

The other three Sound-nin readied their stances, all of them calling on their curse's first state since for what they could tell from their leader's aura, the ones coming will definitely pose a problem.

* * *

"Sasuke!" Naruto screamed at his brother once he landed on top of a giant statue of Hashirama Senju. It took him a couple of minutes to catch up to the Uchiha, though Naruto knew that Sasuke stopped at this very same location for a reason, a poetic one even, _'Valley of the End… how fitting…'_ He thought as he calmed down a little, his eyes not leaving his brother who had his back turned on him as he stood above an opposing statue of Madara Uchiha.

Sasuke remained quiet for some moments, pondering on what to say at the moment, "Naruto." He spoke calmly, turning slowly to face the silverette, black markings covering his whole body as his two tomoe sharingan flared dangerously.

"What the fuck are you doing!?…" Naruto screamed angrily, leaning on when he added, his boosted aura flaring as vivid as his emotions, "Didn't we promised to do this together!? Are you that stupid to go to that snake for power!?"

Sasuke closed his eyes, inhaling as he tried to find the right words, opening once he did to speak, "We both knew this day would come, Naruto, the day where we would go on our separate ways…" Sasuke looked at the distance, his gaze settling on the Leaf's direction as he continued, "This has nothing to do with power or vengeance…" He looked back at his brother, his eyes narrowed at him when he finished, "I have my own goal, my own dream, and this is the path I've chosen."

Naruto staggered a little as he felt the intensity of the Uchiha's gaze, recovering a moment after with a sigh, his gaze looking down for a second before he looked back at the Uchiha, whispering with eyes narrowed, "I don't understand."

Sasuke inhaled, his body tensing a moment after to say, "Then I'll make you understand."

Naruto widened his eyes when Sasuke suddenly started running towards him, the silverette growling while he too ran at the Uchiha, screaming, "No, I'll make YOU understand!"

The two met at the middle of the top of the cascade, fists colliding before they jumped back a little. Sasuke then suddenly brought Mikoto's sword forward, immediately channelling his lightning chakra to enhance its power.

Naruto cursed as he unsheathed Gloria, berating himself for not grabbing Nex that morning, leaving him with one sword only. But he soon coated it with wind chakra and dashed at his brother, sending a dangerous slash his way.

Sasuke avoided the slash, knowing that wind will beat his lightning, but he had the advantage of being fighting above water, lightning's perfect conductor. So once he landed on the water again, he stumped his foot below the liquid and kicked at the silverette, soaking him.

Naruto cursed as the liquid covered him, barely capable of avoiding the bolts of electricity that tried to reach him after Sasuke stabbed the water with the sword, a burst of lightning following all around him.

Sasuke didn't gave Naruto a moment to rest as he followed him once the latter landed on the ground, the two falling into a dangerous dance of blades. Sasuke knew that he was inferior to Naruto in the art of swordsmanship, but since the Namikaze was still soaked, the jinchūriki had to tread carefully, a hit from Sasuke's sword will numb him for a second, and that second could be enough for the Uchiha to win.

Naruto suddenly parried a strike, keeping Sasuke in place for a moment in order to make a rasengan with his free hand, shoving it at the Uchiha who incredibly dodged by twisting his body.

Naruto cursed since the blackette's movement made him lose his footing, his concentration wavering for just a second, enough for Sasuke to twist his body mid-air and send a powerful slash at Naruto's side, the chirping sword ready to leave a mark on his flesh.

But Naruto was not one of the Leaf's greatest swordsmen for naught, as almost instinctively, his arm holding the sword moved almost on its own, blocking the attack just in time, though at a great cost.

Sasuke's strike was so powerful that it managed to crack Gloria, the sword lasting for a couple of seconds more before it could no longer hold and gave, shattering as Naruto jumped away from the Uchiha who cursed at his failure.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he observed the sword his father had gifted him when he graduated, knowing that it was useless now. He just threw what was left of it away and entered on his winged state, dashing at Sasuke with even more speed.

Sasuke tried to stab the jinchūriki but since Naruto's senses were even sharper now, the silverette twisted his body and held on to Sasuke's arm, twisting it painfully and forcing the Uchiha to let his mother's sword fall before he punched Naruto on the face to keep him away.

Before Sasuke could reach for the sword again however, Naruto had already reached him, punching him painfully on the gut, the power behind the hit carrying enough strength to send him flying to the edge of the cascade where he lost his balance and feel into the lake.

Naruto knew that it was far from over, so he flapped his wings and flew, diving after he reached the edge of the cascade in order to find his brother.

Naruto had to do an air-roll though, when a giant ball of fire was thrown at him, Naruto screaming at the Uchiha, "I told you, Teme! Fire doesn…" He couldn't finish his sentence however, because he had to curse as he heard the distinctive crackling of a paper bomb right beside him, meaning that Sasuke hid a kunai with an explosive attached to it in the fireball.

Sasuke observed from below as the bomb exploded, Naruto was too slow to get away in time, so he was sent flying towards the borders of the valley, crashing on the earth with enough force to create a dent.

The Uchiha knew it wasn't over, so he immediately charged his chidori and made a dash towards his silver-haired brother, reaching him in a couple of seconds, thrusting his hand onwards towards Naruto's chest.

Naruto managed to recover in time, barely able to grab the Uchiha's wrist, just some centimetres away from his chest. Though the chidori still managed to injure his skin, "Is our bond really that useless to you!? Is it, Sasuke!?" Naruto screamed at his counter-part, his eyes an angry red.

Sasuke didn't even realised that he now had three tomoe on his sharingan, the Uchiha gritting his teeth as he tried to push his hand onto Naruto's chest, saying, "Is what I choose so unimportant to you, Naruto!?"

Naruto growled enraged as he used his essence wings to push the boy away from him, leaping onwards and slashing the side of Sasuke's face with his clawed hand as the Uchiha was sent flying back from the hit, both falling back onto the water.

Sasuke suppressed the insane amount of pain that was assaulting him at the moment, his palm grasping the side of his face where he knew scar was going to be left that will remind him of this day for as long as he lived. But he closed his eyes, calming down as he allowed Orochimaru's curse to release all of its power, smirking when he heard the sound of thunder above.

Naruto shook his head, the pain on his chest burning a little as his divine essence slowly fixed it, he was using it for combat now and his control over it was not enough to multitask so expertly. But when the Namikaze focused on his brother again, he was surprised to see the blackette's new look. Sasuke's skin was now sickly greyish, his already long hair now even longer and dark-blue, a strange cross-like marking on the middle of his face while large strange wings grew from his back, not to say anything of the incredible boost of his power that Naruto could already feel.

"You look fucking disgusting, fool." Naruto commented, a smirk on his face, incapable of not bantering with his brother even in such dire situations.

Sasuke couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping, saying before his right hand seemed to create another chidori, "It does the deed…" Sasuke saw Naruto crouching, prepared for the chidori he though was coming. Hence why Sasuke completely caught him off guard when he aimed his hand up high, the Uchiha declaring, "Kirin!"

Naruto cursed himself for not noticing the cloudy skies, now realising that the fireball Sasuke threw before was not only to hide a paper bomb kunai, but to create a perfect weather in which his brother could call on his strongest attack, probably capable of using it now that he had a boost from that seal.

Naruto could only release an inhuman scream as an insane amount of natural lightning fell right behind him, sinking him into the water where he was subjected to even more electricity, a stray bolt of energy slashing his face, leaving a deep and large cut that stretched across his face and the middle of his right eye.

Sasuke breathed in heavily, the attack halving what was left of his power. For a moment, he hoped that it was over and that Naruto would remain underwater, but as the surface of the lake started to bubble, heating up at incredible levels, Sasuke inhaled and focused again, knowing that the climax of their battle was finally here.

Naruto rouse from below water with a divine roar, four essence wings on his back as he floated above the lake, his gaze settled on his brother who could see the damage that his attack left, as the right side of Naruto's face was completely covered in blood, his right eye tightly closed, a huge wound left that ran across it.

Time stilled for some moments, the two brothers sizing each other up before Naruto roared again and breathed out a wave of natural fire, Sasuke feeling surprised that even with the curse's seal, Naruto's fire felt even hotter than he remembered.

But Sasuke used his own set of wings, flapping them to get out of the fire's range, succeeding in doing so barely. Though he couldn't do anything as Naruto knew that he would dodge, the dragon-boy flying at the Uchiha with insane speeds, punching the blackette on the face once he reached him.

Sasuke didn't even winced as he flipped mid-air again, stopping his momentum before he lunged at his brother, a small crackle of lightning coating both of his hands before he clashed them, creating a flash, successfully forcing Naruto to close his lone working eye to stop him from countering.

Naruto grunted when Sasuke hit him back, the jinchūriki flying back towards the top of the cascade, crashing on the ground beside it. But the Namikaze managed to recover fast enough to dodge another chidori from the Uchiha that clashed on the soil just a second after he dodged.

Naruto inhaled again before he blew another barrage of fire at the Uchiha, managing to injure him as the blackette screamed, jumping away into the water to turn the fire off.

Naruto landed again, his essence cloak slowly receding while he struggled to catch his breath, the exhaustion of both his body and mind, as well as his multiple injuries, leaving the Namikaze almost drained of power.

The skies roared, droplets of water starting to fall before it soon turned into a storm, Sasuke slowly raising back to the surface, now back to normal, victim of the same exhaustion.

Both combatants stopped for a moment, no one really knowing for how long they've been fighting. All that could be heard on the valley was the rain and their ragged breathing, Sasuke looking at his reflection on the water while Naruto too did the same, both seemingly knowing that they had reached the end of the road.

Naruto now remembered an old say, one that was said to be shared by all of the most powerful warriors the world has ever seen. It was the Third Hokage himself who once told Naruto and Sasuke that there was a special bond that those that reached strength above the rest shared, one that allowed them to understand each other through their fists alone, no words were needed as it was said that those that reached those levels, did so because they poured all of their dreams, hopes and feelings into every strike, and only one that could equal them, could understand what was truly inside their opponent's heart.

And painfully, Naruto now understood.

He too knew this day would come, he knew very well that his path was going to be extremely difficult and painful, and had he been somebody else, he would have tried more to stop his brother. But his life was no longer his, it now belonged to his mates and his daughter, he had a responsibility now and he could not turn away from it, no matter the immense pain he was feeling right now.

He still needed Sasuke to show him just how strongly he desired to follow this path though, so Naruto inhaled and shakily stood up, his face no longer bleeding, but he knew that the scar will remain with him forever, it was the dragon way after all. He focused his lone working eye on Sasuke as the Uchiha stood up as well, breathing as harshly as Naruto while the Namikaze whispered, "I… I-I understand now…" Sasuke looked at him, his eyes full of sorrow and pain, sharing the same realisation that Naruto, "I s-see this is what you want…" A rasengan suddenly formed on his right hand, Naruto closing his eye for a moment before he opened it again and said after a long sigh, "Behind me, is the path to Orochimaru, so show me, brother, show me how much you believe in your path."

Sasuke inhaled, his gaze lowering as he remembered every single moment he spent with his brother, all the laughs, the anger, the joy, the pain, everything they shared flashed before his eyes. Danzō may be forcing him to do this now but Sasuke knew that this was his path, he knew that this was his destiny, it was time that Naruto knew that as well, "Very well…" A chidori sprung on his right hand, the rain heaving even more, as if sensing the mood, "…brother."

Sasuke ran at him after his last words, Naruto too running at him while both screamed each other's names, everything they are, everything they hope, everything they desire was being put into their attacks as they collided, both unable to pierce one another until an explosion ensued, both attacks losing their stability and releasing their power uncaringly, injuring their owners on the process as a huge explosion shook the entire valley, a flash of white light covering the area for a moment until slowly, it all went back to calmness, the raining the only thing that could be heard.

Almost thirty minutes went by until a sound other than the intense rain was heard, the noise coming from two forms that laid at the ground beside the top of the cascade, both trying to move until they noticed the results of their clash with wide eyes and a painful grunt.

Their right arms were gone.

"W-Well…" Naruto whispered, feeling as Ddraig used his divinity to stop the bleeding form his mutilated arm, not even feeling the pain at the moment, "T-This sucks." He added as he slowly sat, his eye observing as his brother too rouse to his knees, holding his equally mutilated arm while his eyes remained on the ground.

No one said anything after that, both boys looking at each other intensely, seemingly saying everything they needed to say to each other with a simple look, the rain showering them still.

Sasuke managed to stop the bleeding from his arm, using his lightning chakra to cauterise the wound. Though he knew that he had to get medical attention soon, otherwise he was going to continue losing more blood. So the Uchiha sighed, a lone tear running across his cheek as he stood up, his eyes covered by his wet black hair while he turned his back on Naruto, whispering, "Take care of her…" He then started walking away, not daring to look back as he left his parting words, "… goodbye, brother."

Naruto remained looking at his brother until he could no longer see him, confused by his words but at the moment, not even caring about them, letting the rain fall over him as he looked to his side, seeing Sasuke's sword lying next to him, grasping it tightly on his remaining hand as he only observed, there was nothing left to say.

* * *

Kushina struggled a little as she slowly regained her breath, incredibly tired at the moment since she had to fight a Kaguya survivor, a clan known to be full of fierce warriors, almost borderline insane and with an extremely powerful ability to control their bones. The man turned out to be an incredible foe despite his obvious decease.

She and the rest of her team had left the village already in a disadvantage, finding the dead body of one of the Sound Four, all of them knowing it to be Naruto's work. She had quickly ordered them to continue as Naruto already had at the very least an hour of advantage on them.

They then found the rest of the Sound-nin a kilometre away, all of them ready for them as they tried to ambush the Leaf team. Though they didn't counted on facing an ANBU Captain and a veteran of war, despite Kushina not being near her true strength.

She had felt her heart crumble when she saw that Naruto was not around, noticing how Sasuke wasn't present either, meaning that the two of them had gone even further. But despite all of her determination, the Sound-nin were without a doubt formidable foes, Shikimaru and Kiba having to fight a strange two headed male, while Neji and Chōji fought against a guy with six arms that suddenly turned into a fricking spider.

Yūgao for her part went against the only female, not struggling with her for a while before the girl turned into a demonic looking being, her strength augmenting considerably and forcing Yūgao to work harder for it.

Kushina was then left with the white-haired man, the one that seemed to be the leader of the group, who immediately moved at her the moment she set her eyes on him. Had it not been for her extremely honed senses, the man would've managed to pierce her chest with his bones at the very first attack.

Their battle went on for at the very least one hour, Kushina incredibly stressed since everybody could feel an insane amount of energy coming from far away, energy that surely belonged to Naruto and Sasuke, but the Sound-nin were not easy to deal with.

She looked around her, a forest made of bones surrounding her and the rest, the Kaguya's last technique, a devastating one at that. The responsible for the jutsu was already dead, he seemed to have survived for a moment but Kushina barely managed to pierce his skull with a kunai, finally killing him.

"D-Damn." The voice of her daughter brought her attention to her back, now noticing the results of her team's battles.

Out of the four Sound-nin, only one remained, the female, though she was gravely injured, the rest laid all dead on the ground, one of them pierced by the bones. She panicked a little when she noticed her genin, the Nara was barely standing, his arm broken, the Akimichi was completely out of it, though Kushina could tell that he was just low on reserves, he did ate some strange pills during the fight, probably very taxing pills. The Inuzuka boy was panting heavily, his dog injured on the leg, a wound shared by the brunette who otherwise looked fine. And as for the Hyūga, he was out of it as well, a bone managing to pierce a little bit of his side, the boy losing blood, though not too quickly.

As for her daughter, she was injured, though not badly, but a bone did managed to pierce her leg, surprising Kushina when she saw that Yūgao was healing rapidly, something she shouldn't be able to. But putting the suspicion at the back of her mind for now, the Uzumaki focused back on the most important thing, so said to her daughter, "Yūgao…" Knowing that out of all of them, she was the one less injured, thanking her husband for giving her his power as it helped immensely during the fight, she added, "Take them back to the Leaf, take the Sound kunoichi with you as well, we may need her later."

Yūgao wanted to refute, she needed to know what was happening to Naruto because the sun that she usually depicted on her mark, was almost black, frozen even. She along with all of his mates were trying to reach him, but he just won't respond, they could only tell that he was alive. But not capable of breaking protocol, not in front of genin who she didn't knew, she bit her retorts and nodded, saying, "Alright, b-be careful." She still knew that her mother was not a hundred percent back, there was no way to know what awaited her on Naruto's location.

Kushina nodded slightly with a small smile, wishing that she could kiss her daughter reassuringly to ease her fears, she knew she was as worried for Naruto as her. But knowing that due to the other ninja present she still had to keep her façade of being someone else, she turned towards the direction where she could still sense an ocean of energy and made a run, heading towards Naruto as fast as she could, "I-I'm coming, baby." She muttered.

It took Kushina almost fifteen minutes to get towards the place she knew Naruto was, feeling completely shocked as she saw the Valley of the End, almost half of it destroyed, some zones still on fire, heck, being there alone was almost suffocating due to the energy that still lingered.

She looked around frantically, trying to find the silverette, running as fast as she could once she finally found him just behind Madara's partially destroyed face, "Naruto! Yo…" She was saying before she gasped, her heart breaking immediately when she finally got a good look at the boy.

Naruto was currently kneeling, tightly grasping a sword that Kushina recognised as Mikoto's. The problem was that below him, the ground which he was kneeling on, was completely soaked with blood, surely coming from the severed arm he now had, the part of his arm that comprised from his fingers to just above the elbow completely gone.

She walked towards him slowly, noticing that he was awake. She couldn't stop her tears from falling once she could look at his face, half of it covered in blood as a big scar ran across the right side of his face, his lone awake eye looking at the sword before he looked slowly back at the woman who now kneeled before him, "H-He's… g-gone…" Naruto whispered before he fell forward, no longer capable of remaining awake.

Kushina caught him however, tightly embracing him as she cried, incapable of withstanding seeing her son so broken, both physically and mentally. But still, he needed immediate medical attention, so she focused again and placed him on her back, gathering all of her remaining chakra to get to the Leaf as soon as possible, begging to whichever god ruled above them to let her get there in time.

* * *

 _"_ _D-Dammit…" A black-haired young man cursed as he dragged himself with his remaining working arm, blood staining the ground on which he crawled, one leg completely gone, slowly bleeding out from his severed limb. The man had short spiky hair, a giant scar that covered the left side of his face and was wearing a black robe with red clouds painted on it._

 _"_ _Obito Uchiha…" A voice suddenly said behind him, the now identified Obito Uchiha cursing as the stranger continued, "You know…" Obito turned on his back, so he could face the man, knowing that there was no escape anymore, "My father named my youngest sibling after you, he did thought you died during the Third War and apparently, wanted to honour you."_

 _Obito observed the man, his mangekyō sharingan disappearing since he could no longer sustain it. The man that now stood before him was the scariest and darkest entity the Uchiha has ever faced, not even Madara felt as powerful and evil as this man. The stranger was wearing an all-black attire, an equally black cloak covering his frame while he had a black mask on his face, a roughly painted white skull on it while demonic red eyes flared behind it._

 _Obito rested his back on a tree trunk, already knowing his fate, so he just said, "So it is you, Naruto…" He chuckled, stating after a rough cough, "I k-knew… t-the moment you were sent t-to Whirlpool…" He coughed again, blood falling from his mouth, "T-That Minato-sensei ma-made the biggest m-mistake of his life."_

 _Naruto removed his mask, Obito surprised to see that his face didn't looked that different from normal, only his glowing blood eyes showing more than any other feature, though his silver hair looked even darker now, almost bluish, "My birth was the biggest mistake of his life." Naruto said as he kneeled before the dying Uchiha, his face betraying absolutely nothing._

 _Obito actually gulped, having never felt as afraid in his life as right now, "S-So what is your plan?" He inquired._

 _Obito tried to move away but he couldn't do anything anymore as Naruto's fingers approached his eyes slowly, the deranged Namikaze whispering, his eyes locked to Obito's, "Make good on a promise."_

 _Obito grunted before he couldn't see anything, or feel anything, not capable to realise that Naruto had already killed him when he dug his fingers into his eye-sockets, the Namikaze releasing a shock of lightning that burned the Uchiha's nerves and fried his brain, ending his life in a second._

 _"_ _So these are Madara's eyes." Naruto muttered as he observed the eyes he just took, keeping them in a jar after some moments._

 _"_ _Yes they are…" A strange voice said from behind him, laughing almost childishly as the man continued, "Ufufu… little Madara thought that he could fool me!…" The man walked to stand beside Naruto, looking at Obito's dead body while he added, a mock angry tone on his voice, "Trying to make me think that he placed his eyes on that Uzumaki kid you killed! How mean!"_

 _Naruto placed the jar on a scroll, sealing it and keeping it on a tattoo on his right arm, saying after he stood up and focused on the silver-haired man next to him, "You do know that this puts me closer to killing you, right?"_

 _The man laughed, almost eagerly, patting Naruto's back as he said, "But of course!…" He focused on the boy then, his blue eyes locked into Naruto's when he continued, "That is my goal! I want my grandson to surpass me! You will bring this world to darkness! And I will revel on it from the afterlife!"_

 _Naruto sighed as the man laughed even louder, joyous at the notion, "You are crazy, R…"_

 _The man silenced him however, his palm pressed over Naruto's mouth, saying at his confused grandson, "We shouldn't reveal too much…" He looked into Naruto's eyes, though, the Namikaze was confused because the man didn't seemed to be looking at him, which was weird as they were HIS eyes, "Not when someone's peeping." He smirked widely at Naruto, or someone else._

Naruto woke up with a gasp, sweating profusely as he felt the chills that strange dream left him with, the man's evil smirk now permanently marked on his mind, "W-What the fuck was that…" He whispered, recovering a little.

That's when he finally realised where he was, the white walls of the room as well as the bed giving away his location. Naruto also realised that half of his face was covered in bandages, probably because of his wound there.

"N-Naruto…" A sleepy whisper brought his attention to his side, where his mother laid asleep, her head on the bed while she grasped the bed sheets almost desperately.

Naruto smiled sadly, making to caress Hanare's hair before he remembered the last detail of his battle's outcome, he had no right arm, "S-Shit…" He cursed, sighing before he looked around, noticing that Kakashi was also there, asleep on a chair in front of Naruto's bed. He closed his eyes then, focusing on his women, frowning when he felt how distressed they were, but he couldn't really do anything to ease their worry at the moment, he didn't know what to think, so he decided to wait the night without saying anything to them.

He did stood up from the bed though, carefully avoiding waking his mother up. He made his way towards the bathroom, closing the door behind him before he turned on the lights, inhaling before he looked at his reflection on the mirror.

 ** _"_** ** _You look like shit."_** Ddraig's voice resounded from inside his mind, the dragon speaking with a lot of grimness on his voice, not at all amused.

Naruto started to remove the bandages form his head, winking his right eye a few times until he could see with it again. He then looked back at the mirror and observed the big scar that now stained his face, a slightly wide line that ran from the middle of his right cheek to above his eyebrow, right across the eye that now also had a strange white line following the scar, the tissue of his cornea damaged.

While the Namikaze knew that he could use his divinity to heal his scars, he didn't, dragons always left their scars as tradition and not doing it would be an insult to his race. So he just opened the faucet of the sink, sinking his face in the water before he finally replied to his predecessor, "I feel like shit." He chuckled mirthlessly, wincing a little at the weird sensation of having an arm missing.

Naruto focused on his mind as Ddraig remained quiet, trying to see where Kurama was, frowning when he felt her sleeping, though he could still feel her distress as well.

As if sensing the boy's thoughts, Ddraig said, **"She's not happy…"** Naruto only cursed himself, knowing that he had a lot of making up to do to his mates after he recovered, **"And as for your arm, don't worry about it."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow, confused when he inquired, _"Why not? Can't do much without it, you know?"_

Ddraig chuckled a little, saying after some moments, **"I have something I've been wanting to give you, but I couldn't find a way to do so…"** The beast inhaled, adding, **"Until now that is."**

Naruto was still confused, his eyebrow rising even more but before he could inquire further, his mother screamed afraid from the room, "N-Naruto!?"

Naruto sighed, knowing that he was about to get smothered by the woman he loved as a mother the moment he walked out of the rest room, "Fuck it." He whispered before he dried his face, deciding to trust Ddraig on whatever he was going to do, focusing on calming his mother down for now.

* * *

A man looked at the frozen mountains that surrounded his castle from a window, the man having his eyes closed as he inhaled, delightfully, revelling on the sensation that suddenly assaulted his body.

"Ah…" He muttered, a dangerous smirk on his face as he continued, "My dear grandson, your darkness is growing." He laughed maniacally then, excited for the days to come.

The man's eyes the wandered towards the other side of his room, to where he knew the Leaf Village was, "Soon, my boy…" He chuckled like a giddy child, heading back to his bed as he finished his thought, "Soon we'll met."

* * *

Naruto walked into the Uchiha compound's main house, the house that used to belong to his now rogue brother. He closed the door once he stepped in, his forehead resting on the wood for some moments, his eyes closed before he opened them again and sighed, stretching a little.

It has been two days since his battle with Sasuke, two days he spent on the damn hospital until Tsunade saw it fit to release him. During all of that time, he received a lot of visits, mainly from his mates, all of them struggling to keep their necessity to hold him at bay since his mother never left his side. He tried his best to reassure them, but he knew he fell a little short.

Though right now he was very thankful to them as they now knew him well enough to know that he desired to be alone, he was utterly devastated and confused, he needed to regain his bearings.

Kurama hadn't spoken a word to him during all of this time, he tried his best but he knew she was afraid, of both losing him and of the darker turn his aura has taken, but he decided to deal with that at a later time.

He still couldn't fully believe that his brother was now gone as the Namikaze walked up the stairs, wanting to lay on his bed to sleep for the rest of the day, absentmindedly looking at his bandaged severed arm. Ddraig had told him the day after he woke up that he was going to replace his arm with the dragon's own flesh since he apparently wanted to give him a special device that will allow him to store power in it, something Ddraig called 'Boosted Gear'.

He stopped however, right in front of his brother's room, something attracting him to it. He just walked in and looked around for some moments, remembering all the times he spent there before he inhaled and headed towards the bed, turning his back on it before he let his body fall on the soft surface, sighing with his eyes closed as he felt his senses falling asleep.

But before he dozed off, he felt something below his head, something small. Naruto opened his eyes before he moved his head to the side, looking at the object that turned out to be a small envelope, "The fuck?…" He muttered as he sat on the bed and grabbed the envelope, looking at it intently before he turned it around and widened his eyes when he saw the message written on the front of the envelope, "Save her from the hawk." He whispered, the words that Sasuke said before he disappeared ringing on his mind as he read aloud.

He took the envelope towards his mouth, holding it with his teeth while he used his only arm to open it, cursing for his current disability as a small sheet fell to the ground since he had nothing to catch it with.

Naruto spit the envelope, licking his lips to get rid of the taste that the paper left before he reached out towards the small square on the floor that seemed to be a picture, "What is t…" His eyes widened to their maximum, his mouth as wide as them, his heart stopped, literally, before his eyes suddenly turned red, anger boiling vividly as red smoke started to come off from his body.

It all made sense now, he now could see why his brother left. Naruto knew that they would eventually take different paths, but he knew that it would be long from now before that happened. But now he could see it clearly, Sasuke was forced to leave the village, Naruto didn't knew for what purpose, but he knew it had to do with Orochimaru, meaning that Danzō was the one that helped him during the invasion.

The Namikaze gritted his teeth, his surroundings shaking as his aura started to flare dangerously, his eyes focused on the picture as he said, "I'm going to fucking kill you Danzō…" He softened his eyes after some moments, looking longingly at the woman in the picture, whispering, "Don't worry Miko, I will save you, Danzō will learn…" He narrowed his eyes at the picture, using fire to burn it before he finished, his voice dark and vengeful, almost picturing the old war-hawk dying before him, "He will learn why they also call me 'Lucifer'."

* * *

 **A/N: Oh shit! Props to those who realised that Mikoto never died! Now, let me explain why I used her as such because I know some of you are going to cry at me, saying that I'm only using her as a plot device, ignoring the fact that everything is a fricking plot device, but anyway. I hate bashing, I find it really childish and as you can notice, I never bash on my story, if a character seems annoying (Naruto) is because they are meant to be annoying. Now, Sasuke has never been my favourite, but I did enjoyed his story, I found it really compelling and so I wanted to take it further in this story, thus I build the brotherhood between Naruto and him even earlier, I wanted the two to be inseparable, to love each other as brothers and rely on the other, so that left me with the question of how will I make him defect since I needed to do that, Sasuke is one of the major players in this story but I needed to keep him real, to give him a good reason to defect, to leave his brother behind and look his own way, not just suddenly turn him into an arrogant prick who only cares for power. That's where Mikoto came in, she is by far, my favourite, out of everyone, even the Mizukage, so I never intended to have her out of the story and this idea came to me, I thought it was the perfect way to push Sasuke away, to have Mikoto back, and to push her and Naruto even closer, since she will be with him and this is how it begins. With that said, I hope that some of you fellas have learned to trust me a little more with my decisions, I know some things are confusing and may seem out of place, but understand that I meant it when I said this story will be long, it's going to last at least twelve arcs and each arc has a at least ten chapters with a minimum of 13k words, so things will take a while to resolve, just trust me to know what I'm doing, I'm doing my best to deliver you an entertaining story. So don't call something a 'plot-hole' when the story hasn't even ended. I will address further questions on the next chapter, though I am going to be busy in the coming days so you'll have to wait for a bit, but I hope you enjoyed the chap, see ya later, cheers!**


	29. Castle Of Glass

**A/N: Yo waddup! We back with a brand new chap! Some things before we begin.**

 **Somebody pm'd me asking if I was naming the chapters after songs, so in case some of you are wondering, yes I am naming each chapter either after a song or a specific word from a track, in case you want to know which songs inspired the chapters, I will list them here:  
** **Ch3 - Broken Hearts by Michael Ortega  
Ch8 to 11 - Amongst the Waves by Pearl Jam  
Ch12 - Sunflower by Rex Orange County  
Ch13 - Lavender and Velvet by Alina Baraz  
Ch14and15 - Map of the Problematique by Muse  
Ch16and17 - Starlight by Muse  
Ch18to21 - Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse  
Ch22 - How to Save a Life by The Fray  
Ch23and24 - Movin On' Up by Primal Scream  
Ch25 - Stand By Me by Bootstraps (Cover)  
Ch26and27 - Us and Them by Pink Floyd  
Ch28 - Wish You Were Here  
Ch29 - Castle of Glass by Linkin Park  
I guess you could consider that like the OST of the story, there are some chapters that weren't really inspired by songs, so they don't have one listed. Let me guys know if you want me to list the song that inspired the chapter from now on, just in case you want to listen to it. I'll leave the two songs that inspired the last chapters of this arc, just so you may grab a feel of how the will be like.  
Ch30 - Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones  
Ch31 - Cold Water by Major Lazer**

 **There are only two chapters left for this arc and next one is the one you've been waiting for, Naruto vs Danzo, get hyped.**

 **Some of you were messaging me asking for lemons, I had made it clear at the beggining of the story, this might have been inspired by 'Ero-Ninja' but I am not making this story a lemon fest, neither is solely focused on his girls. I will add at least one for each one of them but nothing more, most of the things between them happen behind the scenes. I have to either focus on the plot or on the sex, and I rather much focus on the plot, the real one, not the tits.**

 **Don't remember if I have anything more to say, so let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **Castle of Glass**

"O-Oh…" Ino muttered, uncertain, her heart beating worriedly as she observed her beloved who stood in front of the window, looking at the sleeping village with barely restrained anger.

The Yamanaka looked around her to Naruto's equally worried mates, all of those living here in the Leaf, Tsubaki, Yūgao, Akeno, Ayame and Hinata biting their lips, all of them trying to find the words to calm their mate down. But they knew that under such circumstances, it would be all but possible.

They all felt the incredible spike of his anger through their bonds, Naruto having to personally teleport to Koyuki, Tsunami and Piña to calm them down, explaining to them the situation before he gathered his mates in the Leaf to do so with them. And they were incredibly shocked.

By now, everyone knew of the love their lover had for the supposedly dead Uchiha matriarch. Her death had left a huge scar on his heart that it was almost impossible for him to recuperate from it, more so when the killer had been Itachi himself. But he managed to move on, thanks to his brotherhood with Sasuke.

But now, a huge revelation was shown to him, Mikoto Uchiha was alive and being kept as a hostage by Danzō Shimura, who apparently used her in order to get Sasuke to do something for him. They couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on through their mate's mind, they could feel his hatred, the sun dark and almost cold, but he still had them at the front of his mind, he still was as loving as he could with them. That relieved them greatly because it meant that he was still him, he was just, understandably, angry at the Shimura elder.

"T-To think that he would fall so low…" Tsubaki whispered, walking towards her lover and caressing his back soothingly, adding, "What kind of m-monster is he?"

"Disregarding Lord Hokage's rule…" Yūgao started saying in between gritted teeth, her fists balled, the fact that the old war-hawk was hurting her beloved so much was something that sent her near the edge, "Having such a good woman like Lady Uchiha in such position, he's the worst kind of monster, of that I'm sure." She added, her eyes narrowed.

The younger girls just eyed each other nervously before Hinata stood up, walking towards Naruto and kissing his shoulder lovingly, looking at Tsubaki before she inquired warily, "W-What… w-what are we going to do, Naru?"

Naruto sighed, his raging blues focused on the distance, sighing as he tried to calm himself down, if just for his mates' sakes. He managed to relax a little bit, finally turning to look at them and saying, no emotion showing, "Get her out of there, no matter what…" He looked at his women lovingly, stating softly, "But it's going to be me alone, this may cause a huge problem for me and I don't want to endanger you with this."

The silverette was surprised however, when all of his mates frowned at him and with narrowed eyes, Akeno stated, "There is no way that we are going to let you go through this on your own, Naruto."

"Y-Yes, you are our mate, we have a responsibility to protect you as much as you have with us." Ayame added, fierce and determined.

Naruto smiled a little, feeling really happy to see such determination to protect him from his mates. Koyuki, Tsunami and Piña having the same fire when he had to go and calm their worry down. But still, he said, "I know but…"

"No buts, mister." Tsubaki interrupted him.

Yūgao stepped up, her eyes determined, lit and fierce, stating, "Lady Mikoto is important to you, meaning that she is your family, so she is also our family, we take care of our own."

Ino nodded, a smile on her face when she added with finality, "No matter what, we laugh and cry together, babe."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, his dark thoughts losing ground as he felt the love his mates sent him through their bond. It was an incredibly reassuring sensation, it made him feel strong, unstoppable, it reminded him why the fuck was he fighting in the first place.

"There's no way to keep ya girls out of this, is it?" The silver-haired Namikaze asked, a small smile on his face as he eyed them all.

"Nope." Akeno replied for the rest, determined smiles on their faces as they all set their hearts and minds into rescuing the one woman that had a lot to do with making their love the man he was now.

Naruto shook his head when he also felt the reassurance of his predecessor, smiling even a little more when he felt the small wave of Kurama's chakra hitting him, silently telling him that she will stand with him, despite her recent silence towards him.

"Alright then…" The former Uzumaki heir sighed, defeated but not annoyed, stating after he looked back at them, "Let us begin planning."

His women nodded and they all got to work, knowing that the task at hand was a daunting one. Everyone knew very well that the Uchiha matriarch's rescue was going to be their very first great mission as a family but that didn't brought their mods down. With Naruto vowing on the very thing he was that no matter what, the woman he loved the most will be free once again and Danzō, that bastard of a hawk was going to die without discussion.

* * *

Tsunade stretched a little on her seat as she sighed, massaging her temples a moment after while she tried to keep her mind focused on something else, anything other than her godson.

Despite being already five days after the defection of Sasuke Uchiha, it was almost as if it occurred just this morning. There were only a few who actually knew that Sasuke defected though, as Tsunade managed to keep his defection under wraps and spread the rumour that he was kidnapped by Orochimaru. Tsunade was damn sure that if the Uchiha's defection becomes known, things will only get even more troublesome for her and in a greater way, for Naruto.

As for the silverette in question, he was the Senju's biggest concern. So far, Naruto has been behaving in a very disturbing manner, going into the Forest of Death and decimating the animals in it, her ANBU finding him once passed out due to exhaustion, covered in blood that surely belonged to the dozens of bears that laid dead and massacred around him. The Namikaze has also spoken almost nothing, the only person she's seen him talk to, was himself, or better said, the beast that lived within him. It worried her a lot.

"Hey Princess." Tsunade looked to her side towards her window, for a moment hoping that it would be the silverette, with that precious goofy smile of his that she's come to cherish like few things. But she sighed at seeing that it was her old teammate, the pervert smiling a little at her as he leaned back on the window.

"Hey Jiraiya…" She greeted him with a small smile before the blonde female focused on her door as it opened, a very old man walking inside with a silver-haired male in tow, Tsunade nodding at the pair as she said, "Sensei, Kakashi."

Both males nodded slightly at her, with the Third saying with a warm smile, "Hello child."

Kakashi looked at the two other males, a little confused as to why he was called here, so focusing on his leader, he asked, "Lady Tsunade, may I ask why you called?"

Tsunade sighed, nodding as she replied with eyes closed, "Yes Kakashi, I called you here because we have certain things to discuss…" She opened them again, locking her brown eyes to the Hatake as she added, "About Naruto."

Kakashi sighed while he looked down at the floor and nodded. The Hatake hasn't been able to sleep much after the whole Sasuke defection ordeal, it was eating him away that he was not here during such crucial moment. He was still trying to find a reason as to why Sasuke defected, it honestly made no sense to him because he himself had made sure that Sasuke had a family, that the Uchiha wasn't left on his own. The fact that his son was shattered, broken even more than when Mikoto died, was putting a lot of stress on his shoulders. Hanare's incessant cries of desperation as she tried to find a way to reach their son was just adding to the already full glass.

Hiruzen sighed, resting his weight on his cane as he could feel his old age falling on him fully. He, like those present, was incredibly worried for the boy he called grandson, "What is it that you wish to discuss, Tsunade?" The previous Hokage asked, his eyes tired and pained.

Tsunade sighed before she grabbed a folder on her desk, waving it when she inquired, "I wanted you three to clear this to me…" She eyed the three males who already seemed to have an idea about her question, prompting her to ask, "Is it true that Naruto is not human anymore?"

Jiraiya nodded, replying, "Yes and no…" Knowing that his teammate was confused, he added, "Naruto was… 'dragonified'… by the Twelve Wings."

Tsunade bit her lip, nervous, asking again, "Why?"

Kakashi stepped forward, explaining, "Naruto was badly injured by drunken shinobi when he was five years old…" Tsunade growled at that, but the Hatake continued, "According to Naruto, the Twelve Wings told him that he was about to die and for what Itachi found, Naruto was actually already dead…" The Senju widened her eyes, her heart aching as the father of the boy kept going, "The dragon apparently offered him a deal, his body in exchange for living again, and well, he accepted."

Tsunade leaned on, alarmed, asking with wide eyes, "You d-don't mean…"

Hiruzen waved his hand, reassuring, "No Tsunade, the dragon is not controlling Naruto, the beast only reconstructed Naruto's body using dragon's physiology, according to Naruto, he is a humanoid dragon."

"His soul still remains human…" Jiraiya added, sighing before he scratched the back of his neck and continued, "His body is the thing that turned into a dragon, sort of, why do you think that the kid is immune to fire?"

Tsunade nodded, calming down as she realised that the boy wasn't in any danger, "Well, that relives me…" She sighed, cracking her neck before she added, "We'll talk about this in more detail later, we have something else to discuss…" The man nodded, the Princess saying after, "Jiraiya, what did Naruto told you about your trip?"

Jiraiya crossed his arms, sighing while shaking his head on the negative, stating, "He didn't refused per se, but he told me that he had something important to do here and that he couldn't leave right now, not until he deals with whatever it is he's dealing with."

Tsunade frowned, her arms crossing below her bust when she asked, "Do you know what this 'something' is?" She looked at the boy's father.

Kakashi shook his head, saying frustrated, "I'm afraid not, milady…" He sighed, adding, "He hasn't talk to me or Hanare much, Hanare has had better luck, but she doesn't know what is going on in Naruto's head, he's just not opening up."

Tsunade's frown deepened, worried for the silverette and frustrated at herself for not knowing how to help him. But recovering her Hokage-self, she rested her elbows on the desk, her chin falling on her folded knuckles while she questioned, "Do you think a solo mission could help him?"

The three men eyed each other, Kakashi sighing before he said, "I think so, but I don't know about that., milady." Kakashi's reluctance was almost palpable.

Tsunade sighed, her sensei saying, "I understand your worry Kakashi, but I think that a solo mission could help him clear his head, away from the village and anyone and anything that reminds him of Sasuke."

Kakashi looked at his former leader, a moment of silence before he countered, "But what about Akatsuki?"

Jiraiya rubbed his chin, saying, "They're nothing to worry about for now…" He looked at the surprised people, adding, "My sources told me that they had to go silent due to attracting too much attention already, it is impossible to know how much they will remain hidden but it will take at least two years for their trail to cool down, so for now, Naruto is safe."

Kakashi just sighed deeply and nodded, knowing that while he wanted to protect his son, he couldn't shield him from the world. His son was going to surpass him and no matter what he does, Naruto will attract a lot of attention, both bad and good. So the only thing that Kakashi could do to truly protect him, was allowing Naruto to gain experience.

Hiruzen asked Tsunade once Kakashi agreed, "You have a mission for him?"

Tsunade nodded, grabbing another folder and saying, her eyes serious, "Yes I do, and that is also why I called you here…" She opened the folder, adding, "We received a mission request to accompany a woman to explore the ruins of the Abaddon."

The males raised their eyebrows, with Jiraiya saying, "The Abaddon? That place has been in ruins for centuries."

Tsunade nodded, speaking, "I know, I had first thought that it was a simple expedition mission, that is until I read the name of the requester."

Kakashi asked, "Which is?"

"Grayfia Lucifuge." Tsunade said, eyes narrowed at the sheet of paper.

The men gasped, with Hiruzen inquiring, "You mean, a true Lucifuge?"

"Weren't they extinct?" Kakashi then added, incredibly shocked.

Tsunade nodded, replying, "I haven't confirmed whether she is a true Lucifuge or not, but yes, the Lucifuge clan is supposed to be extinct."

Just before anything else could be said, Shizune opened the door, saying, "Milady, the person you requested is here."

Tsunade nodded, saying, "Send her in…" Shizune left and the Senju said to the men, "Let's see if she's the real deal."

The men nodded and observed as the door opened, a woman so beautiful that Jiraiya had to restrain himself from jumping at her, walking in moments after. The woman had silver hair, almost similar to that of Naruto but just a shade lighter. She was wearing a common civilian attire, though as trained ninja, they could see the armour hidden underneath the clothing, "Good evening, Lady Hokage." The woman greeted with a slight bow.

Tsunade smiled a little, greeting back, "Good evening, Ms Lucifuge, I trust you know why I called for you?"

Grayfia nodded, a slight smile on her face as she said, "I hope that is about my request?"

Tsunade nodded, responding after she leaned back, "Yes it is, now, before we begin, why did you requested Naruto Namikaze alone?"

Grayfia replied quickly and honestly, "You know why, milady."

Everyone nodded, understanding as Jiraiya commented, "Your connection to dragons, correct?"

Grayfia nodded, stating, "It is as you say, Lord Jiraiya, my family has worshiped dragons ever since its foundation and while my clan no longer exists, I still carry on our traditions, I wouldn't feel more protected with anybody else and being near a dragon is something I've always longed for."

Tsunade nodded again, already knowing about the obsession of her family with the mythical creatures, "I understand the why now, but can you prove that you are a true Lucifuge?"

Grayfia nodded, stretching her arms to her sides before they suddenly started to release blue aura, the room freezing quickly and shards of ice materialising around her. She stopped the technique moments later.

"Amazing." Hiruzen muttered as he inspected one of the shards, shivering a little since the room was still cold.

"This is natural ice, there's no trace of chakra in it whatsoever…" Tsunade muttered, fascinated as she observed the ability to wield the true elements, something that as far as she knew, only two families were capable of, the Lucifuge with ice and their cousin clan, the Phenex, with fire. Though Naruto also had the ability to wield natural fire, to an even greater extent to that of the Phenex clan, but she now knew that it was because of his dragonified body, "There is no doubt, you truly are a Lucifuge." The Senju commented.

Grayfia nodded slightly, a small smile on her face.

"But how are you here? Last time I heard, the Phenex had supposedly gotten to all Lucifuge." Jiraiya inquired, confused and suspicious.

Grayfia sighed, replying, "I understand your confusion, milord, but rest assured, my clan never pledged loyalty to the Rock Village, I have kept myself alive because my father sacrificed himself so that I could get here to the Land of Fire, I've been living in the capital during all of this time, working as a librarian until I could afford this mission."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, asking, "And can you tell me why do you want to explore the Abaddon ruins? Countless of archaeologists have already explored the place and so far, they haven't found a thing…" She leaned back, crossing her arms when she added, "What is it that you hope to find there and why do you want one of my strongest shinobi to accompany you to a secure location within our borders?"

Grayfia answered quickly, her Root training coming in handy in this tense situation, "For your first question, I found a scroll that belonged to my father, it states that the teachings of my family were hidden in the ruins…" Tsunade nodded, Grayfia continuing, "As for your second question, I requested Naruto Namikaze because in order for me to unlock the ruins, I require the blood of a Lucifuge and the blood of a dragon."

Everybody nodded at that, understanding, with Tsunade saying, "You do know that I could take those secrets for the Leaf, correct? They are inside the Land of Fire, meaning that they belong to the Feudal Lord." She wasn't really going to do it, she respected such secrets as she wouldn't like that someone stole her family's secrets, but she needed to see how this woman would respond to such threat.

Grayfia shrugged, responding uncaringly, "I really don't care about them, I just want something to connect me with my family, if you want to take the secrets to yourself, then I shall give them to you without complaints."

Tsunade eyed her sensei, sighing when she looked back at the woman and said, "Very well then, I will approve your request…" She sealed the form, looking back at the woman to add, "I won't take away your secrets, I just wanted to see how you would react, but I will however, require for you to show them to me, I need to make sure that they are no threat to my country, if there is no problem, then you can keep them."

Grayfia smiled, incapable of stopping the butterflies in her stomach as she realised that her mission was now a go, "Thank you, milady, I shall do as instructed."

Tsunade nodded and pressed a button on her desk, Shizune walking into the office moments later to listen as the Senju ordered, "Shizune, get me Naruto."

Shizune nodded and left, wondering what they needed from the boy. She was worried about him as well and has even tried to approach him, but the blackette was too shy to do so, she has sort of developed a crush on him and she didn't had the courage to approach. But she just hoped that the boy would be better soon since not just her, but many people were incredibly worried for him as well.

* * *

Naruto sighed deeply once he reached the Hokage's office, narrowing his eyes when all of a sudden, he felt that tugging sensation that he feels whenever one of his mates was around, confusing him since he knew that none of them were inside the room, he had just been with them moments ago before the ANBU came to find him.

He focused, his thoughts of Mikoto put on the back of his head as he walked inside, looking at the five people in the room, growling almost unnoticedly as he got a good look at the one that stood out. Despite the change of clothes and having her gorgeous face uncovered, Naruto could easily tell that this woman was the silver-haired Root member that's been tailing him for a while. The mere thought of Root made his blood boil but he refrained himself from showing any displeasure, he knew that this was not the place to do so and besides, the woman had helped him save many lives during Orochimaru's invasion attempt.

"You called, Lady Hokage?" Naruto said dryly as he stood diligently before his leader, not really having the desire to be disrespectful or playful at the moment.

Tsunade sighed, closing her eyes as she cursed fate, she didn't thought that not listening to his disrespectful, yet endearing way of calling her was going to hurt like this. But recovering her stern-self, she focused on the silverette to reply, "Yes Naruto, I have a special mission for you…" The boy nodded and eyed the woman beside him, the blonde busty female continuing, "This here, is Ms Lucifuge…" She gestured at the woman who nodded at Naruto with a nervous smile, Tsunade speaking again after, "The mission is to escort her to the Abaddon ruins and help her unlock whatever's there."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, asking, "Unlock? I don't understand."

Tsunade sighed, explaining, "Grayfia here comes from a very ancient and once powerful clan, the Lucifuge clan…" Naruto narrowed his eyes when he felt the uneasiness of Ddraig and Kurama, something about that name disturbing them apparently, "The Lucifuge clan was said to be very close to dragons, worshiping them even; according to Ms Lucifuge, her family left some of their secrets hidden in the ruins, but she requires her blood and the blood of a dragon to unlock them."

Naruto nodded, looking at the beauty beside him who so far was smiling ever so slightly, capable of feeling her nervousness through the connection they had, the essence he had injected her with almost two years ago still present in her system. But focusing back on the Hokage, he inquired, "I see now, if you find no problem with it, then I will do it…" Tsunade nodded gratefully, the Namikaze adding, "Am I going alone?"

Tsunade asserted, replying, "Yes, the ruins are within our borders, not too far from here, so there is really no risk other than perhaps bandits, easy enough for you to deal with…" She narrowed her honey-coloured eyes though, adding a warning, "But be careful, the Phenex clan from the Rock is the responsible for the Lucifuge's eradication…" She focused on the woman, saying, "I know you feel confident that nobody but us know about you, Ms Lucifuge, but you must be ready for anything."

Grayfia nodded, answering, "I understand, Lady Hokage, and you are completely right…" She smiled a little, managing to fake a convincing one to add, "But I can still protect myself, I am pretty confident that with my bloodline and self-training, I am capable to best most genin, maybe even chūnin."

Tsunade nodded, looking at Naruto as he silently eyed his father who nodded, the silverette saying once he focused on the beauty, "Is it okay for us to meet at the gates in one hour? I have to prepare my gear."

Grayfia nodded, responding amicably, "Yes Mr Namikaze, I shall wait for you there…" She looked at the Hokage and bowed, adding gratefully, "Thank you for this, milady, I shall meet my end of the deal once we're back." She bowed to the other three men besides Naruto and left the room.

"Naruto…" Tsunade's voice brought the silverette's attention towards the busty leader, the woman eyeing him worriedly as she inquired, "Are you sure you are okay?"

Naruto's eyes remained cold and cunning, his face betraying nothing as he responded confidently, "Yes Princess, I'm not alright, it still hurts, but I will be fine." It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the whole truth either, he was not going to be able to rest until Mikoto was safely in his arms, but he might as well appease them.

Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi and Hiruzen smiled a little sadly at him, knowing that once again, the boy had become colder and less cheerful. It saddened them because Naruto was starting to see the world for what it truly was and Kakashi, more than the rest, wished that his son could remain as a kind and cheerful man forever. But in the world they live in, that was practically impossible.

"Then go and get ready…" Tsunade ordered but added before he left, "Be wary though, the Lucifuge clan was said to be at the par with the Phenex, and the Phenex were at the par with the Uchiha, Senju, Uzumaki and Hyūga, I sense no malice in her but keep your eyes wide and vigilant…" He nodded at her and the Senju smiled lovingly, adding softly, "Come back safe, okay?"

Naruto nodded and was about to leave before his father added, "Naruto, don't forget to go and see your mother before you leave, she's dead worried about you."

Naruto sighed and nodded, promising to go and reassure his mother that he will be alright. He also needed to let his mates know that he just got a chance to gather some information on the Shimura. He knew well that something was fishy about this mission, his gut was telling him that the woman wanted to get something from him. But it didn't mattered anyway, he was the one that was going to get the information he needed, no matter what methods he had to resort to, _'You don't worry Miko, I'm coming…'_ He made a vow as he left the Hokage Tower, Mikoto will be safe, even if he had to betray this village to do so.

* * *

"A-Are you sure you don't want me to share watch?" Grayfia asked the silverette before her as she finished eating her dinner. They've been on the road for a whole day and they were now close to get to the ruins, but as the night had already fall upon them, they decided to camp and rest to be fresh for the next day. But Naruto had told the Root woman that she should rest the whole night and to leave the watch to him.

Naruto managed to show the woman a small smile, still struggling a lot with his inner darkness that was showing its head now that he was on the presence of someone working for the man he hated the most at the moment. But somehow able to restrain himself, he replied, "Don't worry Ms Lucifuge, there isn't much risk of anything here, so there's nothing to worry about, besides, I am your guard, so please, allow me to protect you."

The woman couldn't help herself but blush, it was getting really hard for her to focus now that she was close to him for such long periods of time. She was feeling a nervous twist in her stomach along with a need to constantly wet her lips, her nether regions tingling relentlessly, confusing her because she has never felt like this before. But shaking her head, Grayfia figured that it would work for her to get a good night's rest, perhaps giving her some clarity with her warring emotions, so she nodded, a slight smile on her face when she bowed and said, "Thank you, and please, call me Grayfia." She excused herself and went into her tent.

Naruto kept his amicable smile until he could no longer see the woman, his face falling into a serious look as he stood up, creating four clones and ordering, "Keep the perimeter, I need to talk with Ddraig."

The clones nodded, all knowing already about what. Naruto, once he felt his clones in position, looked at Grayfia's tent one last time before he jumped towards the nearest branch, sitting on it cross-legged, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply before he sent himself into his mindscape.

Naruto opened his eyes again, finding himself in the breath-taking beach he created for the Absolute God of End, the creature in question peacefully resting beside him, a flash of red appearing to Naruto's other side to show a surprised Kurama, shocked to see that Naruto actually forced her to be here, "N-Naruto?…" Kurama whispered, reluctant, a little frightened by the serious look on the silverette's face. She knew that she looked bratty for not responding to him over these past days, but she honestly couldn't. Simply put, she loved him, she now was sure she was in love with him and recent events, his recent attitude and thoughts, were scaring her, she didn't wanted to suffer from him the very same thing she suffered from his ancestor, it terrified her. So she's kept her distance for now, trying to find a solution to these conflicting feelings.

Naruto stood up, Ddraig opening his eyes, watching as his host stood before the sea, inhaling before the silverette muttered, "I want answers…" Naruto looked at them both, his eyes, that of the next God of End, commanding, "And I want them now."

Ddraig didn't even blinked, the dragon feeling proud of the boy as he slowly started to turn into the successor he truly was. Kurama though, felt nervous, knowing where this was going, fearing that the truth may change the young man she loved for the worst, "A-About?" She whispered, figuring that if Ddraig was calm, then perhaps, they could be able to hide some things that Naruto was without a doubt not ready to know.

Naruto turned to face them fully, his eyes resolute when he asked, "I felt your reaction when Grayfia mentioned her clan, it was the very same reaction that you, Kurama, and your siblings had when you first met me…" He walked a little closer, his eyes narrowed at the two powerful beings, adding fiercely, "I want to know what it is that you are not telling me."

Seeing as the Nine Tailed Fox was nervous and afraid to speak, Ddraig sighed, looking at his host, replying, **"I will tell you some of the things you want, but not all of them…"** Ddraig knew that Naruto was about to retort, so the dragon looked straight at Naruto's eyes, reminding him of his immense power and wisdom, **"You know that you are not ready for the whole truth Naruto, one day you will be, but today is not that day."**

Naruto sighed, knowing that there was no way to push his predecessor. Besides, despite Ddraig's roughness, the god has always been looking out for him, the jinchūriki knew that Ddraig was only preparing him to become his successor, so he nodded, understanding as he said, this time more softly, "Aight, just… please, tell me something."

Ddraig and Kurama sighed, the woman looking down since she didn't enjoyed this gloomy version of Naruto, but she couldn't blame him, everything that's been going on, has shown Naruto how truly unwilling to work together the world was, it was understandable that he would feel discouraged. More so now, that the woman that had a huge impact on him and that basically shaped the way he loved was found to be alive, being held by that warmonger madman. It was understandable that he would feel frustrated and confused, his corruption curse not helping in the slightest.

 **"Very well…"** Ddraig said before he began, **"The reason for why we reacted like that when the woman revealed her name, was because she is a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths."**

Naruto widened his eyes, shocked, saying after, "W-What? The S-Sage is supposed to be d-dead, isn't he?"

Ddraig nodded, explaining better, **"Yes, but as you remember, he had three sons…"** Naruto nodded at that, the dragon continuing, **"Those three sons founded their own clans, that in time, evolved in something more…"** The god closed his eyes, resting his head on his claws while he kept talking, **"The oldest son's clan evolved into the Senju clan, which later would be separated into two, one continuing with the Senju name, while the other one took on the Uzumaki name…"** Naruto widened his eyes, he never knew that the Uzumaki and Senju were sibling families, neither that they were descendants of the God of Ninshū himself, **"The second son's clan would turn into the Uchiha clan…"** Naruto was again surprised, this wasn't common knowledge since while most of the world knew of the Sage, most thought of him as a mere legend, the real origins of such clans were so far unknown, **"And the last son's clan would later divide into two, the Lucifuge and the Phenex, all the members from those clans, are descendants of Hagoromo."**

"Oh shit…" Naruto muttered, taking a seat on the sand, processing what was just revealed. It was incredibly shocking, to think that the most powerful clans in history, came from the sons of the most powerful man the world has ever seen, though it made sense now, the abilities of said clans were without a doubt god-like almost. The Uchiha with their eyes, the Senju with their wood affinity and connection to nature, the Uzumaki with their longevity and huge chakra tanks, and for what he knew about the Lucifuge and Phenex, the former one had an ability to wield natural ice while the latter had the ability to wield natural fire, both being way more lethal than the common chakra nature attacks.

"That explains a lot…" The Namikaze muttered after some moments of silence, looking at Kurama who so far has kept silent to add, "That doesn't explain your anger when we met, tho…" He saw the woman's eyes widening, probably surprised that he caught her initial anger, saying, "I could feel your hate when you saw me, it was genuine hatred, so care to explain why?"

Kurama sighed, her head down as she nodded, reluctantly replying, "It's b-because…" She gulped, adding, "Because y-you resemble the youngest s-son of my father, a l-lot…" She looked at him, her eyes pained and clouded with painful memories as she continued, "H-He… he u-used me and my siblings… h-he tried to consume our power to get stronger."

Naruto stood up, slowly but steadily, understanding why she was so distant during these last couple of days, "Why?" He asked, walking a little towards her.

Kurama looked down, not capable of seeing those beautiful blue eyes that haunted her dreams as she replied, "B-Because… he wanted to d-destroy it all…" She shivered, remembering those days, "E-Everything our father built, he w-wanted it gone."

"That's why you haven't talked to me, right? You are afraid that I may turn into him?…" Naruto asked, the woman nodded slightly, her head down, timidly away from his eyes. Naruto just sighed, understanding now falling over him, making him realise that this darker turn of his, was harming someone he loved. So bringing her in his arms, Kurama stiffened before she relaxed, her teary eyes looking at him wide, surprised, "You promised me didn't you, Kurama?…" The woman tilted her head, Naruto adding, "That you will never let me fall into the darkness, you promised me that and so far, you and my other mates have done just that…" He kissed her forehead, the woman burying her face on his chest while he added, "I promise you, I will not turn into that monster, this is a promise of a lifetime, believe it."

Ddraig observed as Kurama melted at those words, the woman nodding with a small happy smile as she snuggled on his chest, feeling reassured. The god though, wished that things could be as easy, Naruto's path was the hardest one there was, temptations will flock him at every turn and he has yet to meet the darkest entities of this world. But he was going to make sure that his successor had the backing he needed to face the trials that awaited him, because Ddraig could tell that despite all the darkness that surrounded him, Naruto was the only one capable of bringing a new world to those he loved.

* * *

Grayfia shook her head as she observed her reflection on the mirror, not really knowing if she looked too overbearing for her plan. She was currently wearing a buttoned blue shirt, the top side left unbuttoned to show an enticing bit of her bountiful cleavage, a thin coat that covered her torso from the chill night and a pair of black leather jeans, tight and sexy. She didn't really knew much about seducing but she hoped that her body would be enough to do the job, she figured that if so many men felt attracted to her, then her target might as well do.

She and Naruto had arrived to Keishi, a town some metres away from the Abaddon ruins, their destination. Since they arrived during the dusk, they decided to get a hotel and spend the night there, choosing to head to the ruins first thing in the morning, refreshed and prepared for anything.

The pair had rented separate rooms, Naruto's room being right in front of hers and right now, Grayfia decided to put the first stage of her plan in motion. She had the plan of seducing him and make him trust her enough to talk about his past, she was sure that if he had a close relationship with Mikoto Uchiha, then the silverette will undoubtedly mention her, she should be capable of gauging their closeness by how Naruto's voice sounded then.

The problem was though, that she knew shit about seduction, or relationships for that matter, all she had as guide was a couple of books she picked up from a library that detailed how to show the person you like that you like them, "A-According to the book, I must look my best, but not too good on our first encounter…" She muttered, recalling the lessons, "Show him a little bit of me and try to make as much subtle contact as p-possible."

The silver-haired woman sighed deeply, fixing her clothes one last time before she made her way out of her room, closing her eyes for a moment before she turned behind her, to Naruto's door, "H-Here we go…" She couldn't deny that this strange warm and fussy feeling in her navel was annoying her. She didn't know why she was feeling so nervous, she was a Root member, the best one at that, she shouldn't be feeling nervous, eager, excited and afraid at the same time, she should be faking those emotions, not feeling them for real.

The woman knocked on the door, tentatively, inhaling deeply as her heart threatened to jump out of her chest.

"Ms Lucifuge?" The voice of her target brought her back to the real world, Grayfia shaking her head and admonishing herself for not even realising that Naruto had already opened the door.

"M-Mr Namikaze… I-I…" Grayfia stuttered badly, not knowing why she was struggling so much with this.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, stepping out of his room and saying after, "Are you alright, Ms Lucifuge?" He knew what was happening to her, the essence he injected her with years ago, was now making its presence known and making the woman feel the attraction quite badly. It all worked out for him though.

Grayfia took a deep breath, recovering her composure to say, a little timidly, "P-Please… call m-me Grayfia…" The man nodded at her, prompting her to continue, "There i-is nothing wrong I j-just… umm… w-wanted to see if you'd like to… h-have a drink… with… me." Grayfia finally finished her sentence, incredibly frustrated because it took too much effort to do so, she shouldn't be struggling so much with this, but her stomach was making it impossible with all that tingling.

Naruto smirked, leaning coolly against the doorframe as he muttered, amused, "My, my, are you asking me out on a date, Grayfia?" He made sure to flare his divine aura a little bit to rile up her hormones, knowing that her body should respond to him.

Grayfia squirmed, not knowing what the hell was going on, all she knew was that her body suddenly felt hot and needy, but she herself has never felt something like this so she was incredibly confused. She was still a damn fine kunoichi though, so she recovered her wits and said, somehow shy, "W-Well… I… y-yes?…" She was uncertain, nothing she read on those books prepared her for this situation.

Naruto chuckled, hiding his own inner conflict as he realised that this woman was not what he thought she'd be. It was clear to him that she was trying to seduce him, surely to get something out of him, but he, as the next god that ruled over darkness, could tell when someone had a malicious heart and this woman didn't had it, in fact, her heart seemed tormented, broken even. The fact that he was sure that she was the one that tipped him off of Danzō and Orochimaru's plot, also made him relent on his antagonism towards her, if just a little bit.

So, deciding to play along for now, Naruto snickered, closing his door and looking back at the nervous woman, extending his arm towards the corridor as he said, "I will be delighted to accept your invitation then…" He chuckled inwardly at his gentlemen-like speech, not used to so much politeness, "I saw that this inn has a bar downstairs, it should be enough for a couple of drinks."

Grayfia nodded and followed the boy as he led her towards said bar, her heart struggling to remain calm, beating rapidly, almost painfully. But she managed to keep her mind in the game, putting her own disgust at herself at the back of her head, she honestly didn't knew what will change after this mission, but she was sure that her world was about to take on a sharp turn pretty soon.

* * *

"What do you, lovely couple, would like to drink?" A gentle old woman asked the pair of silverettes once they sat on the bar.

Naruto smiled a little at the woman, replying, "Do you have any whisky?…" He frowned when the woman seemed confused by the word, sighing as he realised that like most of the continent, they did not know what whisky was. So after a disappointed sigh, he just said, "Then, just give me your darkest beer, please."

The woman nodded, focusing on Grayfia as she spoke, still a little out of it due to her immense nervousness, "I w-would like a glass of wine, please."

"Right away." The old lady said with a smile before she turned back and served their drinks, placing them before the two a couple of seconds after.

Grayfia drank from her wine, letting the burning sensation of the alcohol clear her mind in order to begin the conversation, recalling the book that said that the one interested, should always be the one initiating the talk, "S-So… Mr N-Namikaze…"

Naruto interrupted her though, saying with a wave of his hand, "Please, just Naruto."

Grayfia nodded, speaking again, "Okay N-Naruto…" She cleared her throat, pushing her breasts up a little to entice him, saying after, "H-How is the life of a ninja?"

"Bloody…" He replied almost automatically, snickering a little before he added, "I still remember back when I was younger, how I used to believe that all I had to do was rescue Princesses from the bad guys and get a kiss as reward…" He drank his beer, adding as he looked at the surprised woman, "Nobody told me that I was supposed to kill people with those very same dreams."

Grayfia found herself speechless, they had just started the conversation and it was already awkward. Though, the words of the handsome man deeply hit home in her, she could very well agree with him on that, after all, everybody praised their own heroes, but barely anyone acknowledges that those heroes, killed somebody else's hero, "O-Oh…" She muttered, now lost and not knowing what to follow that with.

Naruto looked at the woman for a moment, noting that she was, perhaps, one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen, only Kurama and Mikoto seemed more beautiful to him. But putting that thought to the back of his mind, he lightened the mood when he asked, "What about you? What is that you do?" He knew well what she does for a living, but he wanted to see what backstory she came up with.

Grayfia sipped her wine again in order to remember her charade, gulping the liquid down her throat before she replied, "I s-sell books, I have a small library in the Capital, I c-collect books and sell them at cheap prices, m-mostly to the poor people who need the texts, there are a l-lot of people who don't know how to read or count, so I l-like to do what I can to help them." It was a lie built around her dream though. She loved books, ever since she was little, her father usually read her many books and she developed a fascination for them, and the dream that she had forgotten due to her training, was now back on her mind ever since her emotions flowed back freely. She had always wanted to have a library and help those that needed knowledge, her father was a man that cherished knowledge above all and he made sure to pass that down to her. Alas, she was a murderer now that worked for a disgusting power-maniac.

Naruto felt surprised when he sensed the sadness that the woman experienced during her response, it was clear to him that while being a lie, she more than likely actually wish she could do that, it was easy to tell because the will behind the lie, was truly honest. Thinking that perhaps she was fed up with the old warmonger, Naruto smiled a little at her, saying, "Ya know…" Grayfia looked at him as he continued, "Most people praise me and my comrades, saying that we are heroes and all, but I think that people like you, people who spread knowledge, who educate those that need it, who teach them how to survive and make a living, I think that you are the real heroes." He finished with a warm smile, not lying about that at all.

Grayfia was stunned, she expected many things from this young man, but she never expected him to be so bitter about his own career. She couldn't blame him though, he has lost too much because of this path, so it was understandable that he wouldn't feel so proud of what he does. But to hear him calling her a hero, praising her for something that she hasn't done, heck, she has done the contrary, all the lives she's taken, all the pain she's caused for the 'greater good', she didn't deserved those words, she didn't deserved that mesmerising and warm glance. She just felt her self-disgust rising after those words, it was so unfair, "O-Oh… t-thank you b-but… I-I…" She struggled, looking down at her lap before she whispered, sad, "I am n-no hero."

Naruto was once again caught off guard by the woman's genuine despair. An unknown ability of his, was that thanks to his status as the ruler of the end, he was capable of sensing people's dark emotions, sadness being one of them, and he could easily tell when they were real or fake, hence why it was practically impossible to fool him with this sort of things. But right now, he could tell that she was lost, confused, afraid and disgusted, "Well, then be one." He said after drinking more of his beer, a warm look on his eyes as he observed the woman.

Grayfia's head shot up at those words, she didn't knew why, but hearing him saying that made her question, "W-What?"

Naruto just smiled a little, looking at the bar as he explained, "Being a hero is not what people think it is, everyone can be a hero…" He snorted, adding, "You don't need to have powers, to save a Princess or to protect the world to be a hero, Grayfia, even something as simple as giving a poor child a piece of bread, can make you a hero…" He then recalled a sentence said to him by Mikoto that has followed him ever since he heard it, it was probably one of the things that made him fall in love with her so deeply, "Someone precious to me once told me, that a hero is not the one that saves the world, but the one that pushes us to do better, to be better, a true hero is not the one that fights our battles for us…" He looked at the woman then, his eyes resolute and sure as he finished, almost passionately, "But the one that teaches us how to fight them ourselves."

Grayfia was without a doubt, stunned, her beautiful grey eyes wide as she stared at the handsome man in awe. She couldn't keep the image of her father away as she looked at Naruto, he sounded so much like him, somewhat of a dreamer, but still acknowledging the harsh truths of life. Heck, the boy seemed to have a wisdom that did not matched his age, she felt as if she was talking to an ancient being that has been here ever since the beginning. She managed to control her throbbing heart, placing a hand on her chest, looking down a little as she muttered, "W-Whoever told you that… m-must be a-an amazing person."

Naruto suppressed the anger, sadness and longing that appeared in his heart after those words, an image of Mikoto, smiling kindly at him while she patted his head, encouraging him to do better, appeared on his mind, the Namikaze smiling sadly as he commented, "Yeah… she is…"

Grayfia recovered after seeing the boy struggling with something, thinking that perhaps this was a good chance to see if she could get him to open up a little, so she inquired, "S-She? A lover p-perhaps?" She tried to smile teasingly, managing to recover a little bit of her sexiness, thought she honestly didn't know if she had any at all.

Naruto drank the rest of his beer, sighing contently before he replied with a small smile, "Nah, just someone that showed me the way when I needed it…" He was now sure what she wanted to know. Since he knew that Danzō was also after him, the old fool was probably trying to figure out how deep was his connection with the Uchiha matriarch. Even if it pissed him off, he knew that the best he could do, was to play along for the meantime, he was sure that by the end of this mission, Grayfia would be seeing the field by his side, "We should go back to our rooms now…" He added, placing some money on the bar and nodding at the old lady with a smile, adding as he presented his arm to Grayfia, "Tomorrow might be a little hectic, so we should be fresh and fully prepared."

Grayfia nodded a little dumbly, confused by the sudden cut off she just received. But figuring that pushing him right now will only do damage to her plan, she mustered a small smile while she accepted the arm, holding it and allowing him to lead her to their rooms. She couldn't get rid of her inner turmoil though, the words that she heard were making their mark on her mind and now more than ever, she was feeling like she didn't belonged anywhere.

* * *

Naruto whistled as he observed the giant ruins before him. He and Grayfia had just arrived to their destination some moments ago and he was greatly surprised by the sheer size of them. Strangely, the Abaddon ruins seemed to once have been a giant mansion, as there was a crumbling castle-like structure right in the middle of a huge perimeter surrounded by walls, though said walls were crumbling as well.

"This place is enormous." Naruto commented as he walked beside the woman.

Grayfia felt a pang of melancholy as she walked through her ancestral home, memories of her life before Root flashing through her mind as she looked around, saying, "Yes, this was supposed t-to be my family's estate." She whispered, hugging herself, struggling to contain the warring emotions within her that this place brought

Naruto looked at the beauty, asking, "You mean that this is like where your family lived before?"

Grayfia nodded, explaining, "Yes, according to what my father once told me, my clan along with the Phenex clan, emigrated from Europa and settled here in the Elemental Nations…" She looked at the young man, adding, "Ever since our clans separated, the first Lucifuge, Abaddon, took his supporters here, while the first Phenex, Barbatos, took his supporters to the Land of Earth."

Naruto nodded, removing a large piece of rubbish to allow the woman and him entrance to the mansion, walking behind the female when he inquired, "So your clan and the Phenex clan are like siblings?" He already knew the truth, but he had to play pretend for the sake of the charade.

Grayfia nodded, a small nostalgic smile as she replied, "Yes, supposedly, we were once the same clan…" She stopped right in the middle of what it seemed to once been a large hall, looking around as she added, "The Morningstar Clan."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that but chose to look around instead of commenting, impressed by the structure that surely once was a dazzling landmark, "So…" He started saying, looking behind him before he focused back on the busty female to inquire, "What are we supposed to find?"

Grayfia shook her head to rid her mind of the sudden memories of her father and brother, even managing to recall a small moment with her mother, probably the only thing she remembered of the woman. But focusing back on her companion, she replied, "We are supposed to find Albion's temple."

Naruto stiffened when he heard the name, managing to feel the surprise from Ddraig as he heard the name of his late brother. Not knowing if she was talking about the same being, Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked, "Albion? Who's that?"

Grayfia started walking, urging the silverette to follow her, replying as they walked, "I don't really know, all I know is that my clan used to worship a dragon named Albion…" Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, confused, "According to some of my father's texts, Albion was a being with power beyond that of the gods, he was supposedly the one that chose my family to protect his teachings and secrets…" She looked at the boy, a little confused to see him thoughtful, "That is what we are here to find."

Naruto looked at the woman, eyebrow raised while he muttered, "Albion's teachings?"

Grayfia nodded and turned back up front, leading Naruto throughout the ruined corridors of the mansion, seemingly having an idea where to go.

Naruto though, seized this moment of silence to speak with his mentor, _"Yo D!? The fuck is going on!?"_ For somebody to know the original Absolute God of Beginning's name, was highly suspicious.

The silverette heard the dragon grumble, not pleased with the information uncovered, replying after some moments, **_"I don't know, hatchling, but tread carefully, if the Lucifuge do hold some of Albion's secrets, things can get very ugly, he was my equal after all, his power, is nothing to laugh about."_**

Naruto nodded, noting the tension in the god's voice, letting him know that things were getting serious now.

"I-I…" Grayfia's voice won the Namikaze's attention again, making him focus on the woman as she pushed a large set of doors open, walking into a giant room, Naruto in tow as she added, "I think t-this is i…" She was muttering before she stopped, her eyes mesmerised by the giant statue that stood at the far side of the giant room.

"Whoa…" Naruto mumbled, awed at the view. In front of the two, at the other end of the room, a statue of a gigantic dragon was erected, though only from the top half of the torso up. The statue seemed to be barely standing as some parts of it were already destroyed, but it still managed to pose an incredible sight, "Amazing…" Naruto added another whisper once he and Grayfia reached the statue, tracing his hand gently over the stone, amazed to see Ddraig's younger brother, _"Is it really him?"_ Naruto asked his partner.

 ** _"It is."_** Ddraig replied dryly, a little bit of melancholy present in his tone, making Naruto keep the rest of his questions regarding the majestic dragon to himself, he didn't wanted to bring painful memories to Ddraig.

"Y-Yes…" Grayfia added, equally awed. She then shook her head, focusing back on the mission, turning around, trying to get a hold of her surroundings.

"What do we do now?" Naruto asked once he saw the woman searching for something.

"There is supposed to be a symbol carved around here somewhere." Grayfia replied with a whisper, trying to find said symbol.

Naruto too started to look around, getting frustrated for a while since nothing was found. That is until he accidently dropped a giant piece of rubbish to the ground, the air released from the crash cleaning some of the dust that covered the floor, revealing a strange line, "Whatta…" He muttered, crouching to clean more of the dust with his hand, revealing that the line continued, "Hey Grayfia! Come here!" He yelled.

Grayfia came running towards him moments later, alarmed for a moment until she saw him cleaning the floor, watching the strange line that kept appearing the more dust was removed, "Is that?" She asked.

"I think so…" Naruto stopped removing the dust with his hand, inhaling deeply before he released a powerful gust of wind on the ground, almost all of the room clouding with the dirt, both Naruto and Grayfia coughing with their eyes covered until the dust finally disappeared, revealing a rather large symbol pointing right at the statue of Albion, "I guess that's our symbol." He added with a small smirk, despite knowing that this mission was to get information on him, he couldn't deny that it was turning out to be an exciting adventure.

"It is…" Grayfia muttered, looking at the symbol with awe. She's never seen something like this before, the symbol was like a diamond, but there was an eye at the top part of the symbol.

Naruto narrowed his eyes when he recognised the symbol, it was practically the same as the signature that identifies him as the Absolute God of End, but he knew that this symbol was the symbol of the Beginning since it had the eye of creation at the top of the diamond, _'Beginning at the top, Traverse in the middle and End at the bottom…'_ He recalled the order of the absolute symbols.

 ** _"Be careful boy, there is definitely traces of Albion's power here, keep your eyes wide open."_** Ddraig warned his host as he himself tensed, confused as to how was it possible that his brother's power could be felt here.

Naruto mentally nodded, heeding his predecessor's words, knowing that if the god of darkness was getting tense, then it definitely meant trouble. But focusing back on the woman beside him, he inquired, "Well, what do we do now?"

Grayfia looked at Naruto for a moment, trying to remember the instructions her father left for her, walking towards the eye on the symbol and saying to the silverette once he reached her, "We are supposed to pour some of our blood in the eye at the same time."

Naruto raised an eyebrow but nodded later, grabbing two kunai, giving one to the Lucifuge, both counting down to three before they sliced their palms open, Grayfia wincing a little as she and the Namikaze let their blood drop onto the eye.

Nothing happened for a while, both ninja staring at each other tensely before their eyes wandered around, trying to see if anything was changing, "Ya sur…" Naruto was saying before he cursed under his breath as the symbol below them suddenly glowed brightly, forcing both ninja to jump away and prepare for a fight.

"W-What is going on!?" Grayfia asked loudly after Naruto appeared right before her, both looking around warily, trying to see why the place was suddenly shaking.

"I don…" Naruto was replying before he opened his eyes wide and cursed, "Holy s-shit! Move!" He grabbed the surprised woman by the waist and jumped away, just in time to avoid a large stone claw crashing where they once stood.

 **"Gragh!"** A powerful roar made Grayfia turn to look at what attacked them, only to have her mouth agape when she saw that the statue of Albion was now apparently living, roaring loudly as it tried to quash her and Naruto.

"F-Fuck." Naruto cursed while he and Grayfia separated, the statue thrashing around the temple, destroying everything in its path in an effort to kill him and Grayfia.

"N-Naruto!…" Grayfia screamed when she dodged one of the statue's claws, the claw destroying the floor while she added, "I'll try to freeze this thing!" Naruto nodded at her, understanding her plan.

Grayfia jumped to a safe distance, inhaling deeply before she blew hard towards the statue, a freezing gust of wind flowing from her mouth, icing everything in its path.

"Whoa." Naruto muttered, amazed as he witnessed the incredible difference between Haku's ice chakra and Grayfia's natural ice, it was staggering. Hearing the screech coming from the statue, Naruto knew that it was time to act, so he quickly donned his essence cloak and two wings sprouted from his back, Naruto taking flight and settling above the statue, inhaling as deeply as Grayfia before he released an intense torrent of dragon's fire.

Grayfia was stunned, covering her eyes while she felt the incredible heat radiating from Naruto's attack. She knew that he was capable of controlling natural fire, like her cousins the Phenex, but Naruto's was certainly even hotter than the Phenex's, it was as if you were inside an erupting volcano.

"Shit." Naruto cursed when he saw that his powerful attack only managed to destroy the dragon's left arm and a piece of its head, but it was still thrashing violently, searching for them.

The Uzumaki dodged a swing from the creature, the movement allowing him to see that where the statue was resting before, there was a hole that seemed to have a set of stairs going below the temple, meaning that the entrance they were searching for was below the statue.

Knowing that since Grayfia was not fully mated to him she would get burned by his divine aura, he deactivated his cloak and made a run towards the confused woman, throwing the yelping female over his shoulder and jumping towards the hole, the statue following closely behind.

Naruto with Grayfia on his shoulder managed to jump into the hole, the statue crashing above them but getting stuck, not able to fit through the entrance, "Phew…" Naruto muttered while gasping, gently putting Grayfia down before he inquired, "You aight?"

Grayfia recovered her breath, her heart beating like crazy while a blush adorned her cheeks, the feel of Naruto's hand on her ass still leaving delicious shivers on her body. She shook her head though, nodding while replying lowly, "Y-Yes…" She then looked up, the sounds of the statue struggling still sounding above while just a couple of rays of light lighted the place they were in, "B-But… it s-seems that we are stuck."

Naruto inhaled, calm again before he looked up and around, noticing that there was only a small corridor in front of them, "Seems like we don't have another choice…" He muttered before he brought a fist forward, Grayfia feeling surprised when his fist suddenly lit on fire, letting them now see their surroundings, "Let's go."

Grayfia just inhaled and nodded, walking behind the Namikaze as he led her through the strange corridor, wondering what awaited them ahead.

* * *

A silver-haired young man suddenly opened his eyes, his body assaulted by a shiver, his eyes narrowing immediately once he recognised the feeling. He just shook his head and started walking at a fast pace through the castle, the dark corridors of the structure leading him towards the throne hall, where he could see at the distance the sitting figure of his master.

"Master, did yo…" He was saying before the man above him interrupted him.

"Ufufufu… yes child, I felt it too…" The man smiled childishly, sighing after and resting his chin on his fist, adding amusedly, "It seems that someone's eager to uncover her family's secrets… ufufufu…"

The young man frowned, saying, "But to do so, she would need the help of a dragon and there is only one dragon I can think of."

The man above just chuckled, nodding as he spoke, "Yes, it is most likely that my dear grandson is the one helping her."

"Sire, please, allow me t-to…" The young man was kneeling and bowing his head respectfully, pleading before he was cut off once again.

"No…" The old man replied quickly and dryly, adding with a stern tone rarely heard on him, "My grandson is developing in ways that I couldn't even foresee, this will serve him to uncover a little bit of his own blood, I won't have you hindering his growth."

The young man cursed under his breath while he kept his head low, not capable of showing his displeasure to the man before him. He might be strong, but his master was worlds above him, despite his old age, the man could still destroy him with a mere glance. So he kept his disappointment to himself when he nodded submissively, "Understood, milord."

The man chuckled darkly, saying boringly, "Now, now, there is no need to be sad, boy…" He leaned on a little, adding, "You will have your chance to see her soon…" The young man just nodded, nothing else could be done after all. As for the old man, he just leaned back on his seat and chuckled slightly, crossing his hands before his face and saying with glee and anticipation, "Soon, my beloved Naruto, soon Grandpa will come to you."

* * *

"Damn…" Naruto muttered, frustrated as he looked around, nothing but darkness on his sight, adding annoyed, "This place is a frickin' labyrinth."

Grayfia bit her lip, looking around as well, equally lost and not capable of seeing or feeling a damn thing, "Don't y-you feel like…" She started saying, the boy looking at her, prompting the Lucifuge female to add, "We've been here before?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, confused, looking around and focusing deeper into their surroundings, noting that indeed, they have been in this very same location, "What the hell!?… I was sure that we've been walking like fifteen minutes!" He claimed, annoyed and frustrated.

Grayfia just sighed, nodding while she pressed her back on a wall and let her body slid down to the ground, sitting on the floor and whispering tiredly, "We have…" She eyed the male while he sat on the spot opposite to her, adding after, "I'm sure of it as well."

Naruto looked at her, his eyes locked on hers while the two remained sitting, not knowing what to do or say.

Grayfia bit her lip, looking down a little before she muttered shyly, "H-Have you…" She gulped, regaining her courage to speak her mind, "H-Have you ever… f-fallen in… l-love?…" She didn't know why the mere word made her feel so giddy and nervous, it was such a foreign word for her that she didn't really had a clue how to feel about it.

Naruto snorted, shaking his head a little amusedly before he looked back at the beauty, asking with a raised eyebrow, "What's with that random question?" The question however, made him tense slightly, going over every word he will say to not spill anything that may harm Mikoto. He knew that Grayfia was without a doubt not a hundred percent with the Shimura elder, but that didn't meant that she was his ally, until he either marks her fully or manages to change her ways, he has to tread carefully.

Grayfia didn't know why she blushed, but her gaze lowered even more, saying with a whisper, her stomach incredibly tense and tingly, "I j-just… I j-just want to k-know… how it f-feels like…" She cursed herself mentally however, for the pitiful attitude she was showing right now, _'W-Why am I s-so nervous!?…'_ She thought, frustrated and worried that he might see through her deception. Though now that she asked s he genuinely wanted to know how it felt.

Naruto suppressed the chuckle he felt coming when he witnessed the surely ruthless assassin behaving like a shy school-girl. Though, it also made him frown a little as it showed him that she must have never had a normal childhood, she was probably taken by Danzō either from birth or a very young age. But he focussed back on the now, smiling a little while his head leaned back on the wall, sighing before he replied, "Well, I have in fact, fallen in love…" He smiled at the memory of Mikoto, Tsubaki, Tsunami, Ayame, Ino, Hinata, Koyuki, Akeno, Haku, Yūgao and Piña, all the women that shared his heart with equal passion, "I'm still in love actually."

Grayfia didn't know why it hurt to hear him say that, she figured that it was perhaps because of all these fantasies that have been playing around her head of having a normal life, perhaps even starting a life with this man that seemed to be the only one that arouses all kinds of emotions in her. But ignoring her pain, she looked back at him, inquiring coyly, "O-Oh… a-and… how does it f-feels?"

Naruto could feel that Grayfia felt sad, alone and hopeless, shattering Naruto's harsh view on her completely now. He could tell that she was just a broken woman, someone who surely went through a lot and was further messed up by that bastard known as Danzō Shimura. So already feeling attached to her, responsible of her even, he just sighed and replied, "Well, it's both amazing and despairing."

Grayfia tilted her head, confused, asking, "H-How can it be both?"

Naruto snickered, explaining, "Well, because love is, simply put, wild…" He focused on the woman's greys, his blues intense when he continued, "It makes you feel all kinds of emotions, sometimes it's confusing, sometimes it's enlightening, sometimes it hurts, sometimes it brings you joy."

Grayfia couldn't really grasp her mind around the thing, though she could, without a doubt, declare that the boy in front of her made her feel all of those things, as intensely as he seems to be implying as well, "W-Why would you go through a-all of that?" She still couldn't understand why people withstand all the trouble.

Naruto laughed a little at that, able to see why would someone that has had her brain washed like her would find love to be too much of a hassle. Focusing again on her, Naruto thought for a moment on how best to explain such complicated subject, so he resolved for just saying what he's experienced so far, "Well, it does seems to be too much trouble, most people usually tell you that love, is supposed to me magical, joyful and exhilarating…" He leaned back on the wall, continuing, "But for what I've experienced, that's just half of the truth, in fact, that definition, I would say, belongs to sex…" He smirked at the woman who averted her gaze at the mention of the deed, a blush on her cheeks, the boy chuckling before he continued, "In my opinion, simply put, you feel true love when you find that person that half of the time you wanna make love to and the other half you wanna kill'em… hehe… I guess, if I'd had to tell you when you'll know that what you feel is love…" He locked his blues on hers, a warm smile on his face when he finished, "Is when despite all of his or her flaws, all the obstacles on the way, all the hassle, you still think that that person is worth the trouble, to me that's love, when you find someone you feel that is worth the pain."

Grayfia had her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape, intense emotions taking her heart hostage since she couldn't take her eyes away from the young man. It was incredible really, she didn't knew why, when or how, but she was sure that somehow, for some fricking reason, she was in love with him, "W-Who…" She whispered, her voice barely audible, making her say again a little louder this time, "W-Who's worth t-the trouble for you?" She didn't know if her heart was aching because of pain of knowing that she didn't had a chance at love, or because she was perhaps about to hear the information her leader seeks. The thought of betraying him like that, was making it hard to even breathe.

Naruto could feel the warring emotions within Grayfia, he knew that she was near her breaking point and this was his chance to reach her, to rescue her as well from that mad man and with her help, rescue Mikoto. So smiling a little at her, he kept his deep blue eyes locked to hers and replied, "Mikoto Uchiha…" His smirk widened when the woman's eyes went wider, adding the last nail, "Ya know? The woman your boss used as leverage to get my brother out of the village." His whole demeanour changed after he finished, the aura around him hot and dangerous.

Grayfia's instincts immediately took over, struggling for some moments to move out of the shock, but managing to jump away from Naruto and coat her hands with demonic energy, her body trembling and her eyes still wide in shock, "Y-You… y-you know!?…" She screamed, not knowing why it hurt so much to fight him.

Naruto chuckled darkly, nodding his head as he calmly stood up, cleaning the dust from his clothes, his eyes focused on her while he replied, "From the start."

Grayfia tried to calm herself down but she just couldn't, her heart was beating so erratically that she worried for a heart attack for a second. But still keeping her training at the forefront of her mind, she got ready for any attack he may make, though since they were still in a medium sized corridor, they barely had space to do anything, "Then w-why didn't you had t-the Hokage jail me!? If you know everything, even D-Danzō having the Uchiha matriarch, why not reveal it all!?" She honestly didn't know why she was so stressed, she should just kill him and be done with it, warn Danzō that they have been compromised, but her body won't move an inch, it just wouldn't respond her command.

Naruto sighed, crossing his arms before he said, "At first, because I wanted to get information out of you, to devise a rescue plan and get Mikoto out of that fool's hands, and to kill him of course…" He narrowed his eyes, his aura raging around him, trying to seize the fear the woman had at the moment to try and reach her, "But as I spent time with you, as I heard you talk and see the world around ya, I couldn't help but notice that you're just confused and afraid."

Grayfia's stance wavered for a moment, her eyes wide, not even realising that she was crying. The words of the boy reached her so deeply, he read her so well that it scared her, "H-How!?…" She whispered harshly, gulping before she added, a tentative step back, "H-How do you know how I f-feel?"

"Almost two years ago…" Naruto started saying, walking towards her while he continued, "You found me fighting a bunch of crabs in the Forest of Death, remember?…" The woman's eyes showed recognition, so he kept going, "You must also remember that you got injured and that I sucked the poison out of you, you must have felt different ever since, haven't you?"

The silverette female widened her eyes, shocked to hear that it was him the one that did something to her, that awakened her buried emotions, "W-What… w-what did y-you do to me!?" She inquired, trying to be angry but ended up sounding afraid instead.

Naruto sighed, stopping some steps away from her before he opened his mouth and started telling her absolutely everything, from who he truly was, to what he was trying to accomplish. The Namikaze knew that it was a gamble, because if he didn't managed to change her mind, he didn't know what he'd do, his only option would seem to be to wipe her memory if she refuses, because after everything, he just couldn't bring himself to kill her, he already felt a duty towards her.

Grayfia was definitely stunned, her eyes as wide as they could while her mouth mimicked them. Everything she just heard seemed to be so fictional but still, she knew it to be true, she could feel it in her gut, the boy was not lying to her at all, "Y-You…" She muttered, struggling to find her voice, "Y-You're i-i-insane…"

Naruto laughed at that, nodding his head while he commented with an amused smirk, "Yeah, I am…" He shrugged, adding, "But it's the crazy ones, the ones that change the world…" Grayfia stayed quiet, not knowing what to say or do, her demonic magic still coating her hands, "Will you help me, Grayfia? Will you help me unite this world?" He added, his voice now soft and his eyes warm, now just centimetres apart from her.

Grayfia couldn't help but lose herself on those eyes, feeling a warmth and security she has never felt before, not even when her father was alive. She couldn't explain it, why her heart was beating like crazy, why her body longed for his touch, why it hurt to even think of running away from him, she could only whisper, "B-But I… I-I am n-nothing…" Her tears fell as she continued, her whole life flashing before her eyes while she added, "I h-have nothing to o-offer you… I'm j-just a broken t-tool… a b-broken woman…"

Naruto smiled sadly at her, his heart pained at seeing such beautiful woman carrying such painful thoughts, it just made him hate Danzō all the more. But going back to the woman, the Namikaze cupped her cheeks, Grayfia accepting the touch as Naruto whispered, "Then let me mend you." He smiled while he stroke her cheeks.

Grayfia's hands started to lower slowly, her Root training, her own resolve crumbling away with every tender touch he gave her cheeks, "W-What do you see in me?…" She whispered, incapable of looking anywhere else but his eyes, "I a-am just a crack… t-there's… t-there's hardly anything left for you to see…" She could feel her demonic energy disappearing.

Naruto smiled at her, bringing her close to him, their foreheads touching while he replied, "There's plenty of things for me to see, things that I will be glad to tell you about every day for the rest of eternity, doesn't matter how much it takes me to make you believe it yourself…" He brushed his lips against hers, whispering later, "Give me your heart and I will give you mine, you will never be alone again, whenever you feel like breaking, I will always be there to put the pieces back in their place, no matter how many times it happens."

Grayfia only closed her eyes and allowed the boy to claim her lips, her toes curling while her hands moved on their own, grasping his jacket tightly, her mouth opening to deepen the kiss and allow his tongue to conquer the inside of her mouth.

It was something magical indeed, Grayfia had never felt anything quite like this before. The rush of emotions, the happiness, the joy, the lust, the heat, it was all so overwhelming but at the same time, so calming. For the first time in her life, she actually felt like she belonged somewhere.

The necessity to breathe soon made itself known, forcing them apart. Grayfia struggling with her breath while her eyes remained half-closed, dazed by the rush of feeling she was just assaulted with.

"What do you say, my queen?" Naruto asked with a loving whisper, his hands still cupping her cheeks tenderly.

Grayfia could only smile after those words, she hasn't heard them since her father was alive, as it was his endearing way to call her. So still a little confused and afraid of the future but somehow not capable of denying her heart a chance to finally have something to call hers, she just smiled, her eyes teary but warm, in love, "I a-am yours, f-forever, m-my king."

Naruto just smiled but before they could do anything else, the corridor around them started to glow, blinding them for a moment before nothing but light could be seen, the light receding moment later to show that both Naruto and Grayfia were now gone.

* * *

"W-Where are we?" Grayfia muttered as she looked around to survey their new surroundings, her hands still tightly grasping Naruto's jacket, feeling a little afraid of the sudden transportation.

"I don't know…" Naruto muttered, looking around as well, noticing that they were now inside of what it looks like a big studio. There were many bookshelves stacked on the walls of the room, though there were no books in them, "Looks like a studio." He added, looking at the far side of the room to see a small desk, almost ready to crumble down.

Grayfia's gasp then won Naruto's attention, the woman whispering while she looked at the arm that was holding her, "N-Naruto… y-your arm!"

Naruto winced when he finally felt the change, noticing how his right arm, was now clawed and red, a strange gauntlet on top of it with a green jewel incrusted at the upper side of the hand. He retracted his arm, closing and opening his hand a couple of times to get rid of the momentary pain, "D-Damn… didn't thought I would have to release my power so soon…" He muttered, looking at his brand new Boosted Gear. Three days after the battle with Sasuke, Ddraig had begun the reconstruction of his arm, the god could've done in a couple of minutes but it would've raised a lot of questions, so they decided to take it slow and make it seem as if he was capable of regenerating an arm thanks to his reptile side. Though he knew that neither Tsunade nor Jiraiya bought it, but so far, they haven't questioned him about it.

"T-This is…" Grayfia muttered, gently grabbing his arm and inspecting it, shocked to feel it, it felt both raspy and soft, except for the gauntlet that felt like metal.

"Yeah…" He affirmed, adding, "This is the arm that Ddraig made for me…" Since he had already told her everything, including this incident, he wasn't surprised that she took it without much trouble. Instead, she showed immense concern, _"Ddraig, what happened?"_ He asked his dragon partner.

 **"Albion's power…"** Ddraig's voice suddenly came from the gauntlet, surprising both ninja while the beast continued, **"Yes, I can speak through here."**

"Cool…" Naruto whispered, amazed. That is until his brain processed the god's first sentence, "Hold up, ya said something about Albion's power?"

Grayfia widened her eyes while the God of End spoke, **"Yes, there is something here that contains his power, though it's minimum, but its mere presence made your power react, we are beings of darkness, he was a being of light, our powers immediately react to one another since we are opposites…"** Naruto nodded at that, understanding, **"Be wary, the fact that some of his power is here, is not good."**

Naruto nodded and instinctively brought Grayfia close, holding her waist tightly while he narrowed his eyes, inspecting the room, trying to find the source of Albion's power.

Grayfia felt wonderful inside his arms, something so foreign to her that she could only enjoy it without questioning what it was. But she felt that the man she apparently loved was tense, she couldn't really understanding much of what was going on, it all sounded so complicated to her, everything, from Naruto's explanation to how they ended up here.

"It's because you are still human…" Naruto's voice brought her attention to him, the woman tilting her head in confusion, prompting him to explain, "The reason for why you are so confused about all of this, is because I still haven't made you a demi-god, so divine knowledge is something that your brain is not capable of process."

Grayfia nodded, not understanding a thing but deciding to trust him anyway, she really didn't wanted to be anywhere else but here with him, so she just accepted whatever he said.

"S-Still…" She muttered, looking at him with confused eyes when she added a question, "How did we get here?"

 **"Mm… seems to me that we were transported by a 'Bond Seal'."** Ddraig suddenly added.

Both Naruto and Grayfia raised an eyebrow, confused, the silverette male lifting his arm and asking, "What is that?"

Ddraig sighed before he replied, **"A bond seal is sort of like key lock, it requires two life signatures to work and both must share a true bond to open it…"** He stopped for a moment before he added, **"This is usually the seal that dragons use to keep our secrets safe, as you can fake many things, even life signatures, but bonds, that's something you just can't fake."**

Grayfia widened her eyes, looking at Naruto as she seemed to understand, "When I accepted you…"

Naruto nodded, muttering, "Yeah, this place must have been locked with that seal…" He released her and started walking towards the other side of the room, adding along, "You said that your family was close to dragons, so probably, whoever built this place, wanted to make sure that only those who truly trusted each other could open it."

Grayfia nodded, understanding now. She was about to say something but a strange feeling made her stop her mouth, walking towards the desk , Naruto observing her with a raised eyebrow as she looked at the desk for a while, muttering, "I… I sense something…" She placed her hand on the wood, already cracked and dry. The Lucifuge then felt a strange pulse, seemingly coming from inside the desk. So opening one of the drawers, she widened her eyes when she found a glass container with something inside of it, "Naruto! L-Look!" She called the boy while she placed the container on top of the desk.

Naruto rushed towards her, his eyes narrowing at the strange container, "Is that a… tablet?" He wondered aloud, looking at a strange stone-tablet with two strange markings on the top side of it.

"I-It seems so… yes…" Grayfia commented, both feeling a little wary since the tablet was emitting something strange, they couldn't quite figure out what, but there was like aura coming off from it, "W-Wait… are those?…" She started saying before she narrowed her eyes at the markings, adding, "Draconian letters?"

Naruto tilted his head after that, focusing more on the markings and realising that she was right, those markings were two draconian letters, "Aj? What the hell does that mean?" He eyed his gauntlet, silently asking his predecessor.

 **"There are a thousand words with 'aj' in them, hatchling, I don't know which word this tablet seems to form."** Ddraig replied dryly, not really knowing what the tablet said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, whispering, "You say there are more of this?"

The jewel just shined as the dragon's voice was heard replying, **"Seems likely, otherwise, there would be no point."**

Before Naruto could agree, Grayfia gasped quietly, making Naruto turn to look at her to ask, "Ya aight, Grayfia? What happened?"

"I've seen another tablet like this one…" The silver-haired woman whispered, prompting Naruto's eyes to widen while she continued, "It had t-the same appearance and I did saw markings on it too, but I didn't saw it closely, so I can't tell if those markings were draconian letters or not."

"Where did you saw it?" Naruto inquired, intrigued by this strange occurrence.

Grayfia felt a knot in her stomach, now that she has accepted her emotions, she felt the disgust towards Danzō even more fervent than before, "D-Danzō…" She whispered, wincing when she saw the boy's eyes narrowing, his aura changing suddenly, "I saw him once placing a tablet like this in a box, he said…" She stopped, not knowing if it was a good idea to continue or not. But already fed up with being the old hawk's lap dog, she decided to be honest with the man she had vowed herself to, adding finally, "H-He said that he found that tablet… hidden in… the L-Land of Whirlpools."

Naruto widened his eyes, muttering, "The Uzumaki's home village?…" Grayfia nodded, prompting Naruto to narrow his eyes, feeling extremely confused by this.

"W-What do we do?" Grayfia inquired quietly after some moments, nervous due to Naruto staying quiet for a couple of minutes.

The Namikaze just sighed, resolving to just wait for the right moment in which he'll be able to get his hands on the Shimura elder. So focusing back on the tablet, he grabbed a scroll and opened it, placing the crystal container with the tablet above a circular symbol, channelling some chakra in it, a poof of smoke following and once gone, the tablet was already sealed in the scroll, "Here…" He gave the scroll to the woman, adding, "Keep this safe until we get back to the Leaf."

Grayfia was greatly shocked from Naruto's action, confused, whispering, "Y-You're… you're t-trusting me to keep it?…" She knew that she now belonged to him, but she didn't thought that he would trust her with something as important as the tablet seemed to be, "D-Despite… everything?" She added, her eyes still wide, her heart beating like crazy, incredibly confused for all these intense emotions she was feeling at the same time.

Naruto just sighed, vowing to kill Danzō at the very first chance he got for not only sending his brother away and keeping the woman he loved the most locked and hidden, but for also breaking Grayfia. It hurt him to see someone so capable, strong and beautiful to be like this, confused, scared and fragile.

So knowing that he had to reassure her of his vow, he walked towards her and held her close, kissing her forehead lovingly before he said to the shocked woman, "Grayfia, I told ya, you're mine, as I am yours…" He kissed her chastely, the silverette female closing her eyes, enjoying the moment as he continued after breaking the lip lock, "I trust you to do the right thing, I know you're afraid and even disgusted with yourself, but please, let go of all of that, I and our family, will always be here for you."

Grayfia couldn't help but cry in his arms as she slightly nodded, feeling like she had finally found a home, something to call hers, a family to cherish her like her father and brother used to. So finally, after who knows how long, she let go, of all the things that bothered her, of all the Root training, she vowed to herself to be better, to regain her humanity and most importantly, to be beside the man that made it all possible.

* * *

Grayfia's eyes got lost in the fire before her, the flame dancing around when the breeze gently hit it, the warmth of the fire comforting her while Naruto was out creating a perimeter.

It has been a couple of hours since they found the tablet and the pair was now on their way back to the Leaf, knowing that while they might be inside Fire territory, there was always danger of encountering difficult situations, more so when Naruto was such a known character.

She still recalled how after their little tender moment in the studio, they headed towards the door and were shocked to see that it led to Albion's altar, the statue now back in its place, seemingly unmoving again. They treaded carefully, walking into the temple, almost tiptoeing, but much to their shock, the statue never responded, not even when Naruto started to flare his power.

She and her fellow silverette figured that probably, the statue was there as a guardian and as they had apparently passed some sort of test, the statue didn't saw the necessity to fight them, as it probably now saw them worthy. Whether the statue stopped attacking them because of Naruto being a dragon or her being a Lucifuge, was not clear.

They had then searched the rest of the ruins, trying to see if there was anything left to investigate, but much like the past archaeologists and treasure hunters, they couldn't find anything but ruins and ghosts from the past. They did grabbed some old paintings and books they could find around, they needed to fool the Hokage into believing that it was all they could find. They chose to keep the tablet for themselves, with Naruto hiding it once they arrive home.

They then decided to set off to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, though Grayfia was sure that Naruto agreed to it because he understood that she was uncomfortable for being in the once home of her clan. Now that her emotions were free to course through her body, she couldn't help but remember her father, brother and all those dreams of having a family, she couldn't even recall how painful it truly was until she felt it again.

The Namikaze didn't mentioned any of that of course, something she was greatly thankful for since she didn't wanted to appear weak, she was a kunoichi, one of the Leaf's best for sure, her emotions may now be free and her Root training may now be forgotten, but she still had her pride. Plus, she recalled some of the things her father taught her about dragons and one of their main traits, was that they respected and liked strength above anything else. Her heart, body and soul now belonged to a dragon and she refused to lose that connection just because she may look weak, she still feared the future and what it may bring, but feeling Naruto close to her, guiding her through it all, made the fear recede greatly, she didn't wanted to let go of that warmth now that she finally attained it.

A sound suddenly broke her out of her thoughts, making her turn to look to her left to see the man in question walking towards her, a small smile on his face when he saw her, causing her to smile back at him almost subconsciously.

"It's done…" The Namikaze muttered before he sat next to her, rubbing his hands before the fire, something he did more out of entertainment than anything else since as a dragon, his temperature was quite high, cold wasn't really something he struggled with much, "Left some clones fully charged, the risk is minimum, so we should be fine spending the night here."

Grayfia nodded and turned back towards the fire, silence falling between the two, not really knowing what to say since despite already forming a vow to each other, they really didn't knew much about the other.

The Lucifuge woman bit her lip, nervously looking at her apparent one and only, mustering the courage to begin a conversation, "I…" Naruto looked at her, expectant, "I w-would like to… umm… t-tell you…" She looked at the side, utterly frustrated for feeling so nervous and stuttering like a child, "A-About myself…" She finally finished.

Naruto smiled warmly at her leaning back and surprising her when he grabbed her by the waist, lifting her up with almost no trouble and placing her on his lap, the woman blushing madly while she struggled with her breath, utterly flushed, "I would love to know about my queen." He whispered lovingly, caressing her cheek tenderly.

Grayfia couldn't stop the small smile from forming on her face, she didn't knew how but whenever Naruto called her like that, she felt incredible, excited, loved, it was the feeling she now cherished above all, "I… I d-don't have an interesting story… per se…"

Naruto grabbed her chin and made her look at him as he said, "If it's your story, then it's interesting to me."

Grayfia smiled and nodded, looking at her lap, her fingers fidgeting while she continued, "I have been part of R-Root for almost f-fifteen years now…" She knew what he was about to ask, so she quickly added, "P-Please… N-Naruto… I… I d-don't want you to know what I've d-done… not n-now…"

Naruto shut his trap and frowned a little, still nodding and accepting her words, knowing that she was still confused about it all. He did vowed even harder to bring Danzō down though, he has hurt too many people already.

Grayfia looked at him and kept going, "Y-You see… my mother, she was killed after s-she gave birth to me…" She smiled sadly, wishing she could've met the woman, "She and my father were siblings actually, but since they were apparently the last of the Lucifuge and had been together forever, they fell in love and soon, two children were produced from that union…" She inhaled, adding moments after, "The Phenex Clan has been chasing my family for ages now, the spat is so old that my father admitted that probably nobody even remembers why there was so much hate between the two families, more so when we used to be o-one family."

Naruto frowned, hating that once again, lives were lost to grudges nobody remembered why they even existed in the first place, the very same thing happening to Shisui and the woman he fell in love with, the two having to stay away from each other since it was impossible for the two to be together with the hatred that existed between the Leaf and Rock. He focused back on her though, as she continued.

"Somehow, the Phenex caught word of us and s-seized the fact that my mother was birthing me to attack…" She started shivering, but got shocked when Naruto embraced her tightly and suddenly, the fear and angst disappeared almost completely, making her smile a little and have enough strength to get it out of her chest, "She held them off and gave my father enough time t-to escape with me and my brother, but she died shortly after…" She sighed, allowing Naruto to clean her tears before she added, "From there on, my father kept us on the run, moving all over the continent… it worked for a while but…"

"They found you?" Naruto deduced when she stopped.

Grayfia nodded, saying, "Yes… they found me and my father, and just like my mother, he stayed behind so that I could run and escape… I w-was nine years old back then."

Naruto nodded solemnly, inquiring softly, "What about your brother?"

Grayfia looked at the fire in front of them, now more at ease with herself after talking about it all, she's never done it before and she had to admit that it was incredibly liberating, "H-He disappeared when I was s-seven… haven't heard from him ever since…"

Naruto nodded and the two soon fell quiet, though it wasn't an awkward silence, it was a comforting one, Naruto enjoying having her in his arms, loving the opportunity to have one person more to love and cherish, while Grayfia revelled in this new sensation of feeling loved, protected and cared for, something she hasn't felt since her father was with her.

It took almost twenty minutes for words to be spoken again, with Grayfia being the one that turned to look at Naruto, saying a little uncertain, "N-Naruto?…" The boy hummed at her, prompting her to inquire, "W-What am I to d-do once we're back?" She knew that this little honeymoon of theirs will be over tomorrow, and the mere thought of separating from him and going back to that dark maze she worked in with that bastard elder was hurting her badly.

Naruto sighed deeply, wanting nothing more than to take Grayfia with him and keep her away from the Shimura. But it was not possible, not at the moment, Danzō will undoubtedly try to recover his agent or to at least kill her along with everything she knew of him, and he still needed her help to free Mikoto. So he caressed her cheek, a small apologetic smile when he replied, "I'm sorry Grayfia, but you're still gonna have to go back to that bastard…" The woman lowered her gaze, sad and afraid, but still accepting, Naruto quickly adding, "You know that Danzō will go after you if you disappear all of a sudden…" Grayfia nodded at that, understanding it well, "And I also want your help freeing Mikoto." He added finally.

Grayfia looked at him, saying, "But i-it's impossible… our HQ is f-fortified to the max and there are routes that not even I know of…" She sighed, adding, "Plus, D-Danzō is not weak… despite h-his age, he's till incredibly strong."

Naruto cupped her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye when he said confidently, "Grayfia, everybody but Lord Great Red dies, that old fool just awakened the dragon and no matter what, he and his organization will die, Mikoto will be free and you will be with me soon…" Grayfia smiled a little at that, feeling the reassurance, "It's not gonna be easy, I know that, but he will not hurt anybody else, that is a promise of a lifetime."

Grayfia smiled and boldly leaned on, kissing him, trying to convey how sure of him she was and how much he has changed her world, "T-Then what do I do?" She asked again after the kiss, blushing at her own action.

Naruto just chuckled, getting serious again before he answered, "You go and tell him what he wants…" Grayfia widened her eyes as he continued, "Tell him that I am in love with Mikoto."

Grayfia grabbed his jacket, saying alarmed, "But Naruto… t-that will leave us with a very s-short time to act! He w-will make his move pretty soon!"

Naruto captured her lips in a deep kiss, knowing from experience that his women seemed to calm down like that all the time. Smirking when she indeed calmed down, Naruto said reassuringly, "I know, but Danzō needs to think that he has me on his thumb, I need him to be confident so that he underestimates me…" He sighed, adding, "But it will indeed leave us with little time to make our move."

Grayfia was about to say something else but Naruto cut her off when he stood up, carrying her bridal style before he said to her with a charming smile, "Just relax for now Grayfia, we'll figure it out tomorrow, now, I want to be with my new mate and enjoy this beautiful night with you."

Grayfia blushed deeply, feeling hot all of a sudden, whispering coyly, "P-Please… b-be gentle…"

Naruto just laughed at that while he walked towards their tent, saying, "My, my, I wasn't talking about sex, Grayfia…" Grayfia blushed even harsher at that, with Naruto adding, "We will take it all as slow as you want, this is new to you and I want you to be completely sure about this when we do it, aight?"

Grayfia just smiled while he walked into the tent, the boy settling on their sleeping bag gently and turning to close the tent, falling next to her, bringing her on top of him and caressing her back. Grayfia could only smile at the comfort, enjoying this moment like nothing else, whispering lovingly, "As you wish, my king."

Naruto just smiled with his eyes closed, feeling as Grayfia fell asleep, vowing to protect this beautiful woman with equal duty as his other mates, she has suffered enough and he will be damned if she suffers anymore, _'Soon Danzō… soon…'_ He thought, his mind focus on bringing justice and punishing that bastard who's taken so much from him and so many people more, the time for him to pay for his sins, has finally come.

* * *

A blue-haired female walked through the dark corridors of her organization's tower, her black cloak with red clouds swinging around as she walked, her face as impassive as ever while her mesmerising amber-coloured eyes remained half-closed.

On the outside, Konan may look calm and stoic as usual, but her heart was beating slightly erratic as she made her way towards Nagato. It has been so long since she's seen Naruto and ever since, she had found herself already detached from her best friend's world. She wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else, preferably by the silverette's side, but she still needed to at least try to save Nagato from his own darkness, she owed it to Yahiko.

The problem was that as days went by, Nagato sunk deeper and deeper into his Pain persona, developing a god-complex that she wasn't sure was reversible anymore. She knew that the man who called himself Madara was the one filling the once tender and gentle boy with all those ideals of hatred, but while she still thought that he was not the real Madara, she knew that whoever this guy truly was, he was still strong, either at Pain's level or above.

Now though, the problem was that she was sure that Nagato was onto her, or at the very least, Madara. She has tried to keep her distance since she met the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki, trying to be as inconspicuous as she could to not attract any suspicion but despite her best efforts, there were some things that she couldn't stop her displeasure from being shown. Only because Akatsuki was currently on hold as they had already attracted too much attention and needed to cool off, she's had the chance to stay away as much as she could.

But now, she didn't know what awaited her once she crossed those doors.

"Konan." Pain greeted her stoically, the body of her late crush still making her tremble with anguish whenever she saw it used in such manner.

"You called, Leader?" Konan bowed and inquired with fake diligence, noticing that Madara was standing some steps away from them, looking over Rain Village.

Pain nodded, stating, "Yes, while our organization is currently on hold, we still must attend a sudden problem."

Konan raised an eyebrow, inquiring, "Which is?"

"The Twelve-Wings jinchūriki…" Madara's voice made her focus on the masked ninja as her eyes widened for a second, succeeding in stopping her heart beats from going haywire otherwise the two male ninja may notice it, "Simply put, he is becoming too powerful." The masked man added as he focused on her.

Konan only whispered, "I see."

"We can't go after him right now, since he still has to be the last one we seal and so far we only have Four and Five…" Pain started saying before he continued, "We can't hold him captive for too long, either he'll be able to escape on his own or the Leaf will tear the continent upside down to find him, we've heard that the new Hokage was close to the jinchūriki."

"So is the Leaf itself apparently, now that everybody knows of his heritage, he is the Leaf's Prince and the village will not let anything happen to him, not without a massive fight." Madara added to Pain's words.

Konan nodded, understanding the situation. She was still confused for why was she called though, so she inquired, "So, you need me to do something?"

Pain nodded, explaining, "From now on, I want you to be his shadow…" Konan's eyes widened and her heart skipped some beats when she heard that, keeping herself calm as the Uzumaki continued, "We may not be able to act just yet, but we can't take the luxury of leaving the Twelve-Wings unchecked, he's going to be the most difficult to capture so we need to know him better than the rest."

Konan nodded slightly, asking still, "I understand, but I thought that Itachi and Kisame were in charge of the Twelve-Wings."

"They were given a new task…" Madara said, continuing, "The Six-Tails has gone missing, Itachi and Kisame are the ones looking for it."

Konan nodded and said finally, suppressing all the emotions she was feeling at the moment, "Then I will get on it as soon as possible."

Pain nodded and dismissed her, observing as she left the room. He then focused on Madara, saying once they were left alone, "I still think this test of yours is absurd."

Madara sighed, replying, "Just because you were friends, doesn't mean she'll follow you forever…" He looked back at the village, adding with his back shown to the orange-haired corpse, "Tell me… _Pain_ … what will you do if she has in fact, betrayed you?"

Madara was certainly pleased when Nagato took no time to answer, saying coldly, "I will kill her if she has…" Pain narrowed his purple eyes at the door, adding with finality, "No one will hurdle the work of God."

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there ya lads go, hope you enjoyed it! I'll see ya fellas next time where we will see Naruto taking on Danzo, I have something special planned for the chapter! See ya and cheers!**


	30. Gimme Shelter

**A/N: Yo waddup! Finally, we've arrived to this chapter! Fucking hell, 25k words, took a hell of a time to get it done.**

 **I had something to say, but completely forgot about it, so let's just get to it, squad fam.**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **Gimme Shelter**

Naruto sighed as he stopped some metres away from the Leaf's gates, turning towards his side to see his newest 'wife', Grayfia, now sporting a dragon mark on her right thigh. She was visibly calmer now, Naruto knowing that it was probably because now that she was a demi-god, her mind was capable of sorting everything out and easily process divine knowledge.

Grayfia looked at her new mate, a small smile on her face appearing, incapable of stopping it after this little escapade of theirs. Never in her wildest dreams did she thought that after this mission, she would have something to call her own and finally after who knows how long, a true and honest purpose.

"Ya ready?" Naruto asked her, a small smile on his face as his blues locked to her greys.

Grayfia nodded, replying, "Yes." She understood the hidden meaning in the Namikaze's words. They had already went over their plan, they will arrive to the Leaf, meet the Hokage and show her some of the books and relics they found to appease her and once they were dismissed, Naruto would escort her to her apartment and knowing that Terai will be observing them, they were supposed to show that they had a relationship. Terai will inform Danzō and Grayfia will confirm it, along with Naruto's relationship with Mikoto. Danzō will obviously take advantage of Grayfia's seduction of Naruto to try and get him on his grasp. Though they weren't sure what the war-hawk will do, it will allow Grayfia to see him like a regular girlfriend, allowing them the chance to come up with a rescue plan.

They started walking towards the gates then, arriving moments later, stopping in front of the two guards that welcomed them and soon later, Naruto led her towards the Hokage Tower.

Grayfia couldn't help but observe how the village seemed to worship Naruto now. She knew that he was hated at the beginning, then when he became a genin and ended up as the legendary Team Seven's second in command, the people started to respect him more. But when the truth of his heritage was revealed, the whole of the Land of Fire seemed to have become devotees of him, something that she knew annoyed her partner.

"We're here." Naruto's voice drew her out of her thoughts, making her realise that they were already in front of Tsunade's door.

"Come in…" The woman's voice was heard from behind the door, prompting Naruto to open the door and step aside to allow Grayfia entrance. The woman walked into the room and bowed to the village's leader, the blonde bowing as well and saying with clear relief, "I see that it went well."

Naruto stepped up, replying to his leader, "Yes, milady…" He looked at Grayfia, focusing back on Tsunade to add, "We didn't ran into any trouble, only some problems with the structure of the ruins but beyond that, nothing at all."

Tsunade smiled softly at her godson, happy to see him back in the village safe. Though she could still tell that he was not better regarding his emotional state, he still held that dangerous cold glint in his eyes that worried her heart. But focusing back on the now, she commented, "Excellent…" She focused on the Lucifuge female, inquiring, "So, did you found something?"

Grayfia nodded, walking towards the Hokage and after she placed some books and a goblet on the desk, she said, "We didn't really found much, only some books detailing my family's traditions and customs along with this goblet that supposedly belonged to Abaddon Lucifuge, the founder of my clan…" Tsunade nodding, listening as Grayfia continued, "I don't know if these things are the secrets my father talked about, but there was nothing else in the library we unlocked."

Tsunade looked over the books carefully, intently reading some of the contents to discern what they were. She looked over at Naruto for a second, the boy nodding at her, telling her that Grayfia was telling the truth and that it was all they could find, "Well, I wouldn't call these books useless…" Tsunade started saying while she handed over the books back to the Lucifuge, "Traditions and knowledge of one's history is as important as any technique, I guess that this is indeed the secrets of your family."

Grayfia smiled a little, asking, "Yes, I think they are but, are you going to keep them?"

Tsunade shook her head with a smile, reassuring her, "No, I never had any intention in keeping whatever you found there, it belongs to you and this is the history of your family, it should remain in your hands."

Grayfia nodded and bowed, saying with a small smile, "Thank you, Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade nodded, asking, "You are welcome…" She focused on Naruto, saying after, "Do you need anything else from Naruto here?"

Grayfia kept the books and goblet in a scroll and after, she looked at the silver-haired male and replied to the Senju, "Not really, but I w-would like for him to escort me to my hotel…" She blushed a little, adding a little coyly, "I q-quite enjoyed h-his company."

Naruto just sniggered while Tsunade chuckled, amused to see her godson's legendary luck with women. She couldn't blame the woman though, because she herself found Naruto to be quite handsome and desirable. But pushing those thoughts aside, she looked at Naruto and ordered, "Well, you heard her, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and said with a small smile, "It will be my pleasure."

With that, Grayfia and Naruto bowed to the Hokage and left the room, heading towards the woman's apartment inside the hotel she was staying at.

It took the pair some minutes to get there, both talking about random things, now more at ease with each other after spending a week together. Both knowing most of each other's life by now.

"Well…" Naruto muttered once they arrived at the hotel, the two standing in front of the hotel's door, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Grayfia." He added with a small charming smirk.

Grayfia smiled a little, grabbing his hand, saying at the man, "You're supposed to guard me until my door, aren't you, my king?"

Naruto snickered, noting the silent signal the woman sent him, telling her that her Root partner was observing them at the moment. Smirking inwardly at seeing his first plan going without a hitch, he bowed courteously and said to the woman with mock elegance, "Ah but of course, a king must treat his queen with utmost delicacy."

Grayfia giggled and allowed him to take her towards her room, ignoring the stupefied looks that everybody around them sent them. She focused back on him when they got to her door, opening it and walking inside with him in tow, "How attentive you are, my lord…" She walked towards him, swaying her hips and making sure that both of them stood right in front of the window when she locked her arms around his neck, brushing her lips on his to add, "You deserve a reward."

She chuckled when he crashed his lips on her, moaning slightly when he cupped her ass and lifted her up, Grayfia locking her legs around his torso and allowing him to take her to her bed. While they weren't going to have sex since she still felt that she wasn't ready to fully enjoy the act of becoming one with the one you loved, it would certainly be enough to sell the idea to her partner, Terai. Besides, the feel of being with him, was the one she cherished the most nowadays.

* * *

Naruto smiled widely as the last one of his mates appeared before him, Tsunami smiling widely when she immediately ran towards him and jumped, the man catching her in his arms and twirling her around a little, Tsunami giggling before she crashed her lips against her mate's, missing him dearly over these past two years he's been back on the Leaf.

While he has made sure to spend some time with those outside of the Leaf, now thanks to his thunder god technique that allowed him to travel around in a second, the visits were still somewhat scarce. Firstly because he couldn't disappear for long periods of time, so at the most, he could only spend an evening with them, though they did made the most out of it. And secondly, because he still hadn't fully mastered his biological father's technique, so he couldn't use it as often as he wanted. Apparently he still wasn't confident enough to use it in combat, as he still wasn't capable of fully fighting against the dizziness the technique caused him, every time he teleported to any of his mates, specifically Piña who was the furthest from him, they had to place him somewhere he could rest for a couple of minutes since traveling such distances was quite taxing. They had tried to reassure him that they would be alright until he mastered it but he refused to stop visiting them, stating that they weren't the only ones that missed the other.

Now though, Naruto was capable of creating a seal that contained a little bit of his essence, all they had to do was pour some of their own essence and the paper will recognise them as his mates, and it will then instantly teleport them to his position. He was working on a permanent seal to place on them, just in case they ever found themselves in trouble since the current seals they used, were a onetime use item only.

"I've missed you so much, honey." Tsunami said lovingly while she nuzzled her face on his neck, revelling herself on her beloved's presence once more.

Naruto smiled, kissing her head affectionately before he said, "As have I, Nami…" He then cupped her cheeks, kissing her chastely again, inquiring after, "How are Inari and my little ball of sunshine?" He couldn't hide the longing he felt to have his daughter with him.

Despite visiting Tsunami a couple of times during these two years, he didn't wanted to see Emi because she would surely demand him to stay with her, he didn't had the heart to see her princess' sad frown when he'd have to refuse her, he just had to remind himself that one day, he will be able to have his whole family together in one place.

Tsunami smiled a little at that, noticing the longing he held in his voice. She knew how much her mate wished to have Emi with him. But while it hurt her to always reassure Emi that her father will see her soon, she understood his reasons, "Inari is fine, he's been learning from my dad, apparently he wants to be a builder as well…" She held his hand, continuing, "As for Emi, she's as lively as ever, she's doing well in school and she and Haku are practically inseparable…" She kissed him a little before she finished, "She misses you a lot too."

Naruto just sighed, muttering, "Yeah…" Knowing that it was time to return to the current situation, Naruto shook his head, knowing that soon he will be capable of seeing his beloved daughter again. So, he grabbed Tsunami's hand and started leading her out of the room they were in, "Let's get to the others."

Tsunami nodded with a smile and allowed him to lead her, looking around the house they were in, noticing how big it truly was, "Whoa, this is the house my father fixed for you?" She inquired, noticing the many doors and corridors it had, it was like a medium sized hotel.

Naruto nodded, replying, "Yup, it was finished some weeks ago, but after everything that's been going on…" He frowned but it disappeared when he felt Tsunami squishing his hand, a small reassuring smile on her face, easing his pained heart, "Only now was I able to take a good look at it."

Tsunami nodded and the pair kept walking in comfortable silence, reaching their destination after some moments.

"Hello!…" Tsunami greeted the people in the room with a warm smile, finally able to meet her 'sisters' for the first time, "I am Tsunami, it is so good to finally meet you all."

The women in the room smiled back at her and Ayame, Akeno, Hinata, Yūgao, Piña, Ino, Koyuki and Tsubaki all introduced themselves to her, all of them happy to have this moment to finally gather as a family, despite the troubling cause of the reunion.

Naruto smiled happily as he and his mates all took a sit around the large table, all of them gathered in their so called 'War Room' to discuss their first ever mission as a family, the rescue of one Mikoto Uchiha.

"Before we begin our main topic…" Naruto started saying, his voice commanding and strong, making his women squirm giddily as their bodies responded to the presence of their mate, "How are your own personal goals going?" He inquired after the pause.

The females smiled as they found it amazing that even in such circumstances, Naruto still wanted to know how their own personal goals were going, it just reminded them even more of why they chose to follow him for eternity.

Choosing to speak first, Koyuki cleared her throat and began, "Well, on my end, things are going quite well…" She smiled, her heart fluttering by merely being with the man she loved, "My country's economy is finally back to where it was when my father ruled…" She revelled in Naruto's proud smile, continuing, "Thanks to the heat generators, farming has increased exponentially, I can confidently say that we have gathered enough food to last five years without any income."

Everybody smiled at that, happy to see the once struggling country getting back on track, "Excellent news…" Naruto started saying before he added, "Anything else?"

Koyuki sipped some of the wine before her, replying after, "Well, not much, our technologic research has stalled a little bit due to Dotō's previous rule, but more and more people are getting back into the field, we should be back on track in the next few years…" She tilted her head when something hit her mind, saying her thoughts, "Mm… actually, I was informed about a rumour going around the central part of the continent…" She focused on her confused mate, saying, "It appears that some of the minor countries wish to create an alliance."

Naruto hummed, stroking his chin while Tsubaki commented, "We have heard those rumours as well…" Koyuki looked at her surprised, the brunette adding, "It makes sense though, the last three great wars have been practically fought in their own backyards, it was only a matter of time before they united."

Tsunami nodded, adding, "I have in fact been invited to this coalition…" Everybody looked at her in surprise, the blackette continuing, "Thanks to the efforts of Wave's villagers, our country has become a new tourist power, our economy is blooming and since we are the direct route towards the Land of Water…"

Naruto deducted, saying, "You prove to be a valuable strategic position for minor countries."

Tsunami nodded, saying after, "Exactly, though as of now, the situation in Water is unknown, not even Haku knows much about her homeland's state."

Yūgao added grimly, "I would guess that just like us, all you know is that they are in a bloody civil war, correct?"

"Indeed…" Tsunami asserted grimly, adding, "All Haku could tell me, is that there was a prosecution from the established government against those with a bloodline…" She focused on her mate, adding, "There is a resistance, but who leads it and who leads the government is still unknown."

Naruto nodded grimly, listening as Koyuki said, "Returning to this alliance of minor countries…" Once everyone's eyes were on her, the Queen of Spring continued, "I actually received an open invitation from Iron Country's leader, if the rumours are to be believed, the man is supposed to be one of the main pushers for it to be a reality."

Piña nodded along with the rest, commenting with a frown, "It's either an invitation to join the alliance, or a marriage proposal." She frowned deeper along with her fellow Queen, both of them incapable of hiding their worry at the thought of being flooded with those proposals.

Before any of the two rulers could sink deeper into their sudden depressing thoughts, Naruto spread some of his aura over them, immediately quelling their downed moods, adding reassuringly and commandingly, "There is no need to worry, if you don't want to accept them, then don't…" His women looked at him as he continued determined, "If I have to step up myself to stop them from coming, I will, I am your mate after all."

The two Queens smiled at those words, knowing that while it might get hard from now on, they knew that their mate will not let them stranding, he will make sure that they remain free and with him.

Tsunami, returning to the topic once the moods were up again, asked, "If me and Koyuki are apparently being invited to this alliance…" Koyuki listened as Tsunami spoke the words she had in mind, "Should we join them?"

They were surprised when Naruto shrugged, his eyes focusing on them as he replied, "You should focus on your countries' best interests…" He leaned back, adding reassuringly, "If you see that this alliance is beneficial to you, then do join them, but don't disregard your vows towards your people, we will focus on our ambition once you're stable and secure."

The women ruling their lands couldn't convey how proud and in love those words made them feel, even Piña. It was incredible to see that Naruto had their own duty at the forefront of his mind.

"Alright." Koyuki muttered with a wide smile, knowing that as the moments went by, she and the rest continued to fall in love with this amazing young man even more.

Naruto smiled and then focused on Piña, asking, "What about ya, Piña?"

Piña smiled, not really having much to say at the moment, "Everything is fine really, while we are not back to our previous state, before Ishidate's dictatorship, we are getting there, slowly but steadily…" She leaned on, adding, "Grey estimates that within three years, we should regain our former glory."

"Excellent…" Naruto muttered, focusing then on Tsubaki and Yūgao, asking, "What about the Leaf's government?"

Tsubaki tilted her head, thinking over the last events that happened in the village, saying after a moment, "Well, there is really not much to report other than some of the merchants in the village are threatening to leave the village…" Naruto raised an eyebrow, the brunette explaining further, "They had thought that with the new Hokage, Elder Homura might be able to push her into a corner and restore their previous power, but Lady Tsunade is like, if not more, 'tyrannical' than Lord Third, she was quite happy that Lord Sarutobi dismantled the Civilian Council and retook the power of the village, so it's clear that she's not giving it back."

Naruto smirked, a small snort before he commented, "So those greedy fuckers can't handle being told what to do, huh?"

Tsubaki giggled, affirming, "Indeed, they are threatening to move their business to the Capital, but Lady Tsunade shrugged them off, telling them that they can do whatever they wanted…" She smiled, finding it amusing that those greedy people couldn't even retort the new leader, "They realise that they no longer have the power but despite their threats, they can't really move, the competition in the Capital is much fiercer and moving alone is incredibly expensive."

"So empty threats?" Ino asked, receiving a nod from the woman.

Yūgao, seeing that Tsubaki was done, started saying, "On my side, we do have a situation…" Naruto focused on her, the rest as well when she continued, "We received a mission from the Fire Lord himself."

Everybody raised an eyebrow at that, with Naruto asking, "Really? If it comes from the Fire Lord, then it must be important, aight?"

Yūgao nodded, "Yes…" She sighed, recollecting her words before she explained the situation, "I don't know much of the details, because the mission was appointed to the Commander, but for what I was able to read in the dossier, it appears that the daughter of someone close to the Feudal Lord has gone missing."

"Kidnapped?" Ayame inquired.

Yūgao though, shook her head, saying, "There is no evidence of a kidnap and in fact, it appears that she left of her own volition."

Naruto massaged his chin, saying, "If she left on her own, than why does this matters to us?"

Yūgao focused on her mate, explaining, "It matters, because this woman's family is the one that owns the bank of the Land of Fire…" Everybody widened their eyes at that, now seeing how it involved them, "If we manage to find what happened to this woman, and perhaps even have Naruto turning her on our side, we would be able to have the immense connection that only a banker family has all around the continent."

Everybody nodded at that, with Naruto saying, "Aight then, I see your point, keep an eye on the situation and if you find anything, we will discuss how to proceed…" The purplette nodded with a small smile, happy to have a personal mission. The Namikaze then focused on the younger ones of his family, Ino, Hinata, Ayame and Akeno, asking, "And you?"

Ino looked at her mate with a small smile, replying, "I have begun studying my family's old books…" She leaned on, a small confident smirk on her face as she added, "I now have a pretty good idea on how to cement my bid as the next head of the clan, I may be the official heir, but that doesn't mean that everybody supports the decision, with this though, I am confident that I'll be able to secure the spot and convince the sceptics."

Naruto smiled and nodded, looking at Hinata as she said, a little timidly, "W-Well… I managed to e-earn some support from the Branch House of my family, i-it's small but it's a start I guess…" She looked down a little, disappointed with her little progress, "With my f-father there is… no p-progress."

Naruto smiled at Hinata, saying reassuringly and lovingly, "Doesn't matter, Hina, whatever you wish to do, you have my full support, no matter what." Hinata definitely appreciated those words, as she nodded with a small happy smile, feeling the support of her whole family as well.

Ayame and Akeno looked at each other, with the former saying after some moments, "Well, on our side, the restaurant is almost finished…" Naruto smiled, the brunette adding, "It should be done by the start of the next year."

"The place is already catching the eye of the upper-class." Tsubaki added with a smile, having heard of all the excited murmurs from the nobles and Feudal Lords regarding the soon to be restaurant, already calling it the most exclusive place in the country.

"Indeed…" Akeno affirmed, a small smile on her face as she added proudly, "We already have reservations made for the first six months, some of them from quite important people."

Naruto smirked at that, knowing that things so far, were going their way. With the opening of their restaurant, they will have the perfect spot to gather some information and identify possible targets, he had spent quite the sum in order to make the place as exclusive as it was possible.

Ignoring the sudden weirdness of feeling like a villain from a clichéd movie, he shook his head and said with a small smile, "Then for the moment, we are advancing well…" The women nodded at that, pleased with the pace they were acting at. Naruto then sighed and his eyes narrowed, knowing that it was time to tackle the main issue, "With that set, it's time to talk about what gathered us here, Mikoto's rescue."

The females immediately developed a serious look, leaning onwards and perking their ears, with Yūgao saying, "Indeed, the first thing we have to figure out, is how we are getting into Danzō's lair."

The women nodded before they raised their eyebrows, confused as Naruto shook his head and said, "We already have a way…" Knowing that his mates were confused, he decided to drop the bomb, "The mission I had before? The woman that placed the mission request, is one of Danzō's main subordinates."

The females gasped, with Tsubaki saying with worry, "Naruto! Why the hell didn't you told us about this!?"

Naruto winced a little when he felt the angry gaze of his women, gulping and waving his hands pleadingly, stating, "H-Hey! C-Calm down, aight!? I d-didn't told ya about it because I knew you wouldn't have let me g-go."

The females sighed, understanding his reasoning since it was true, had they known about it before hand, there was no way that they would've allowed it to happen. But wanting to move the subject forward, Piña sighed and crossed her arms, saying, "With that forgotten, I guess… what happened with this woman?"

Naruto released a relieved sigh, glad to be out of danger, for now at least. Going back to the topic, he leaned on and replied, "Well, turns out she was the one that's been tailing me for the past two years."

The females widened their eyes, already knowing about the strange person that was shadowing their mate. But that also meant that she was the one that aided them, "You mean that she was?…" Ayame muttered her deduction.

Naruto nodded his head, saying, "Yup, she was the one that whistled me about the invasion, saving countless lives in the process…" He smiled a little, thinking of his newest mate, adding later, "It appears that after I injected her with my essence back at the Forest of Death, her Root training broke and her emotions were freed, she was a complete mess during the mission, breaking down at the end, but I managed to convince her to be with us, to fight at our side."

His mates didn't really know how to react, on one hand, they were all grateful to her because she did helped saving the village, letting Naruto know about the invasion before it happened, but on the other one, she was still a member of Root, their current enemy, "N-Naruto…" Yūgao started saying, adding once the male focused on her, "Are you sure about her?"

Naruto sighed, resting his chin on his fist as he replied, "As sure as I am of all of you…" He smiled at them, showing the genuine love and care he had for them all as he declared, "She is just a woman that suffered greatly, someone that lost it all and that was picked up by the wrong people…" He then looked at them almost pleadingly, requesting, "So please, for me, give her a chance, lend her a hand and let's show her a new life."

No one could stop the smile from forming on their faces after their man spoke, feeling incredibly proud of him right now, so all they could do is nod, with Koyuki saying, "Alright then, we will do our best to show her the best of life."

Naruto nodded gratefully, happy to have this sort of thing now. But he had to focus back on Tsubaki as she inquired, "Is she back in Danzō's HQ?"

The silver-haired jinchūriki nodded, replying, "Yes, trust me, it worries me to have her there, but we couldn't just have her disappear from his radar, she's his biggest weapon, so he sure as hell was not going to just let her go."

Again, they all nodded in understanding, seeing the reasoning. Though they still worried for the woman, the mere thought of staying with such madman was making their skin shiver.

"So, do you have a plan?" Ino asked after some moments of silence.

Naruto sighed, replying while leaning back, "Not really, I told Grayfia to tell him that I am in love with Mikoto, that was the whole point of her mission, to find out about our connection and see if he could manipulate me like Sasuke…" He narrowed his eyes, adding, "We also gave her partner a show of our relationship, she will admit to have seduced me and Danzō will predictably try to use that against me, either by having her leading me on towards his hand, or by threatening me with her life."

Yūgao frowned, saying, "Naruto, regardless of having her on our side, this is still a dangerous game…" She balled her fist, wishing that she could take away that man from their lives, "Danzō is no joke, despite his old age, he's surely still an opponent to be reckoned with, I don't know if you're stronger than him as of now, but he beats you with experience and with my own experiences in the past, I can safely say that that, is the biggest advantage one could have."

Naruto frowned at that, understanding his woman completely. He knew that despite being a god, he was still inexperienced, someone like Danzō, a veteran of war, surely has a lot of trump cards to either win him the game, or to at least allow him a quick escape. He couldn't afford to let him go, it was imperative that he died the night of the attack otherwise, he would be throwing himself a very powerful and dangerous enemy. The war-hawk underestimated him now, this was the only chance he had of taking him down swiftly and without much trouble, if he failed, the job will be way harder later down the line.

The Namikaze sighed, rubbing his temples when he muttered, "I know and I hate to admit it but…" He opened his blues, eyeing them all to continue, "I honestly don't know how I am supposed to defeat him without throwing Tsunade either under the bus or against me."

The females frowned, with Tsunami asking, "What does… umm… Grayfia?…" Naruto nodded at her, the blackette continuing, "What does Grayfia tells you? Would you be able to see her before the mission or our connection to her is broken for now?"

"I can't tell for sure…" Naruto replied, his eyes narrowed but determined, "But if Danzō wants to use her against me, then he will surely push her into spending time with me, probably as a normal 'girlfriend'…" The females nodded, the lone male continuing, "We just have to act the play whenever we're watched by her partner, in closed doors, we should be able to discuss our move."

Piña sighed, cracking her neck while she muttered, "Then all we can do is wait, correct?"

"Exactly." Naruto nodded, releasing a sigh as the tension of the meeting was starting to fade away.

The male raised an eyebrow however, when Ino started giggling mischievously, a glint in her eyes that Naruto knew well as she said, "Then I guess this meeting is over?…" Naruto nodded at her, the blonde adding with a smirk, "Well then, how about we enjoy our beloved for the rest of the evening?…" The other females all smirked while the male widened his eyes, gulping at the sure exhaustion he was going to be left with after this as Ino declared, "I'm sure that our visitors here have an itch that needs scratching."

Naruto just laughed loudly after that, smirking sexily later as the females all approached him like a pack of wolves on their pray. Though he growled at them, the females shivering delightedly as he reminded them of who was the Alpha here. All they could do was look at him in anticipation, deciding that at least for the moment, all that existed was their weird, yet amazing family.

* * *

Grayfia frowned behind her mask as she walked through the dark corridors of her spiteful base, now feeling incredibly uncomfortable with wearing her Root uniform, she felt tainted.

The Lucifuge woman would laugh at herself of how different she was now from the woman that left the village with Naruto a week ago, if she hadn't already accepted the fact that her life was now completely different. It had both cons and pros, a good thing was that now, she seemed to be able to actually enjoy the world around her and everything it had to offer, the colours, the smells, the views, the tastes, it all seemed so much brighter and noticeable now than ever before. But, it also made her self-loathing more unbearable, as her newly awakened heart, now was capable of feeling what she truly felt for doing Danzō's dirty jobs, it was now almost at the forefront of her mind.

She inhaled and calmed herself however, remembering the smile of the man she devoted herself to, finding peace in merely thinking about him, his touch, his lips, his warmth, everything about him mesmerised her and she couldn't help but just go along with the current, regardless of the reason for why she fell for him, she didn't wanted to let go of that feeling, it was the thing keeping her awake, bringing her back to life.

She succeeded in calming her heart quickly, masking every emotion she had as she walked into the Shimura's office, not surprised to see him sitting on his throne, with Terai dutifully beside him, waiting for her arrival. The Lucifuge just stood before the man and kneeled, muttering emotionlessly, "Milord, I have returned."

Danzō nodded, waving his hand, urging the woman to stand up as he responded, "Indeed…" Once the woman was looking at his lone eye, the elder narrowed it and ordered, "Report."

Grayfia nodded, replying, "I bring good news, sir…" She licked her lips, adding after a moment of pause, "I have confirmed the nature of the Namikaze's relationship with the Matriarch."

The veteran leaned on, expectant, muttering a question, "I hope it is to our advantage?"

Grayfia nodded, saying with her dead-like tone, "It is, milord…" She suppressed the worry she felt for what she was about to do in order to just trust her new mate, saying after, "While I was not able to hear the exact words from him, I am confident that he was in love with the Uchiha woman."

Danzō couldn't stop the small smirk from spreading on his lips, the man leaning back on his seat, nodding slightly while muttering, "Excellent news…" He could already see the Hokage hat on his head, with the jinchūriki now at his hands, there was no way he would lose, "This is the perfect field for us to move forward…" He eyed Terai for a second, focusing on the silverette female again to inquire, already knowing the answer, "How did you managed to get the information, Ryū?"

The female replied instantly, "I seduced him, milord…" The man nodded with a small smile, Grayfia feeling an urge to thrust her sword into the arrogant man's chest, but managed to keep her wits in check, adding calmly, "He currently is under the impression that I am in love with him."

Danzō sniggered slightly, it was all looking out for him it appears, finally, "That is even better…" He looked at the woman again, adding, "You've just given me the perfect way to keep him under control."

Grayfia looked at Terai for a moment, both confused, with the female asking, "I had the impression that we were to use the matriarch against him, just like with the Uchiha scion."

Danzō though, shook his head, explaining to his confused subordinates, "That sort of thing cannot be used on the Namikaze…" He sighed, continuing, "The Uchiha brat is calm and more collected, predictable even, it was foreseeable that he would do as I say without much complain…" He narrowed his eye then, saying, "The jinchūriki though, he's a completely different character, he's fierce and reckless, if we were to do the same with him, the most predictable outcome will be him losing his composure and head here with the intention of freeing her no matter what…" He paused, finishing with a little bit of respect in his tone, "I may loath to admit it, but the boy is not a dreamer like Sarutobi, he is a crude but relentless warrior, pissing him off will do us no good."

"Then how do we approach him, sir?" Terai inquired.

Danzō just nodded his head towards Grayfia, saying, "With Ryū here, if the boy has the idea that she is in love with him, than we can use that to our advantage."

 _'I want to kill this son of a bitch so bad…'_ Grayfia thought, barely capable of suppressing her anger, the thought of this man trying to use their special, and very real, bond just pissed her off greatly. But remembering their plan, as this was foreseen by Naruto himself, and also knowing that they needed time to both come up with a good plan for both rescuing Mikoto and getting the mysterious tablet that the Shimura possessed, she nodded, inquiring, "I understand, what am I to do?"

Danzō said, "Just keep the charade going for a couple of days, earn his trust enough until you can drug him."

Grayfia nodded, adding another question, "Am I to bring him here?"

Danzō nodded, explaining, "Yes, with Asogi's research we have been capable of creating a seal that will allow us to manipulate someone's mind…" He massaged his chin, speaking again, "We may not be able to control him fully, but we should be able to manipulate him, using both you and the matriarch as well."

Grayfia nodded, her body burning up with anger, wishing nothing more than to be away from this man and to just enjoy her new life with Naruto. But she had to be strong for now, her partner needed her and she would be damned if she failed him, "I understand."

Danzō then said, "Very well then, you should leave and focus on this task from now on…" Feeling the surprise of his agent, the old man explained, "The boy is most likely suspicious of me, he's not a naïve brat, so just focus on being a normal 'girlfriend'…" Grayfia nodded, the man continuing, "Stay on the village and just make sure to earn his trust, once you feel is the time, let us now and we'll move."

The Lucifuge nodded and then bowed, turning her back on them and leaving the room soon after, ready to head towards her mission at once.

"Sir, what if she truly falls for the jinchūriki?…" Terai inquired, his trust on his partner gone for a while now, "She's changed, I don't think it's a good idea to have her form an attachment, more so to an enemy."

Danzō nodded, agreeing, "It is indeed a risk but it won't really matter…" Knowing that his soldier was confused, the old man elaborated, "If she were to develop genuine feelings for the boy, it will still take time, the brat will already be in our hands by the time that happens and since he will bend to our will…"

Terai raised an eyebrow, now understanding his leader's plan, "So will she."

Danzō just nodded and smirked, feeling that this was the most crucial moment of his whole career. Everything was on stake right now, the very next move will be the one to decide whether the Leaf survives the apocalypse to come, or if it perishes alongside the rest of the world.

* * *

Naruto inhaled deeply and then exhaled, relaxing his body before he tensed, his eyes closed and focused as he allowed his divine power to course freely through his veins, his body being surrounded by a thick crimson cloak of flames, the ground below him scorching at the mere heat his cloak produced.

Two set of wings then formed on his back, the wind around him picking up as the second set of wings sprouted, the leaves of the trees near him blowing by the intensity of his power.

Naruto's face then scrunched, growling a little, his face showing that he was starting to have trouble as two new limbs seemed to want to form on his back before he had to stop suddenly, breathing harshly as his eyes opened and focused on the ground, his fists balling in frustration, hitting the ground hard while he muttered heatedly, "This is not enough…" He gritted his teeth, adding, "It's not enough to beat that son of a bitch!" He hit the ground again, this time with even more strength, a resounding boom following the hit.

The Namikaze couldn't help himself at the moment however, his frustration was clouding his mind right now, desperation slowly making its filthy presence known by the second, taunting him at how weak he was.

He knew he wasn't exactly weak, there were very few in the Leaf that could safely say that they could beat him. Unfortunately for the jinchūriki, one of those people was Danzō Shimura, head of Root and his number one enemy at the moment. Naruto knew that his current power was not enough to defeat the old man, just like Yūgao stated, he might have more raw power than the Shimura, but the veteran was exactly that, a damn veteran with tons and tons of experience. Danzō needed to die the day of the rescue, otherwise Naruto was going to have to risk having him gone and gathering strength abroad, he couldn't afford that, not now, not ever.

So, here he was, in the middle of the deepest part of the Forest of Death, away from prying eyes, trying to unlock his third set of wings and along with it, the ability to transform into a miniature version of Ddraig, or perhaps even his very own dragon form. As of right now, Naruto had fully accustomed to the benefits of the four-winged state, those being the accelerated healing, a healing factor that far surpassed anyone else's as it belongs to Ddraig himself. Though he may still carry the scars some of his fights have left him, including the little parting gift from Sasuke, it was not because he couldn't heal them or didn't wanted to, but because scars, were badges of prowess for dragons, simply put, a dragon without a scar, was a dragon that never fought a day of his or her life, and as such, the rest of the kin will never respect them. Ddraig himself has stated that even the almighty Great Red had scars, signs of his past battles against all of those beings who tried to take his throne for them. No one has been capable of beating him though.

But with the unlocking of his third set of wings, the ability to transform into a miniature dragon, a little bigger than Canym's current size, was something he greatly anticipated, as it will not only give him an incredibly intimidating form, who wouldn't lose their shit at the sight of a dragon? But that form also gave him better control over the Boosted Gear, as it will automatically store the excess of his power and leave it there when he needed it, something that he couldn't do in his human state, as it required a lot of concentration right now, he either focused on fighting or boosting, that was the problem.

But alas, it seems that he still wasn't ready for that level, "Dammit…" He muttered again, inhaling to calm himself. He stiffened however, when a small sound of a branch breaking won his attention to the trees some metres away from him, a small presence alerting him of someone watching him. Naruto's hand immediately snapped a kunai towards the spot, a feminine yelp sounding as a red-headed female jumped out of the path of the projectile, landing on the ground with a sweat running down her forehead, "Kushina?" Naruto tilted his head once he recognised the female, confused as to what was she doing here.

Kushina blushed while she looked at her once in a time son, humming nervously before she chuckled slightly, scratching her scruff sheepishly, making Naruto snort as he realised where he got that from, the female saying, "W-Well… I… umm…" Kushina struggled for a bit, managing to calm herself down and say more composedly, "I've… m-missed you…" She twirled her fingers, nervous and embarrassed, knowing that she might look too overbearing but she just couldn't help it, she wanted to spend time with him so much, "I w-went to your… p-parents' house but you weren't there…" She looked at him then, finishing, "Your father told m-me you might be here so I… s-searched… I didn't wanted to interrupt you, so I stayed hidden until you finished."

Naruto sighed with a small smile, knowing that it had been a while since he spent time with the Uzumaki female, though it was hardly his fault due to all the shit going on in his life at the moment. But still, he promised Minato that he was not going to leave Kushina on her own and he will be damned if he broke that promise, "Come here…" He patted the ground in front of him, a small smile aimed at the female as she smiled and made her way towards him, sitting in front of him, Naruto grabbing on of her hands and saying truly apologetic, "I'm sorry for not hanging out with you for such long time, it's just…"

The redhead however, cut him off, saying with a small smile, "No, n-no, there's no need to a-apologise, I know that a l-lot has been going on with you, I a-am the one that should apologise for being so… c-clingy…" She chuckled nervously, but Naruto immediately reassured her that she was not troubling him at all. The female sighed, recalling a particular event that was a little similar to Naruto and Sasuke's parting, though not as dramatic, "In fact…" She started saying, looking down before she continued, "I u-understand perfectly, well, maybe not so perfectly, but at the least to some extent, how you feel."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, releasing her hand while his head tilted slightly, asking, "What'cha mean?"

Kushina sighed, looking at him when she replied, "Well, it was a while ago, just before I graduated from the Academy…" She massaged her scruff, talking again, "I w-was abducted by some C-Cloud-nin…" Naruto raised an eyebrow, not knowing about the incident at all, "Back then I only had one true friend, Mikoto Uchiha…" Naruto's eyes widened slightly, a painful pang assaulting his heart but managed to suppress it as the female continued her story, "She was like a sister to me, I loved her very much, all I could think of as I was taken towards Lighting, was how much it hurt to be away from her, to lose my sister…" She hugged herself before she smiled a little, melancholically adding, "But, M-Minato was actually following a t-trail I left with some strands of my hair, h-he caught up to us and rescued me…" She looked at the young man who looked so much like the love of her life, finishing with a small honest smile, "I feel in love with him right there, both for him actually noticing me and for taking me back to my sister, Miko."

Naruto snorted with a small smile, finding the tale quite endearing, he could definitely see why Kushina fell in love with Minato, despite the jealousy it caused him, he still had trouble separating those feelings of Minato towards her from his own, "I guess you're right…" He commented, looking up at the sky as he added, "You must miss Miko greatly then?"

Kushina smiled sadly at that, remembering everything she went through with the blackette back in the day, they had shared so much that despite Mikoto's father's displeasure with their friendship, they considered themselves sisters, hoping that their children will get along with each other as well as them. It brought joy to her heart when she saw that their hopes had indeed come true, but sadly, their children's tales, led up to a tragic ending, "I d-do, every day…" She then looked at Naruto, remembering the things Yūgao told her about him and Mikoto, "I h-heard that you and h-her… were close." Her daughter had specifically told her that Naruto was in love with Mikoto and while it bothered Kushina a little, she couldn't really blame him as for what she knew, Mikoto had taken it upon herself to guide Naruto along with Itachi and Kakashi during his childhood, something she was immensely grateful for. Still, she couldn't quell her curiosity, she wanted to hear it from him.

She immediately regretted her question however, when it was clear that it was painful for Naruto. She was about to apologise when he spoke, "Yeah, we were…" He looked down at the ground, keeping his anger at bay, knowing that somewhere below the very ground they were on, the matriarch was being deprived of her liberty, not for much long though, "She guided me like a mother would…" He smiled then, snorting as he added without hesitation, "Weird that I actually fell in love with her as a woman."

Naruto had to stifle his laugh when he saw Kushina's face going red, her eyes wide, shocked to hear him say that so nonchalantly, the female only capable of whispering stunned, "O-Oh…"

Naruto though, stood up with a chuckle, cleaning the dust from his clothes and lending a hand to Kushina to stand up, saying once she was on her feet, "But, enough of gloomy subjects…" The woman shook her head, suppressing the curiosity she still held in order to hear him ask, "What'cha say if we spend the rest of the day together?"

Everything else was immediately forgotten in her mind when she registered his words, smiling widely before she jumped at him and embraced him, saying excitedly, "Yes!…" She blushed hard though and released him quickly, flushed, apologising for her outburst, "S-Sorry… gigigi…"

 _'Damn, she's really cute…'_ Naruto thought, incapable of denying how truly beautiful the woman was. But those conflicting feelings aside, he held her hand and said with a small smile, "Let's go then! I'm hungry and I haven't eaten any ramen today!"

Kushina giggled and allowed the boy to lead her towards his favourite ramen stand, wishing that things could be different, with her husband and best friend still there with them, enjoying these moments as well. But, she focused on the now, life goes on and all they could do, was create new memories with those that remained and luckily for her, she still had Naruto, Yūgao and Tsunade, she didn't really needed anything else.

* * *

Tsunade sighed deeply before she knocked on the door before her a couple of times, crossing her arms under her bust. On one hand, a folder tightly grasped while she bit her lip nervously. Her expression was obvious to discern to those that knew her well, she was shocked and horrified.

In the folder, she had the information detailing probably the biggest and darkest of secrets that belonged to her home village. Her sensei had informed her after her appointment as Hokage, that one day, he will reveal to her information that will threaten to shatter her resolve as a Hokage. At the time, the Senju had thought that the old man was just over reacting, but now that she was privy of said information, she actually felt that her sensei's words were an absolute understatement.

The door finally opened, her honey-coloured eyes focusing on the old man before her as he inhaled his pipe and exhaled the smoke, a tired and remorseful look on his face, apparently already knowing why she was in his home, "Tsunade, please, come on in." Hiruzen stepped aside and urged his student to walk into his home, closing the door after she entered and leading her towards his living room.

Tsunade quickly sat on the couch, her sensei sitting on a single sofa right before her, sighing deeply as he rested his old and tired butt on the soft surface. Tsunade just placed the folder on the small table in the middle of the room, rubbing her face with her palms before she focused on her sensei, her voice disbelieving and horrified when she whispered a question, "W-Why?…"

Hiruzen sighed deeply, his eyes falling down to the ground, Tsunade feeling surprised to see how truly remorseful he was of the act, "Because at the time…" He began, trying his best not to break down, remembering what he considered the second biggest mistake of his life was definitely putting a huge weight on his shoulders, "It didn't seemed like there was another way."

Tsunade looked at him in disbelief, shaking her head as she said a little exasperated, "W-What do you mean with that!? How could have not be another way!?…" She leaned on, controlling her voice but still adding some anger to her tone, "A massacre should never be in the god damn question in the first place!… h-how… h-how could you sanction such… horror!?" Despite the dislike she had for the Uchiha, Tsunade would've never wish something so horrible upon them. To find out that her rival clan had been slaughtered by one of their own, with the permission of the leadership of her home, a home that the Uchiha co-founded with her family, had definitely shook her beliefs.

Hiruzen just remained silent for some moments, not really knowing what to say other than the truth, "Fugaku…" He began, Tsunade focusing her full attention on the man as he continued, "The massacre wouldn't have been sanctioned, if Itachi hadn't found out Fugaku's plan…" He smoked some of his pipe, blowing the smoke out before he continued, "I was trying to convince Fugaku, to create an alliance, in fact, I even revealed that I wanted Itachi as my successor, but it was still not enough for him."

Tsunade calmed down a little, inquiring, "What was his plan? What made you allow their slaughter?"

Sarutobi looked at the floor for a moment, before his eyes focused on the woman and replied, "There were three stages to Fugaku's plan…" Tsunade leaned on, listening as her sensei spoke again, "The first one, was to adopt Naruto…" Tsunade's eyes widened, confused but remaining silent while the old man continued, "The second one, to use Naruto's love for Mikoto in order to fool him into trusting them."

Tsunade leaned on even more, shocked to hear such a thing, asking with a whisper, "Why? What did Fugaku wanted from Naruto?"

Hiruzen sighed, responding, "To let the Twelve-Wings out."

Tsunade's eyes widened before she narrowed them, now understanding what the Uchiha patriarch was aiming for, "Mikoto…" She whispered, her teeth gritting and her fists balled when she added a question, "Was she in on the plan!? Was she deceiving Naruto the whole time!?"

"I honestly don't know…" Hiruzen replied, knowing that while Mikoto did genuinely loved his grandson figure, she still was a mother that like any other mother, would surely have her sons first, "She was the one that let me know about Fugaku's coup and I am completely certain that her love for Naruto was real but…"

Tsunade's face was still scrunched, urging with a frown, "But?"

"I just don't know how far she would go for her sons…" Hiruzen replied, massaging his temples while Tsunade calmed her rage after remembering that thing about the Uchiha, she was a mother first and foremost, "She wasn't happy with her family's plan, of that I'm sure, but she still sided with her family and I just can't blame her, she did it to protect her children, I just don't know if she would've allowed Naruto to be sacrificed in the process."

Tsunade leaned back on her seat, feeling conflicted about the woman that she knew meant so much to her godson, she considered that Naruto may feel betrayed and heartbroken if he ever found out about this, "So if I am correct…" She said, continuing while she cracked her neck, "Fugaku wanted to release the Twelve-Wings and let it wreak havoc in the village, I assume that he trusted in the rumours that say that the mangekyō version of the sharingan is supposedly capable of manipulating a Tailed Beast?"

Hiruzen nodded, asserting, "You are correct, according to Itachi, Fugaku was sure that he could use Shisui's eyes to control the beast, but Fugaku's plan fell apart after Shisui was suddenly murdered, there was no one else with the mangekyō at the time, so releasing the creature was now a no go."

Tsunade sighed, asking a little calmer, "Then why didn't you tried to convince him? If his original plan was thwarted, why did you still allowed their slaughter?"

"Because that he couldn't control the Twelve-Wings, didn't meant that he couldn't manipulate Naruto…" Tsunade's eyes widened as the old man continued, "Naruto was still the jinchūriki and had at his disposition the power of the Tailed Beast, back then he was already trained by Itachi and Fugaku thought that he could use Naruto's love for Mikoto and Itachi to make him side with them."

Tsunade's fists balled once again, feeling hatred for the late Uchiha patriarch as she heard of his plans, she couldn't believe how someone could think of using a child in such manner, all for the sake of power. She just hoped that his wife was not in the same page. Returning to the conversation, she sighed deeply and said with a shake of her head, "I guess… I can see why you came up with the plan…" She looked at her sensei's tired and sorrowed eyes when she added, "The amount of lives lost in the potential civil war, would have been enormous."

Sarutobi nodded, not excusing his actions, but acknowledging the reasons. Though, he did corrected her, "Yes but you are wrong in one thing…" Tsunade raised an eyebrow, the Third adding, "Neither I nor the elders were the ones that came up with the plan, it was Itachi."

Tsunade felt shocked, not understanding why someone would resort to killing their own blood for the sake of their village, loyalty and all of that thrown aside, "Why would he do that? I c-can't believe that he was willing to k-kill his own family for the village!"

Hiruzen nodded, saying to the confused blonde, "And you are correct, the good of the village, I'm sure, was probably a quarter of why he did it…" He looked at her, adding, "The rest, was because he loved Naruto and Sasuke above all…" Tsunade's eyes widened when she finally understood, the old man speaking again, "Itachi couldn't bear the thought of seeing Sasuke turned into a killer at such young age, as well as allowing his own father and mother to manipulate Naruto in order to gain power, he had made a vow, to Mikoto in fact, that he would do everything in his power to ensure that those two will be safe…" He looked towards his window, as if looking at the past with sorrowful eyes, "I guess she never thought that the very same vow, would be the reason of her death."

Tsunade and Hiruzen could only stare at the ground in contemplative silence. For Tsunade, it was such a painful and worrisome revelation that she couldn't even think of words to say. For Hiruzen, it was incredibly painful to reminisce the day of the massacre, the day he failed not only his senseis and his people, but three young men as well, men who were now on different paths, suffering from each other's parting.

Tsunade finally looked up at her sensei, her eyes now soft and caring, knowing that her teacher was pained beyond belief, "So this is the biggest mistake of your life you told me about?"

The busty blonde however, was confused when Sarutobi shook his head, explaining moments later, "No Tsunade, the biggest mistake of my life came a day after, lying to Naruto and Sasuke about it all, that was the biggest mistake of my life."

Tsunade's eyes widened once again, now fully understanding what her sensei meant by that. It was no secret really, everybody knew that those two had an immense potential, some already comparing them to her grandfather and his rival, Hashirama and Madara. She herself knew that Naruto and Sasuke had the potential to reach those levels, if not surpass them even, _'I-If they ever f-find out about this…'_ She dreaded the answer to her thought, it would be, at the very least, frightening to think of how they would react to such revelations.

"I-I…" The female started stuttering, hugging herself as she continued, "I d-don't know if I… i-if I can lie to Naruto…" She looked at her sensei, showing those confused eyes of hers that she used to show him when she was younger, whenever she needed guidance from her teacher, "I… I d-don't know if I can…" She added, pleading him for an answer.

Hiruzen couldn't help but curse himself for causing his student such distress, the woman was very attached to Naruto now and hiding such huge secret from him was a certainly daunting task, he knew that well since he himself lived it. But knowing that his student needed guidance, he said with a grandfatherly tone, "I know, Tsunade, I felt the same way, but the intention was not to hide this from him and Sasuke forever…" Tsunade looked at him with surprise, the Third adding, "I was to reveal the truth to them when I saw that they were mentally prepared to see not only the horrors of the Leaf, but those from the Uchiha as well."

Tsunade could only whisper, "So?…"

"Wait for some time, gauge Naruto and when you see that he has the maturity to understand…" Hiruzen said, dreading the day but still knowing that the boy deserved to know the truth, just like Sasuke, "Tell him the truth."

Tsunade couldn't deny that she felt relieved, but she still asked something that she remembered reading from the dossier, "I understand but, didn't Itachi requested that you never reveal the truth?"

Hiruzen nodded, explaining, "He did, but while I may be breaking my vow, I refuse to let that boy die as a villain in the eyes of his two little brothers, whatever the outcome of the revelation is, Naruto and Sasuke deserve to know the truth, while Itachi deserves to at the very least, have the respect and love of them."

Tsunade could only nod and lean back, her head assaulted by a headache while her heart ache. She was at a crossroads right now, she had information that could change absolutely everything and she was being pressed from two fronts. On one side, her duty as a Hokage demanded her to remain silent and focus on the Leaf's best interests first. On the other side, her vow towards those she loved, Naruto included, demanded her to be truthful to him and trust him to do the right thing, _'Dammit…'_ She could now see why Jiraiya refused the hat, quite clearly at that.

* * *

Naruto stroke Grayfia's cheek as she timidly laid her head on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his waist, driving him closer to her body. She had her grey eyes slightly opened, worried despite the warmth he provided her with.

It was kind of weird for her though, it's been four days since they returned from their mission and two days since she has been living in the apartment she rented to play pretend, a room in which they were currently in, the woman enjoying this sensation of reassurance that only he could provide, making her feel almost as if there was absolutely nothing else in this world other that the two of them, it was a strange but otherwise welcome change in her life.

"So the bastard wants to use you against me, huh?" Naruto's harsh tone returned her to the cruel, cruel reality, putting them back on topic.

Grayfia only closed her eyes, her silky voice whispering, "Yes… he wants me to earn your trust and drug you to take you to the base…" She nuzzled her nose on his neck, afraid of the man that broke her mind, "H-He said something about a seal… to control you…"

Naruto just smiled a little as he hugged the silverette tighter, feeling her fear and uncertainty through her mark, though her quivering voice was enough to convey her fear, it seems that breaking her Root program, had forced her to regress to a more childish side of her. Despite being a twenty year old woman, she had practically skipped her youth and just like Gaara, the moment that nothing blocked their emotions, they were assaulted by the lot of them at the same time.

Returning to the conversation, Naruto whispered, his voice soft yet strong, "Gray, I cannot be controlled by anything other than my corruption curse, and that it's only because the curse derives from the will of Great Red himself…" He kissed her on the forehead, reassuring, "There is nothing to fear about that."

The Lucifuge female smiled ever so slightly, still finding it hard to explain how was it that he was capable of making her feel this way with mere words. Though, since her family had very close ties with dragons, she recalled some books that talked about the 'Alpha' effect, applicable both to male and female dragons. It was a soothing effect that enveloped the mates of a dragon, a silent yet constant reassurance that no matter what, their Alpha will always be there to protect them and provide for them.

She had to admit that the feeling was quite addictive.

Looking up at his deep blues, the female opened her mouth a little before she closed it again, loss for words for a moment. She managed to find her voice again, saying, "That may be but…" She sighed, releasing him and sitting up straight, grabbing his hand tenderly while she spoke again, "W-We still need a way to defeat him right there and then, we can't afford to let him escape."

Naruto did frowned at that, affirming the truth of her words. It was incredibly frustrating for him to know that his beloved Mikoto was just below them, being held in a probe tube of some sorts, so close yet so far, his inability to actually match the old war-hawk being the only thing that stopped him from just waltzing into the base and wreak havoc, slaughtering his way towards her.

"Do you not know all of the escape routes he may have?" He inquired, recalling one of the suggestions made by Yūgao, which entailed to blow those tunnels up and trap Danzō and his Root inside.

Grayfia shook her head, saying softly, "No, I'm sure I know all of them but one, Danzō is sure to have a route that only he knows of."

Naruto brought his hand to his chin, frustration starting to claim his heart along with desperation. He needed to plan this very carefully, otherwise not only will Danzō escape, but Naruto himself may be in huge trouble with Tsunade, or even the Fire Lord himself if he doesn't tread carefully with this.

"Naruto…" Grayfia started with a whisper, her voice afraid and guilty as she continued, "There is something e-else I must confess…"

While Naruto had a bad feeling about the information he was about to receive, he wasn't going to lash out at her no matter what, she was his mate now and he also needed to be able to let go of the past. Hence why he held one of her hands, stroking it gently while he said with a reassuring smile, "Go on Gray, I promise, I won't judge ya unfairly."

Grayfia did smiled slightly, feeling more confident though, her guilt was still quite present as she spoke, "Danzō… he… you've seen his bandages, h-haven't you?…" Naruto nodded at that question, prompting the woman to continue, "Well, the t-truth is that… he's not crippled or anything…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, leaning onwards when he asked, "What do you mean with that?"

Grayfia sighed, her gaze down on the couch when she responded, "I a-am not entirely sure w-what's under the b-bandages in his arm… but I know that the ones covering his e-eye…" She gulped, adding finally, barely a whisper, "T-There's a… sharingan… underneath them."

Naruto's eyes widened after that, his heart beating angrily as the implication of the why started to flood his mind, incapable of restraining his anger when he inquired, "How!? How does he have a sharingan!?"

Grayfia winced, her head still submissively down, barely able to respond, "I-It was transplanted t-to h-him."

Naruto's teeth gritted, already knowing that surely, it wasn't the same situation to that of his father and his old friend Obito who gifted his eye to him, "From whom? Who did the eye belonged to, Grayfia?" He shook her slightly by the shoulders.

Grayfia was afraid now, afraid of losing what she just found. But still, she had read that loving someone meant to always be truthful to them, no matter what, so she replied almost immediately, "F-From S-Shisui Uchiha."

Naruto couldn't contain his anger when he heard that, surprised to see that the hatred he already had for the Shimura elder, has now reached new heights. Such was his anger that he barely noticed that he was hurting Grayfia with his grip, only capable of whispering, "S-Shisui-sensei?…"

Grayfia was on the verge of tears as she felt hurt by his grip, but didn't voiced her pain since she thought that she deserved it. So far, Naruto had not berated her nor reprimand any of her past actions, it confused her because while she will endure everything he does to her, including hurting her as a way to pay for her sins, she was confused that he didn't seemed to want to do any of that so far. Until now that is, "Y-You…" She whispered, shivering as his divine essence started to leak from his body, "Y-You k-knew him?" Grayfia dreaded the answer.

Naruto released her, standing up while he tried to regain his breath, whispering with a heated tone, "Yes… he… he w-was a very good friend…" It was silent for a moment until he heard a thud behind him, forcing him to turn to look to see what it was, only to be surprised by Grayfia bowing submissively, her forehead pressed on the floor that was getting soaked by tears.

"I-I…" Grayfia struggled to speak for a moment, readying her heart and body to whatever punishment her mate considered fit for the crime she was about to confess, "I a-am so sorry…" She added, incapable of stopping her tears.

Naruto started to calm down as he saw his mate clearly distressed, whispering, "What are you apologising for, Grayfia?" He kneeled, his hands making to reach for her.

He stopped though, when she confessed with a heavy heart, "B-Because… it… it was I… I k-killed him…"

Naruto's heart stopped for a moment, a small glimpse of the curse making its presence known before he controlled himself and smashed it, inhaling deeply, recuperating his wits. There might have been a time where he would've lashed out violently at her for her admission, but the very fact that she was here, confessing to him, knowing that it was going to cause her trouble, spoke of how true she was to him.

So realising that he was hurting one of his 'wives', Naruto immediately got rid of all of his anger, his heart aching at the sight of Grayfia crying, shivering in fear, frowning when the moment she felt his hands on her shoulders, she stiffened but didn't moved, submissively accepting whatever punishment he saw fit, "Come here." He whispered, forcefully bringing the woman into his arms, caressing her back while he buried her face on the crook of his neck.

"N-Naruto?…" Grayfia could only whisper with her teary eyes wide open, stunned to see him being so tender and loving with her instead of punishing her, she couldn't understand how could he treat her so well despite being the monster she was.

Naruto sighed, looking at her, wiping her tears with his thumb, saying soothingly, "It hurts, I won't deny it…" Grayfia winced but Naruto quickly added, "But the woman that killed Shisui, was not you."

Grayfia whimpered, her eyes locked to his, whispering an inquiry, "W-What do y-you mean?"

Naruto smiled, pecking her lips before he explained, "The responsible of Shisui's death, is Danzō Shimura…" He pecked her lips again, adding, "The one that carried out the kill, was Ryū…" He embraced her tightly, kissing her head before he finished, leaving no room for arguments, "You aren't, never were, Ryū, that was a persona created by Danzō, you are Grayfia Lucifuge, my beloved queen."

Grayfia could only smile and bury herself deeper into his embrace. While part of her still had trouble believing his words, she couldn't deny that it made her feel happy to hear him saying that, it meant that he believed in her, that he trusted her, that he knew she was going to be a better person in the future. She will be damned before she betrays such trust.

The pair stayed there for a couple of moments, Grayfia enjoying the warmth, almost lulling her to sleep. But, she remembered the rest of what she wanted to say, so she gently leaned back, Naruto looking at her with a confused gaze, prompting her to say, "That's not a-all…" Naruto only smiled at her and nodded, urging her to continue, "I am not a h-hundred percent sure, but Terai and I stole four pairs of Uchiha eyes… I h-haven't seen them anywhere and knowing Danzō…"

"The arm…" Naruto deduced with a stunned whisper, disgusted by the mere realisation, "He needs to die, no matter what." It was all he could add, there was no turning back now, in his eyes, Danzō deserved nothing but death, no matter what reasons he had for his actions, he went too far.

"But h-how?" Grayfia inquired, not arguing his words but still reminded him that he was not strong enough to defeat him.

Naruto didn't had a response to that at the moment, opting for only narrow his eyes at the distance, pondering on everything he knew so far. Danzō not only had a small militia of elite ninja under his disposal, but he was also a formidable shinobi on his own, add to that a set of a couple of sharingan, it was frightening.

"Seems…" Naruto started muttering, coming up with a decision and a game plan that he knew, was fool-proof, "That I will have to make a pact with the devil."

Grayfia did not understood what he meant but before she could inquire on it, Naruto himself started to tell her his plan, which by the end of it, Grayfia could only look at him wide-eyed and with a worried heart, praying to whichever god rules above them all, that the man that owned her heart, manages to go through this with his heart intact, a daunting task to say the least.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes once he felt the familiar pull from his mindscape, surprised to see that instead of being in the beach where Ddraig liked to rest, he was inside a familiar chamber, where Kurama had her own space.

"N-Naruto…" The haughty yet soft voice of the chakra fox in question drew his attention to his side, to see that the fox, in her human form, was kneeling next to him, holding one of his hands, tenderly rubbing it with her eyes aimed down, whispering after, "A-Are you sure of this?" She knew what he wanted to do and while she wasn't completely against it since it made sense, she still couldn't help but worry for the boy.

Naruto sighed, knowing that he was worrying his mates a lot lately, but desperate circumstances called for desperate actions and unfortunately, this was one of them, "You know I am…" He whispered, taking his hand away from hers and encircling her with his arms, the redhead resting her cheek against his chest, enjoying the embrace as he continued, "I know some of ya want me to wait a bit more, until I reach the level I need to take him down, but I just can't live with myself, knowing that Miko is down there, treated as a hostage…" He cupped her cheeks then, locking his blues to hers as he concluded, "If any of you ever were to be in a similar situation, I wouldn't be able to bear the thought of waiting, not when I had another way."

Kurama could only frown slightly but nodded none the less, while his unwavering duty towards those he loved certainly made it painful sometimes, it was one of the main reasons for why she fell in love with him in the first place.

The two stayed in the embrace for some moments, enjoying each other's warmth. That is until Naruto finally sighed and released her gently, standing up and offering her his hand which she took, the boy now walking towards his other tenant, his hand being tightly grasped by Kurama's.

It took the pair a couple of minutes to reach the beach, though it was more because they were taking their time to get there, enjoying the woods that Naruto created. But, they finally reached their destination, the couple now able to see the mighty god, resting his head above his claws, his eyes closed, enjoying the breeze as usual. Though, almost as if matching Naruto's mood, the sky was now cloudy, a little bit dark.

Just before they reached Ddraig though, Naruto stopped Kurama, the woman looking at him with a raised eyebrow, prompting Naruto to explain, "Please, stay here, this is between Ddraig and me…" Kurama seemed about to retort, but Naruto shocked her when he leaned on and captured her lips, stealing her very first kiss, "Trust me, please." He pleaded softly, caressing her flushed cheeks.

Kurama took some seconds to regain her bearings, caught completely off guard by the sudden kiss, though she was not going to complain, it was absolutely magical, "O-Okay…" She whispered with a soft smile, nodding at him and letting his hand go.

For his part, the Absolute God of End had not even peered at the Namikaze as he walked towards him, only opening his eyes when Kurama gasped. Ddraig raised one of his scaly eyebrows as he saw Naruto, his successor, bowing his head on the sand, submissive and pleading.

"Lord Ddraig…" Naruto began, his eyes closed, his forehead touching the sand as he continued, "I know you said that you would not intervene in my path…" He poured all of his honesty into his plea, knowing that there was no one else who could do this for him, "But I beg of you, guide me, take over me and help me save Mikoto and Grayfia, please."

Kurama remained silent, shocked to see Naruto in such way. She, and Ddraig, knew that he wanted to ask for Ddraig's help, they lived inside his mind so they could hear his thoughts, but she never thought that he would plead like this. She didn't found it pathetic though, in fact, she found it incredibly courageous, to actually go as far as to bow and plea for those you love, was without a doubt, the ultimate show of duty.

Ddraig knew very well what his successor wanted, he has seen him busting his ass off, trying to reach a new level of strength that put him on par with the Shimura. But despite trying his best to both level up and master his combination with Canym, it was still not enough to finish it all in one strike, he could drive Danzō away for sure, but it was imperative that the old man died to avoid any further trouble down the line.

 **"Be specific, hatchling."** Ddraig mumbled, his eyes focused on the boy.

Naruto lifted his head up, locking his eyes to the beast's, replying, "I am not strong enough to end it in one hit, so I ask of you, control me, guide my hand and lend me your power."

Ddraig narrowed his eyes, his head lowering before he muttered, **"So you wish to cheat?"**

"Yes…" Naruto replied instantly, knowing that there was no reason to lie. He wanted to cheat, he wanted to save Mikoto no matter what he had to do, he would even offer his life, if it didn't already belonged to his women, so this was the only thing he could do, beg, "If it means that I can save Mikoto and Grayfia from that bastard's hands, then I will do whatever it takes."

Ddraig pondered for some moments, silent as he observed the boy he thought of as a son, saying after some moments, **"What would you give me in return?"**

Naruto matched Ddraig's intense glare, unwavered, replying, "Anything but my life."

Kurama clutched her heart, afraid of where this might end, she didn't honestly knew what Ddraig's response would be since while the dragon certainly cared for Naruto, this was still a test, and the god did not wanted to see the boy fail. She just hoped that it didn't ended up costing Naruto too much.

Ddraig narrowed his giant eyes on Naruto, lowering his snout until it was mere centimetres away from the silver-haired jinchūriki, **"Why is your life out of the question?"** The god's voice was challenging, wanting to hear the boy's reason since usually, the requester's life was the first thing they offered.

Naruto narrowed his blues at Ddraig, replying without a single drop of doubt in his voice, "Because it doesn't belongs to me anymore…" Ddraig smirked inwardly as the boy followed, "It belongs to my women, my family, my friends…" Kurama's eyes widened after hearing that, her heart threating to jump out of her chest by the mere happiness it filled her with to hear those words, the boy finishing, leaving no room for argument, "Anything else, you can have it, but my life is out of the question."

Ddraig's head lifted as he slowly stood to full height, surprising Naruto since it had been so long since he saw the god's absolutely immensely imposing figure, the figure of an Absolute God indeed, **"And if I refuse?"** Ddraig added the last question he needed.

Naruto stood up, his voice resolute when he answered, "Then I will find another way…" His eyes narrowed, his fists tightened when he added, "No matter what, I will protect my women, I made a vow to them and I will be damned if I fail them."

Ddraig remained silent for a while, his eyes focused on the boy who stared back at him with equal fierceness. It took a moment for Ddraig to smirk openly, stating with his divine voice, **"I want you to keep this determination to protect not only your mates, but your life as well for them, at the forefront of your mind…"** Naruto nodded while Ddraig's head lowered, adding, **"I will help you this time, I will take control of your body and I will unlock eight wings worth of my power, anything more and we will attract attention you do not want right now…"** Naruto could only nod with a small smile, the beast finishing with a warning tone, **"But it's imperative that you keep that fire for you mates' wellbeing intact, because while I will use my power to protect your body from destroying itself due to my divinity, your mind will still be affected by the corruption curse, remember who you are and what is waiting for you on the outside, for it is the only way that you will keep your mind intact."**

Naruto took the god's words to heart, bowing later, his voice full of gratitude as he said, "I will do as you instructed me, milord, thank you very much for this."

Ddraig only nodded slightly, his eyes wandering towards Kurama who walked towards the boy, holding his hand again, **"There is one thing we must do first."** He added.

Naruto and Kurama looked at the god, with the silverette inquiring, "What?"

Ddraig lowered his head until it was as level as it could with the two humanoid creatures, replying, **"I can protect you, Naruto, from the effects of my raw power because you have my own flesh…"** His eyes then wandered to Kurama as he added, **"But Kurama is another story, I won't be able to protect her because my power is not meant to protect, but to destroy…"** Both Naruto and Kurama widened their eyes, the female tightening her grip on his hand affrightedly, **"If Kurama remains inside you during the mission, she will either lose her mind due to the curse or her power will be absorbed by mine, I can't focus on all of those tasks."**

Kurama lowered her gaze, afraid of what may happen as Naruto questioned, not able to go through with this if it meant that Kurama had to suffer for it, "What do you suggest we do?"

Ddraig sensed the fear from his old friend's daughter, reassuring them with his answer, **"It's simple, either you find a vessel that she can take over, or you go back to the woman that housed her before you, I will seal her back into her."**

Naruto and Kurama could only gasp at that, with the female whispering, "Y-You mean… I w-will have to leave Naruto?" While the thought of having a body again or to go back to her very first friend definitely filled her with joy, leaving Naruto was something that surprisingly made her reluctant.

 **"If you wish to live, then yes."** Ddraig replied dryly.

Kurama remained quiet, Naruto bringing his hands to her cheeks in order to force her to look at him, the man saying once they locked eyes, "Ku, I know you don't want to leave me right now…" Kurama griped his jacket as he continued, "But it will be temporarily, I can't give you a vessel because I don't have one now, but you can go back to Kushina while I find you one, I don't want to risk you in any way."

Kurama could find many things to retort him with, but she understood that this was something he had to do. Mikoto meant so much to him, not to say the risk that Grayfia was also in, he had made a vow to his mates and he was a man of his word, that's what made him both infuriating and lovable.

"P-Promise me…" Kurama began, pressing her body against his, nuzzling her nose on his when she added, "Promise me t-that I'll be able to touch you i-in the real world soon." She honestly couldn't bare this much longer.

Naruto captured her lips in a soul-searing kiss, looking at her straight in the eyes when he replied with utmost honesty and commitment, "I promise ya, Ku, I will do everything I can to have you in my arms as soon as I can."

Kurama's response was a small smile and her face crashing on his chest, Naruto hugging her close as Ddraig said, **"Then it's settled…"** Both humanoid beings looked at the dragon as he continued, **"You must now talk to the woman and I will guide you through the process, it will be painless since I have the power to just transport her to her seal, she must have it still."**

Naruto nodded but before he left, he muttered, "I understand but…" He looked at Kurama, the woman confused before he said with a small smile, "I want to spend some time with Ku before we move on with the plan."

Kurama smiled brightly at that, the dragon chuckling at the scene but nodded, observing as his host led the chakra fox towards another part of the woods. While it may be breaching his own set of rules, Ddraig knew that it would do no harm to at least once, break them, Naruto needed to save Mikoto, otherwise the grief and worry it will cause him to know that she's being held against her will, may even end up feeding his curse.

* * *

Yūgao stopped Naruto just before they reached her home, the silverette raising an eyebrow at the sudden odd behaviour of his purple-haired mate since she started to fidget her fingers, her feet shifting around nervously as she muttered with a whisper, "N-Naru… are you completely s-sure of this?…" She looked at her boyfriend, her eyes showing the immense worry she had for him after hearing his final plan, a worry shared by the rest of his mates, "Isn't there any other way?" She added a wistful question, already knowing the answer.

Naruto sighed, cupping her cheeks and after planting a small chaste kiss, he said with his blues locked to her browns, saying back, "You know well that there isn't, Yū, not one in which we can take Danzō out for good…" He narrowed his eyes at the distance, adding, "If he escapes, he may go underground for a while but you and I both know that he will more than likely allied himself with someone, we can't afford that."

Yūgao sighed but nodded defeated, knowing that the boy was right. The risk of having Danzō out there, gathering new allies and strengthening once more, was a troubling one. She just continued walking towards her home in search of her mother, slightly nervous since they were about to reveal a little bit of the truth to her, otherwise she will be extremely confused as to why Kurama needed to go back to her.

The pair finally arrived to the Namikaze manor, the two walking into the estate and making their way towards the house, with the adopted Uzumaki screaming once they entered, "Mom! You here?"

The two heard a little rustling coming from the kitchen, a couple of curses before a beautiful red-headed female stepped into the living room, muttering, "Yū! I'm here sweetie, what i…" She stopped abruptly however, when she noticed Naruto standing next to her daughter, the boy nodding at her with a small smile, "Naruto!" Kushina greeted happily, running towards him and hugging him tightly.

Naruto chuckled a little, patting the woman's back gently as he whispered, "Hi Kushina, it's nice to see ya too."

Kushina closed her eyes, enjoying the embrace. But capable of feeling the heavy heart the boy carried, even her daughter as well, she reluctantly released him and eyed them both, inquiring with a tilted head, "Is everything alright?…" She looked at Naruto, adding, "You look… tense."

Yūgao looked at her mate, not really knowing how to explain it to her mother. Naruto noticing this, sighed and started walking towards the couches, sitting on one and urging them both to take a seat in the other one. The females did as told, with Kushina feeling even more confused as Naruto looked at her with a stern gaze, "Kushina, I'll make this simple…" He rested his chin on his folded hands, stating dryly, "I need to seal Kurama back into you."

Kushina's eyes widened to the maximum, disbelieving of what she just heard, "W-What?…" Was all she could muster in her shocked state.

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, opening them later to answer, "As I said, I need to seal Kurama back into you."

Kushina leaned on, worry etched in her eyes and voice as she stated frantically, "B-But… N-Naruto!… y-you'll… y-you'll die!…" She couldn't bear the thought of losing him, not now that she was getting close to him, "B-Besides, why would y-you need to do that!?" She was incredibly confused, more so when Yūgao seemed to be on this as well.

Naruto grabbed the woman's hand, using his divine essence to soothe her nerves a little. It worked since the redhead visibly calmed just before Naruto said, "You have been patient with me, you have respected my wish of waiting until I was ready to answer all of your questions regarding me and Ddraig…" Kushina could only stare at him when he continued, "It is still not the time for you to know it all, but I do need to tell you this…" Kushina stood up and sat right next to him, incredibly confused but still holding her questions away, intently listening when he added, "Sasuke did not betrayed the village."

Kushina widened her eyes slightly, extremely confused, not understanding what was he talking about, "N-Naruto… I k-know he's your brother but…" She thought that maybe, Naruto was just in denial, trying to come up with explanations as to why Sasuke left, but she couldn't really believe anything else but what it seemed to be the truth, the state he was in when she found him in the Valley of End, was heavy proof of it, "I d-don't th…" She was saying before the boy cut her off.

"I know what you're thinking but no, I am not looking for excuses…" Naruto locked his blues to her violets, the woman shutting up to listen as he continued, "Sasuke was forced to leave the village, Kushina…" The woman's eyes widened slightly, still having trouble believing until Naruto added, "He was forced to leave after Orochimaru by Danzō Shimura."

Kushina's eyes widened even more at that. While she still believed that Sasuke did in fact defected, she couldn't deny that the elder was capable of such thing. She was very well acquainted with the old man, ever since she got to the Leaf, he tried to have her under his thumb, it was only because the Third and Mito Uzumaki were always looking out for her, later down the line Jiraiya and Minato taking on the roles, that she was able to remain free of the warmonger.

Still, she was extremely confused, a confusion she made known with a question, "But N-Naruto… how did D-Danzō forced Sasuke to leave?…" She couldn't find anything that will make the Uchiha scion leave his brother's side, since she was well informed of how inseparable the two were, "For the l-little I know him, I d-didn't saw him as the kind to get easily manipulated."

Naruto nodded, replying, "You are right about that, Sasuke is not someone you can just manipulate that easily…" Knowing that his words only confused his once mother more, he elaborated, "The difference here tho, is that the bastard had something none of us anticipated, something strong enough to force Sasuke to listen."

"W-What?" Kushina whispered her question, her heart dreading the answer.

Naruto made a quick look towards Yūgao, silently signalling her the he was about to reveal some truths. He then looked back at the Uzumaki Princess, saying dryly, "Mikoto."

Kushina's eyes and mouth widened while her heart suddenly hitched, for a moment there thinking that Naruto was just hallucinating until she focused on his eyes, there was no deception, he was telling the truth. She could only whisper weakly, "H-How?… s-she… M-Miko's supposed to be… d-dead…"

Naruto nodded, agreeing when he muttered, "Yeah, I thought so too…" He narrowed his eyes then and his fists tightened, his voice full of hatred as he added in between gritted teeth, "I don't know how, but that son of a bitch has her locked up in a tube, all I know is that she is alive and being held in Danzō's facility."

Kushina shared her son's hatred for the elder, her eyes narrowing while her chakra flared a little. She couldn't believe it, her best friend, the woman she saw as a sister, was alive but she was being held as a bargain chip by that paranoid warmonger. Still, she looked at the boy, asking, "H-How do you know this, Naruto?" She wasn't doubting him, if he was telling her something, she was going to believe him until somebody shows her otherwise, he was still her baby.

"A picture…" Naruto replied, remembering the small photograph Sasuke left for him, "It seems that Danzō sent Sasuke a picture of Miko to get him to his base, I guess he showed Miko to Sasuke and then stated his demands…" He looked back at the both angry and shocked redhead to add, "The info was then confirmed by an agent I have inside Danzō's Root."

That caught the Uzumaki off guard. The boy before her, was speaking like general rather than just a ninja who wanted to rescue his first love. She knew that there was something going on with Naruto, something large and deep, heck, it seems that Yūgao was on it as well. She had, of course, asked about this she was feeling and Naruto did admitted that he was doing something behind the scenes, but before she could ask what, he had asked for her patience, stating that one day, he will reveal it all to her.

"A-Agent?…" Kushina whispered, eyeing her daughter who refused to look at her, forcing the female to look back at Naruto and ask, "H-How do you have an agent? Naruto, what's going on? What are you planning to do?" She was practically pleading, her emotions a mess since she was extremely angry at the elder for taking her sister as a hostage, but she was also immensely worried for her son, she could tell that he was going to rescue her soon.

Naruto sighed, grabbing both of her hands and replied, "Kushina, do you trust me?…" The woman had reluctant eyes but nodded honestly, she wasn't doubting him at all, she was just afraid of what he was going to do, he could understand that well, "Then please, the less you know about what I'm going to do, the better, just please, trust me on this."

Kushina did trusted him, as much as she trusted her late husband and daughter, but she still tried to change his mind, "I do b-but… darling… please, i-it's too dangerous…" She knew that he was going to go head to head against Danzō, her heart could feel it, "E-Even if you do manage to defeat him, y-you can get in huge trouble for this, h-he's still a Leaf ninja… k-k… k-killing him may cost you greatly against the law." It was no lie, the punishment for killing a fellow Leaf ninja was of about eighty years in prison, even if Danzō was a shady bastard, he and his ninja were all still part of the Leaf, if Naruto ends up killing them, he may be sentenced to death despite all her mother, Tsunade, will surely try to do, she was still the Hokage and needed to be unbiased.

Naruto nodded, saying, "I know that and that is why I'm not rushing in like a maniac…" He stood up, continuing, "We have a way to brand Danzō as a traitor of the highest rank, you are part of that way."

Kushina tilted her head, confused, trying to inquire what he meant with that but as if reading her mind, her daughter finally spoke for the first time since they arrived, "Mom, what Naruto means is that if we succeed with this mission, we can put you on a static state and 'rescue' you along with Mikoto…" Kushina's brain started to catch up, her daughter finishing in case she was still confused "There are other things that we can pine on him but it's better that you don't know about it, all you have to do and say after you wake up again, is that all you remember is being alongside dad, fighting the Twelve Wings until you got knocked out."

Kushina wanted to ask more about the plan but she could see that the two will say nothing more of it, it bothered her even if it was for her own safety. But looking back at the silverette, she whispered, "I s-see… but…" She licked her lips, inquiring after, "Why do you need t-to seal Kurama in me again? I d-don't understand." She was actually elated to have her beloved friend back with her, but it still confused her greatly.

Naruto sighed, explaining, "Because in order for me to succeed with one strike and bring Danzō down before he escapes, I have to use Ddraig's full power…" Kushina's eyes widened, the boy continuing, "As you already know, his power is great but if I use it with Ku inside, she will get badly injured, I can't risk her safety for this."

Kushina could only stare at the handsome boy, incapable of saying anything. She had many worries and fears she wanted to voice, but she couldn't find her tongue, once again, everything that was going on was just so damn confusing.

"Plus…" Naruto's voice won her attention back to him, in time to hear him add, "She really misses you, I know I've let ya two speak once in a while but, she wants to be with you again, you're her best friend."

Kushina could only smile at that, reciprocating the feeling, Kurama had ended up being such a crucial part of her life that ever since she came back to life, the void her fellow redhead left inside of her was incapable of being filled with anything else, "A-Alright…" She started saying, looking at Naruto with a worried but still trusting smile as she continued, "There are still s-so many things I want to k-know but… I k-know you'll tell me when the moment's right…" Naruto nodded at that with a grateful smile, Kushina continuing, "I t-trust you with my life, honey, so I'll d-do as you say."

"Thank you." Naruto said with a small bow, feeling happy and eager that he was finally able to move on with his plan.

With that, Naruto started urging both Kushina and Yūgao towards the former's bedroom, explaining to them how the sealing was going to take place and what they were to do after. His mind was now fully focused on Danzō, since tomorrow night, shit was about to hit the fan.

* * *

Naruto looked at his side towards the building that housed Akeno, Ayame and now Tsubaki, the newly named 'Hidden Oak Complex'. It was late at night, close to midnight, and the three females' room's lights were on, signalling him that they were in position.

Naruto brought Grayfia closer to him as he felt her shiver beside him, nervous of what's about to happen. He could also sense the nervousness coming from his mates through their marks, making him send a reassuring wave of his aura, happy to see that it did calmed them down as they waited for the signal.

The plan was actually quite simple, Grayfia will take him to Root's HQ, seemingly drugged and defenceless. Though by then, Ddraig will already be controlling his body without reservations, now that Kurama was back in Kushina who remained unconscious in her home. Once Grayfia signalled him that they were deep into the base and Danzō was near him, Ddraig will send a pulse of his aura through the marks, signalling Ino, Hinata, Akeno, Ayame and Tsubaki to blow the explosives that will crumble the tunnels of the base, cornering Danzō and his people inside the base with no chance to escape other than Danzō's secret route.

Even if the war-hawk manages to escape, he will not be able to leave the premises of the Uchiha compound, as Ddraig will be placing an invisible barrier that will prevent anyone from entering or leaving the compound. Naruto knew that such a barrier would be unthinkable, it sounded way too overpowered to be even a thing, but well, Ddraig was THE god that ruled over darkness, the only thing that was outside his reign, was true omnipotence.

Yūgao had to sit this one out despite her protests, the problem was that she was an ANBU Captain and as such, she needed a good story to separate herself from everything that will go down tonight. The rest of his mates were safe because their only job was to set the explosions off and flicker back into their homes, leaving no trace of their involvement behind.

As for Naruto himself, he will be basically sitting on the back seat of his mind, though it didn't meant that he was going to have it easy, since Ddraig had warned him a thousand times that for the duration of the whole ordeal, the corruption curse will be trying to take over him, so he was going to have to focus his whole will and determination in fending the darkness off.

"Naruto…" Grayfia's voice brought the silverette back to the real world, his eyes wandering to her, realising that they were already in front of her door, the woman fidgeting nervously, adding with a whisper, "P-Please…"

Her voice was weak and tiny, her worry etched in it. Naruto only cupped her cheeks, claiming her lips and pushing them inside the apartment, knowing that her partner was observing them like a hawk, "It'll be okay, I promise…" He whispered, starting the show of pushing her towards the bed, throwing her on top of it, the silverette female blushing harshly as he crawled over her, kissing her neck while his hand started to grope her bountiful chest, eliciting a moan from her, "It'll be over soon."

Grayfia decided to trust her mate and instead focused on enjoying his touch, her body responding immediately at his presence, already feeling that damn tingling in her gut that had her confused for so long until she finally figured out what it was, arousal.

But, a bite on her neck brought her back to the world, Naruto looking at her, silently urging her to begin the plan. So, she reluctantly pushed him back a little, the boy raising his eyebrow in mock confusion, prompting her to say, "L-Let's have a drink first, I'm so thirsty."

Before he could turn her words into sexual innuendo, she stood up and headed towards her kitchen, grabbing two cups and filling them with wine, taking a small vial from her sleeve, dropping the liquid in it on Naruto's glass. Despite Naruto's reassurance that no drug will be capable of getting him, she was still worried that he might end up getting under its effects, but she couldn't avoid drugging his drink for real, since Terai was observing their every move.

Walking back into her room, the woman handed the Namikaze his glass and both cheered before they sipped their drinks, Grayfia ending up gulping her wine whole out of nervousness.

"My, my…" Naruto's amused voice made her blush when he commented, "You aren't an alcoholic, right, my queen?"

Grayfia's response was just placing her glass on a table nearby and jumping on him, bringing him down to the mattress, crashing her lips saying, "Shut up…" She wanted to cover her embarrassment with kisses and she was glad that it worked, since Naruto had forgone the drink and his hands now roamed all over her butt, squeezing it once in a while, "N-Now…" She whispered to his ear while she nibbled it.

Naruto understood that she was signalling him that the drug should take effect by now and just like he expected, the drug wasn't even tickling him, meaning that his divine body has destroyed the foreign liquid. But knowing that her partner was observing, he continued kissing her before slowly, he started to act the sleepy part, his hands slowly falling to the sides while his kisses slowly became sloppy until they stopped, his eyes closed and his breathing steady, seemingly unconscious.

Grayfia stopped for a moment, biting her lip while she whispered worriedly, "Please, be safe." She stood up then, her face now completely void of emotion, lifting her hand after a moment and immediately, her partner appeared inside her apartment.

Terai walked towards the sleeping boy, pressing two fingers on Naruto's neck, making sure that he was unconscious. Once affirmed that he was, the Root soldier looked at his partner and said, "He's out."

Grayfia nodded and observed as Terai hurled her lover over his shoulder, the man looking at her after a moment, nodding. The Lucifuge nodded back and both Root soldiers made some hand-seals and after a poof of smoke, they disappeared from the room.

* * *

Tsunade massaged her temples as she drank some of her sake, incapable of getting some shut eye due to the sudden and strange nervousness that crept her heart.

Ever since finding out the truth of the Uchiha massacre, she has been unable to sleep well, still having trouble to even believe that it happened. But it wasn't the morality of the act or the reasons that stole her dream, no, it was in fact the consequences of the act that may occur, mainly when Naruto and Sasuke discover the truth, something that she knew that even if they tried to, no one could stop it from happening. She didn't wanted to hide it from Naruto anyway.

But tonight was different, there was an ominous weight on the air, the night was uncharacteristically gloomy and chill, clouds covering the sky, announcing a torrent. Something in her gut was telling her that there was about to be a change.

"What is going on, dammit!?" She whispered to herself harshly, her grip on her glass tightening, almost breaking it out of frustration.

Before she could take another drink, a sudden knock on one of her windows won her attention, the woman narrowing her eyes as she saw something hanging outside of the glass.

Cautiously, she walked towards her window, using her veteran senses to see if there was a trap or any danger outside, but she couldn't catch any, so she just shrugged and opened the window.

Her eyebrow raised as she grabbed the small vial that contained a sheet of paper inside. She took it out and unrolled it, whispering, "Princess…" Widening her eyes, she realised that the note came from Naruto, so she read the whole thing in a second.

 _Princess, I know you can feel the heavy aura around the village, I can only tell you that I am about to do something drastic, I can't tell you what because it will involve you and I am not risking it, but I can only ask that you trust me, I am doing this for those that I love and this village, but I will accept any punishment you give me after this, just please, for tonight, ignore what's about to happen, this is for Kushina as well and it will give us a reason to explain her reappearance, I will explain it all tomorrow morning, thank you._

"N-Naruto…" Tsunade whispered with a hand on her heart, worried sick for him after reading such ominous words. She wanted to retort and immediately send for him, but the contents of his letter made her listen to him and have a leap of faith, trusting him with whatever he's about to do, she was sure that it was not something that will harm innocents, "W-What are you doing?" She muttered a question while both palms now clutched her chest, wishing and praying to every god that her godson was protected. She could only observe as the sky darkened even more, thunders starting to roar above, adding to the ominous feeling that washed over her village, it may be dangerous, but she will trust the Namikaze blindly, at least, for today.

* * *

Grayfia observed as Naruto was being placed on a table inside one of their medic wards. She along with her partner Terai and the chief psychologist of Root, were all surrounding the 'unconscious' boy, waiting for their leader to arrive.

It didn't took Danzō long to arrive, accompanied by a couple of soldiers who dutifully stood around the room, their weapons ready in case the jinchūriki wakes up suddenly. The Root leader however, only walked towards the boy, setting his sights on the Namikaze, incapable of hiding his smirk as he finally had him in his hands, "Excellent work, Ryū." He commended his most trusted soldier. He knew that she was infatuated with Naruto, her worry was clear, but just as he said to Terai, if they manipulate Naruto, then she will follow him, it was checkmate whichever way you saw it.

Grayfia just nodded slightly, muttering emotionlessly, "Thank you, sir."

Danzō then focused on Rin Asogi, the greenette hovering above the boy, her finger on her chin as she examined him, "Asogi…" The female looked at her leader, the man continuing, "Is everything in order to begin?"

Rin nodded, muttering an answer, "Yes sir, he's as unconscious as one could get, the drug did its wonders indeed…" She then turned towards a small table where a small jar of ink and a brush laid, the woman grabbing them and adding, "I shall begin the sealing now."

Danzō nodded and stood back a little, eagerly observing the female painting Root's symbol on the front of the Namikaze, masterfully brushing the kanji on his skin. Rin Asogi was one of his main aces, particularly because the woman was a sealing master at the par with Jiraiya, he didn't really knew where she learnt the skills, but he could tell that an Uzumaki taught her as her style was the same as the famous redheads.

It took her a couple of minutes to finish the seal, though to Danzō, they seemed like hours, but Rin placed the ink and brush back on the table, and then stepped aside, looking at her leader to say, "This seal is special, milord, as you know, the ink is made with your blood and thus, it requires your chakra signature to work…" The man nodded and stepped towards the boy, Rin explaining further, "Place your hand on top of the seal and focus your chakra on it, it will create the bonding and he will be susceptible to your commands from now on."

Danzō nodded but inquired before he did as told, "Can he break the seal?"

Rin nodded, replying truthfully, "Every seal can be broken, even this one, but it will require incredible power to break it, or even an unstoppable will…" She focused on the handsome boy on the bed, feeling a little sorry for him as she continued, "He may have the will, but having the woman he loves as hostage, he should be easier to manipulate."

Danzō nodded again and accepted the explanation, knowing that while the boy was stubborn, with the woman he loved under his thumb, he will not be able to break the seal that bonded them, "Very well then." He muttered and without a second to waste, he poured his chakra on the seal, observing as it began to glow before it dissipated, Danzō surprised to feel a considerable amount of his chakra gone.

Danzō stepped back, releasing a breath, feeling a little tired, Rin commenting, "It was expected for you to feel tired after the sealing, milord, the boy is a strong one so he requires a considerable effort to capture."

Everybody then focused on Naruto when he groaned a little, his eyes remaining shut as he slowly sat up, shaking his head a little and breathing with some trouble.

Danzō remained unfazed while his men stood ready for anything, the war-hawk muttering, "Jinchūriki."

Naruto's only response was a low whisper, his head still down, his eyes not visible as his voice sounded, "Yes."

Seeing that the boy responded to his voice, Danzō smirked, turning around to walk towards the exit of the room, muttering, "Terai, take the boy and let us move."

Grayfia observed intently as Terai approached her mate, unsure of when the God of End will send the signal. She knew he was already in control since Naruto's presence in her mark was now diminutive, Ddraig's was the biggest one in his stead.

Terai nodded and walked towards the boy, grabbing him by the shoulder, saying, "Let's go, jinchūriki."

Naruto got off the bed like a zombie, his voice low as he muttered, "Yes…" Grayfia's eyes widened when she felt the wave of divine essence coursing through her, meaning that it was time to begin, **"Let's go."** Naruto suddenly showed his eyes that now shone with an evil crimson glow, his aura suddenly filling the whole base before he, in a second, thrust his arm through Terai's torso, the man barely having the chance to groan before he, out of nowhere, was consumed by black fire, burning him in a flash, ashes being the only thing that remained of him.

"W-What…" Rin Asogi muttered, shocked before the whole place shook, echoes of explosions booming all around them, the sounds of rocks crumbling down making it known that the base was collapsing.

Danzō's eyes narrowed at the jinchūriki, actually afraid as the boy looked at him with those piercing red eyes, unmoving, Terai's blood already evaporated by the intensity of his aura, "Restrain him." The Shimura still ordered with a calm aura, not daring to show the fear that strangely took hold of him.

The Elder was definitely not surprised when Grayfia didn't moved an inch, he guessed that she had already betrayed him and was aiding the jinchūriki. But he was definitely shocked when the eight soldiers that jumped at the Namikaze in order to restrain him, were suddenly pierced by eight wings that sprouted form his back, the shocking thing being that the wings, were made out of flesh and bones instead of his usual chakra constructed ones.

Ddraig observed as the ninja that tried to attack him, burst into black flames, leaving no trace of them whatsoever. He then focused where the Shimura was, noticing that he was already gone, though it was going to hardly make any difference, he had already placed a barrier surrounding them, nothing will get out of here unless he wants too. He also noticed that the green-haired female was gone, now, only Grayfia and him remained, **"Child."**

Grayfia felt a little startled by the divinity of Naruto's voice, though she could now tell that it was Ddraig's. Her legs were also wobbling a little, immensely shocked to feel such power, it was unreal, untameable, raw and vicious, and there was still more than what he was showing, _'A g-god indeed…'_ She thought to herself before she shook her head and focused back on the current mission, replying respectfully, "Yes, milord?"

 **"Rescue the Uchiha…"** Ddraig ordered as he started walking towards the exit of the room, his burning aura destroying the ground in which he walked on, the room heating up at dangerous levels, it was only because Grayfia was Naruto's mate that she was capable of withstanding the heat, **"I shall deal with the old fool."** He said and with that, left the room, the sound of people screaming and cursing being the only thing she heard after.

Grayfia regained her wits and narrowed her eyes, knowing exactly where to go and after a couple of moments, she darted off towards the medical ward that housed the matriarch, she needed to be quick, otherwise they will risk injuring Mikoto due to the destruction around them.

* * *

It took Grayfia a couple of moments to get to where Mikoto was, running into the room before she halted as she saw that she wasn't the only one there, "Asogi." Grayfia muttered, her eyes narrowed at the beauty before her while her tantō was drawn. The woman in front of her was no easy cookie, she was actually capable of rivalling her, but with the boost she received from being Naruto's mate, she was confident that she could deal with the psychologist.

"Ryū…" Rin said, seemingly uncaring as she continued sealing all of her notes, the sound of destruction around them not deterring her in the slightest, "Or should I say, Grayfia?" She added with a small smirk.

The Lucifuge female continued on guard, saying softly, "I'm surprised you're not out there protecting our _leash_." She spat the last word with disgust, now free to show her true feelings towards the man.

To Grayfia's surprise though, Rin chuckled, shaking her head before she replied, "He was never my _leash_ …" She finally faced Grayfia, the silverette widening her eyes when she realised that Rin had the tablet that Naruto wanted, but her eyes quickly reverted towards the Asogi as she continued, "I don't care what happens to him, he was a means to an end, though he was still of use, there is nothing I can do, I'm not stupid, I know that the Twelve Wings is not a Tailed Beast, he's a god, I have no chance against someone like him."

Grayfia wasn't too surprised about that since many scholars and ninja didn't really believed that Ddraig was a Tailed Beast. Everybody was capable of feeling chakra, but Ddraig's power had no chakra in it, it was untraceable, unnoticeable, and that sparked the theory that he might be something else.

The room they were in shook suddenly, Grayfia knowing that Ddraig was definitely having fun releasing himself a little. But she cursed inwardly, Rin had the tablet they needed, but Mikoto was still trapped in that tube, "The tablet…" The silver-haired female said while she eyed the stone, adding, "Was that your goal?"

Rin smirked, patting the stone as she replied, "Yes and no, the tablet is half of my goal, but Danzō's visions were the other half."

Grayfia tilted her head, confused, inquiring, "Visions?" She never heard anything like that from the elder.

Rin just chuckled, stepping a little closer to say, uncaring of any danger, "Nobody knows about them, only I, but he had visions, of the future…" Grayfia's eyes widened a little when the female continued, "I have a question that needs an answer and I thought that he could provide it, but I can't do a thing to prevent his demise now…" She held the tablet and as she observed it, finished, "Only this tablet remains, it was the one that gave him the visions."

Grayfia narrowed her eyes even more, if what the woman was saying was true, then it was imperative that they get that tablet, "What makes you think I'm going to let you just walk away?"

Rin chuckled, saying easily, "Well, I foresaw something like this…" She eyed the sleeping Uchiha, adding, "I knew that Danzō was getting too reckless, her son was predictable and easy to manipulate, but Naruto, he's a completely different thing…" She looked back at Grayfia, continuing with a smile, "I didn't saw you falling for him, though."

"Neither did I…" Grayfia replied truthfully, her free hand getting coated with her demonic energy, ready to be shot as she added, "But I am his now and that tablet is important to us, so I'm going to need for you to drop it."

Rin just smirked, taking her hand to her pouch and getting a sheet with a seal painted on it, saying as she held it for the Lucifuge to see, "You're going to have to choose then, Grayfia…" She pointed at the room where Mikoto was, Grayfia cursing when she saw the explosive tags that laid above the tank, "The Uchiha or the tablet, your call."

Grayfia gritted her teeth, angry at this woman, though she had to admit that her adaptability was impressive. The tablet was definitely crucial, but Mikoto was even more important to Naruto than the tablet, she guessed that they could always look for Rin after this, so she sighed and sheathed her tantō back while her fist reverted back to normal, looking at Rin to say, "You win, for now."

Rin smiled and started walking towards the exit, her shoulder brushing gently against Grayfia's, saying before she disappeared, "I know you'll be coming after me and that's okay, your lover boy may hold the answer I'm looking for, so tell him that we will meet again."

Grayfia didn't looked back at Rin otherwise she knew she will lose her temper, Rin had outsmarted her for the moment. But it didn't mattered right now, she had to take Mikoto out of here.

So moving quickly, Grayfia destroyed the door that separated her form the Uchiha and approached the tank, the blackette floating in the liquid, her face calm as if nothing wrong was happening at the moment.

Carefully, the Lucifuge froze the glass of the tube and then shattered it, the liquid falling down before Mikoto started to fall onwards, Grayfia catching her in her arms, surrounding the Uchiha with a blanket, muttering, "Lord Ddraig needs to heal her soon or she will die."

Knowing that Mikoto was alive thanks to the liquids in the tanks, she made haste towards her currently possessed mate, Ddraig needed to heal Mikoto with his power or the Uchiha will not make it out of this alive.

* * *

Ddraig walked through the dark corridors of the Root base, imposing, eerie, his violent crimson-coloured eyes shining in the darkness, his eight scary wings resting on his back as a thick coat of crimson flames covered his form. That along with two horn-like outlines on his head, made up for the image that inspired Naruto's second moniker, Lucifer.

The Absolute God of End could feel every presence inside his barrier, there were a total of two-hundred fifty-two living signatures in the area. There used to be over three hundred, but those who now laid dead, had come to try and stop him, their last mistake.

Sounds of rapid footsteps drew the god's attention towards a crossing corridor, noticing a group of twelve Root soldiers heading towards him, the ninja making sets of hand-seals before they reached him.

They were immediately erased from existence when the god's eyes shone brighter for a second, their bodies decomposing in millions of particles before they dissipated, leaving no trace of their existence behind.

Ddraig was most definitely amused, he always found it surprising that amongst all the millions of species that spread across the universe, no matter how many cycles go by, there was hardly a mortal race that could actually plant face against the gods. And even so, those gods were still subjected to the universal reboot, it was almost boring for him, the Absolute God of End and third strongest being in existence, that there was hardly anyone, besides his father and mother, that could defeat him. His brothers were worthy foes, capable of forcing him to a stalemate even, but he was still the strongest.

As the dragon possessing the boy dispatched another badge of ninja who tried to attack him, evaporating them from existence like their comrades before, Ddraig focused in his mindscape, wanting to see how his predecessor was doing with fending off the curse.

Ddraig was a little alarmed when he observed the beach that was usually cool and peaceful, now showered in a red sky, an eerie feeling covering the whole scenery. But he calmed down once he caught glimpse of the Namikaze, the boy sitting cross-legged on the sand, his eyes closed while his essence surrounded him protectively, the distinctive dark-grey colour of his aura protecting the boy form the darkness. It was clear that the curse was trying to take over him, as the darkness of the scenery tried to cover him whole, but the boy's will and determination was proving the victor, as a small part of the area surrounding him was still clear, the darkness unable to cover it.

The dragon god then focused back on the outside world after he felt a powerful attack colliding with him, it didn't do any harm, but it did distracted him from observing his predecessor, making him realise that he was inside of what it looked like the base's training room, probably the most spacious one, a huge room filled with over two hundred soldiers, surely Danzō's last effort to stall him.

Ddraig calmly observed as every ninja in the room made some hand-seals, a rain of all kinds of jutsus flying towards him but none of them impacted, evaporating some distance before they even reached him, his divinity destroying the attacks in a second.

Before they could do anymore though, the whole room was slowly being covered by a thick black mist. After a moment, covering everyone from their waist below, though the shocking thing was that they couldn't move an inch, more shockingly, they were shaking with fear.

 **"How does it feel?…"** Ddraig started talking as he calmly walked past the frozen ninja, only their eyes capable of following the god as he added ominously, **"The darkness itself?…"** Ddraig stopped, gently cupping a small piece of the smoke, as if looking at a precious object when he added, **"If any of you had truly conquered darkness, then you would be able to move…"** He continued walking then, now capable of pinpointing Danzō's location, saying, **"But since you haven't, you will serve as its meal."**

As the god left the room, the sound of the ninja groaning and moaning as they were slowly consumed by the darkness was heard, the god unfazed by knowing that he had just killed over three hundred people in a matter of minutes, so far, not even moving a finger.

Ddraig finally reached Danzō's office, his eyes narrowing around the room until he could finally feel the warmonger's presence's left over, leading him towards a wall. Pressing his hand on it, he felt a void beyond it, meaning that this is where his secrete escape route was, so with a burst of energy, he destroyed the wall and once the smoke dissipated, the path was revealed.

Before he left, he focused on finding Grayfia's signature, nodding once he did and ensuring that the Lucifuge had Mikoto safely with her, already up on the Uchiha compound, waiting for him to heal the woman. So knowing that there was nothing else left of importance in the base, Ddraig's palm suddenly produced a small marble of energy, aiming his hand towards where the training room was and releasing the shot towards it, the god walking down the escape route as a huge explosion ensued behind him, the sound of the whole base being buried by the rubble filling his ears.

It took Ddraig a couple of minutes to reach the end of the tunnel, noticing that it lead towards the outside of the Uchiha compound, just right to a mountain behind the Leaf's south-west's gate.

"I had my suspicions…" The still surprisingly collected voice of the Shimura elder made Ddraig turn to look at the man who still had four soldiers with him, the old man stating once the god faced him, "You were far too powerful to be a mere charka construct, you are a god."

Ddraig had to give it to the old man, he was cunning and smart, but the way he spoke the word 'god', it made the Red Dragon Emperor believe that perhaps, the old man has had previous contact with divinity, **"You are partially correct…"** Ddraig replied, his body now facing the five remaining Root members as he continued, **"I am no charka beast, but I am no god either."**

Danzō tensed when the possessed boy started walking towards him, narrowing his eye while stepping back a little, ordering his minions, "Fū, Torume, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, restrain him."

The four elite ninja nodded and made to pounce at the god, but they were suddenly stopped mid-air, their bodies seemingly floating, sustained by an invisible force as they shivered, Danzō honestly shocked to see some of his most powerful Root soldiers showing genuine fear, heck, he himself was shivering as the boy spoke with a divine echo.

 **"I am much more than a mere god…"** Ddraig had his hand lifted, his palm opened, seemingly controlling the four ninja who remained frozen in the air, speaking again, **"You are all but mere toddlers to me."** The god then closed his hand, turning it into a fist, the four ninja that were suspended, bursting into a million particles, disappearing from existence soon later.

Danzō gritted his teeth as he suddenly undo all of his bandages, revealing a sharing in the eye that was covered, and a horrifying looking arm with nine more sharingan implanted in it, the Shimura stating, "You will not hinder my plan, I will protect the Leaf from him, no matter what I have to do."

Ddraig narrowed his eyes as he listened to the old man's words, but he focused on the arm he had, knowing exactly where he got all those sharingan from, **"Disgusting."** Even Ddraig found it disgusting to stoop so low.

"Nothing is out of the question when the wellbeing of the Leaf is at stake." Danzō spoke, both passionately and deranged, his body suddenly tensing and leaning on, disappearing in a burst of speed that genuinely made Ddraig raise an eyebrow in appraisal.

Ddraig though, only tilted his head slightly, a kunai suddenly stabbing where his head once was, the Shimura elder widening his eyes when he saw the god avoiding his hit, cursing when his eyes caught Naruto's fist shooting towards him, but before the god connected, Danzō disappeared once again, swearing after he reappeared metres away from the god.

 **"I see…** " Ddraig said, his eyes looking at the elder when he continued, **"You are using that technique that the Itachi brat used against Naruto, Izanagi I believe is called, one of Zekrom's gifts to Hagoromo."**

There were so many things that Danzō wanted to ask the being before him, the way he spoke, the way he moved, it made it clear for Danzō that the dragon was a being that's been around for countless of millennia, perhaps even more. But knowing that he was his enemy, he knew that it would be futile to try and request for an alliance to stop the other being approaching, so he focused back on the fight and after a set of hand-seals, he said, "Wood Release: Incarceration!" He knew that the outcome of using his most powerful technique at the get go was a huge gamble, but there was no other option for him. Danzō knew that he was outclassed by this being, the only thing left for him was to at least incarcerate Naruto long enough to escape, though he knew that there was something trapping him in the Uchiha compound's area, he was confident that he would be able to escape with some time.

Ddraig's crimson eyes narrowed as the ground below him shook, thick and powerful roots of wood sprouting from the ground, encasing him in a dome, trapping him apparently.

Danzō breathed in harshly, almost all of his chakra gone after using his crude ability in wood release, cursing fate for not giving him enough time to train the Hashirama cells he had acquired and implanted in his arm.

Knowing that he didn't had time to waste, the elder turned around and made to leap off, but widened his eyes and grunted when a fist went through his chest, his strength, his chakra, his power, even the sharingan he had, all losing their power, seemingly eaten by the person who just hit him.

"H-How?…" Was all Danzō could whisper as he felt his life drained by Naruto, the boy looking at him impassively, those crimson eyes instilling a fear that Danzō never knew it even existed.

 **"I told you, you are but a mere child…"** Ddraig replied, retracting his bloodied fist after some moments, once feeling the elder's power completely gone. Danzō then fell to the ground, his eyes hollow and his wound bleeding profusely, the god standing above him, adding, **"It may have worked with a charka beast, but with me, you are still cycles away from confronting, child."**

Danzō laughed weakly, finding it amusing that someone who was supposed to be fifteen years old, was speaking to him, an almost eighty year old, as a mere youngster way out of his head. Though knowing that the dragon was possessing the boy, Danzō knew that for sure, the elder here was the mythical creature above him, "T-Then…" The elder coughed, blood dripping from his mouth as he added, "Pe-Perhaps you w-will… _cough cough_ … be a-able to sto… t-to s-stop him…"

Ddraig narrowed his eyes at the dying man, confused as he inquired, **"Stop who?"**

Danzō struggled slightly, coughing more blood before he mumbled, "E-Everything I've done…" He looked up, at the sky, wistfully adding, "E-Every sin I-I've committed, w-was all to protect her…" Ddraig was surprised to see a lone tear falling from the man's eye when he continued, "The L-Leaf… our h-home… we n-needed to p-prepare for h-his arrival… but… _cough_ … n-nobody listened… s-so I…" He inhaled, gathering strength to continue his ramble, "I t-took it u-upon myself… a-after the tablet s-showed me… I k-knew that we a-all had to be f-fierce… c-cold… k-killers… o-otherwise, we w-wouldn't have a c-chance against… him…"

It was surprising really, Ddraig now was able to realise that while Danzō had indeed become a monster, he had apparently a reason for it and the way he spoke of this 'him', the tablet he mentioned that Ddraig knew had a connection with Hagoromo and Albion, it all made him have a forethought as to who was the elder talking about, **"Who is 'him'?"** The god inquired with more strength, feeling frustrated at the lack of clear answers.

Danzō focused on the god's eyes, replying with barely a whisper, "T-The… D-Devil… h-he's coming… t-to this world…" He then started closing his eyes, his mouth parting one last time to leave his final words, "S-Stop… h-him…" And with that, Danzō Shimura, veteran of three wars, head of Root and legend on his own right, parted to the afterlife.

Ddraig remained unmoving, his eyes still focused on the dead man below him, feeling a sense of foreboding that since he was the god of darkness, spoke a lot of the situation. But he pushed those warnings to the back of his head, deciding to let Naruto deal with it on his own since this was his path, his tenure as the God of End, so this was part of his trial.

* * *

Grayfia jumped down the wall and made haste towards her mate's signature, Mikoto being safely carried in her arms bridal style. The Lucifuge was still a little bit relieved that she could hear the Uchiha's faint breathing but it was decreasing slowly, she needed to reach her romantic partner soon.

The Lucifuge stopped for a moment however, once she reached Naruto's possessed body, the image of him standing frozen, the god's divine stare aimed at the unmoving body lying below him. She knew who the body belonged to, it wasn't hard to tell by the clothes alone, but even if she hated the man with all of her heart, the sight of him dead, the thought of knowing that Root was no more, left her unsatisfied. Not because they were gone, but because of all the years that Danzō and his organization took from her.

 _'But… it's what led me to him…'_ She found the silver-lining of it all, knowing that perhaps, this was always meant to be. So while she suffered greatly through the years serving under Danzō, she couldn't deny that it was all worth it.

The silverette shook her head and admonished herself, remembering that Mikoto was on a peril and required to be healed immediately, so walking towards the possessed silverette, she spoke, "Milord…" Ddraig looked at her, Grayfia flinching slightly as the dragon's piercing crimson eyes stared at her intensely, "S-She needs to be healed q-quickly." She added, now in front of him, surprised that despite feeling the darkness of the dragon's aura, it felt strangely comforting to her, probably because she was Naruto's mate.

Ddraig nodded and grabbed the blackette, noticing how calm she looked despite the constant decrease in her breathing. He sat then, placing Mikoto on his lap and brought a hand to her forehead while another one rested above her breast, right where her heart was. Ddraig closed his eyes for a moment, his hands glowing crimson before a pulse was sent at Mikoto, the Uchiha gasping with eyes closed as the rush of divine essence coursed through her body and healed her, though Ddraig made sure to not heal her completely, the Hokage would be even more suspicious of Naruto if Mikoto was brought to her completely healed, so he only made sure that she was out of danger.

"I-Is it over, m-milord?" Grayfia's whisper caught the dragon's attention, noticing how confused she was, probably because what used to be her whole life, was now gone.

But, knowing that she and Mikoto needed Naruto instead of him, he muttered, **"Yes, child, it is, I shall tell Naruto to come back."**

With that, Ddraig closed his eyes and after opening them again, he found himself inside Naruto's mindscape, noticing that now, the darkness that consumed the beach before was mostly gone, only remnants of it on the edges were left, but with his presence back in here, it quickly receded into the deepest corners of Naruto's mind.

 **"It's over, hatchling."** Ddraig spoke to the young boy who was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, the dragon now resting his head above his legs, his eyes closing, relaxing as usual.

Naruto opened his eyes, releasing a heavy sigh, tired of fighting the darkness within him for what to him, seemed like hours. But standing up, he dusted himself off and muttered an inquiry, "A-Anything I need to know?"

Ddraig pondered on that, replying after some moments, **"Yes, the Uchiha woman was dying without the life support she had, so I had to intervene…"** Naruto nodded, but felt shocked when Ddraig added, **"But, that means that she is now bonded to you."**

Naruto's eyes widened, shocked, his heart beating like crazy at hearing that the woman was now forever bonded to him, he could understand why but it still bothered him. Not because he didn't wanted her to be with him, it was his ultimate dream, but she didn't had the opportunity to choose and worse, Naruto didn't thought he deserved her, not after failing her so much.

"I-I… see…" Was all the Namikaze could mutter.

Ddraig sighed, knowing what his host was feeling, but it was now up to him to figure it out. The god had vowed that he would lent his aid directly to him three times, only two remained now and Ddraig wanted Naruto to be sure when to cash them in. For now, he had to deal with this by himself.

 **"The Lucifuge woman needs her mate, boy…"** Ddraig spoke, capable of sensing Grayfia's nervousness and eagerness for his host, adding, **"You should go."**

Naruto nodded and looked towards the sea, inhaling deeply, preparing himself for seeing the woman that shaped him for the first time in so long. But knowing that Grayfia needed him, probably confused for now being completely free, he opened his eyes again and now found himself back in his body, Grayfia kneeling before him, her eyes tender and a little watery, dazed by it all.

But, Naruto's head slowly looked down, his mouth widening slightly as he finally saw Mikoto, the woman peacefully resting on his lap, her face that of comfort, as beautiful as the day he met her. He couldn't help but caress her cheek, whispering lovingly, "Miko… y-you're finally with me…" He smiled widely after a moment.

Grayfia smiled slightly as well, happy to see her mate now free of all anguish, finally a huge weight was released from his shoulders. She was further surprised when Naruto gestured for her to come close, the silver-haired female doing as told and widening her eyes when he used his free arm to hug her tightly, Grayfia closing her eyes as she listened to his soothing words, her tears falling once she realised that finally, after such a long time, she was free.

Naruto for his part, decided to stay with Grayfia and Mikoto right there on their spot for a couple of minutes, knowing that the moment he goes back to the village, he will have to face a surely angry Hokage along with whatever consequences his actions may bring. Though it hardly mattered to him, Mikoto was safe and Grayfia was free, that was all that mattered to him. Plus, he was confident that with the evidence they had against Danzō, they will be capable of branding the Shimura a traitor, probably even avoiding any punishment at all. But for now, all he focused on, were the two women in his arms, everything else, will come as it wills.

* * *

 **A/N: And there you lads go!, Mikoto is finally with Naruto. Now, before you complain, I know that some may feel conflicted with Mikoto's possible betrayal of Naruto, and that's the point, she's a mother and I find it hard to believe that she would put anybody else before her sons, no matter how much she loved Naruto, truths will be revealed later and it will be a stepping stone for both of them and their relationship, but, just like with Kushina, it will be a while before it gets resolved. As for Danzō's reasons for doing what he did, I know it's confusing, but it will get resolved eventually, all I can tell you is that the one he feared, is this story's main villain, I've already dropped a lot of hints so I'm sure some of you should already know who the villain is. Also, I know that some of you will be disappointing with the fight, but I had to be consistent, it would be ridiculous that Ddraig, the third strongest character in my story, struggles against a single mortal, regardless of how strong the guy was, an eight winged Naruto, could only be defeated by the likes of Pein and above. With that said, the next chappie will be the finale of this arc, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed, cheers!**

 **Song of the chapter: Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones**


	31. The Road Continues

**A/N: Yo waddup! We're back, this time for good though! Hope you liked the little April Fool's joke! But anyway, this is Bitter's last chapter, so before we begin, some things to say.**

 **The chapter doesn't really has much action, it is mainly Naruto spending some time with his mates and saying his goodbyes as he prepares to leave for his travel. I truly hope you like what I plan to do during the three years that follow.**

 **That's it for now, so let's head to it and enjoy!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-BITTER-**

 **The Road Continues**

"And that's about it." Naruto finished, sighing after talking for such a long time. On the outside, he was calm and collected, sure of himself and the situation. But on the inside, he was feeling a monumental lump in his throat that threatened to break his impassive look.

Naruto was currently inside the Namikaze manor, in Kushina's bedroom, the redheaded female sleeping peacefully in her bed. Though beside her, an equally beautiful woman laid with a calm and relaxed look on her pale face, her black hair looking as shinny and mesmerising as Naruto remembered it before her supposed dead.

Yūgao was beside Naruto, sweating, nervous as the four people before the two of them stared at the pair with disbelief, their mouths open, almost drooling. During the whole talking, the purplette had to be strong to endure seeing her beloved explaining the situation to Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hiruzen and Shizune. She admired Naruto for putting up such a strong front, not even a miniscule stutter was present in his voice, but she could still feel his nervousness through her mark, thus, she became nervous as well.

Yūgao looked at her mother for a moment before she heard Tsunade inhaling, winning her attention just in time to see the woman saying with disbelief, "Naruto, y-you're…" Tsunade looked at Mikoto Uchiha for a moment before she eyed her godson again, continuing, "You're telling me t-that Mikoto was b-being held by Danzō…" She gulped, adding, "That Sasuke was forced by Danzō to leave the village… that you came up with a r-rescue plan… that you personally killed three hundred and sixty-eight LEAF ninja!…" She gritted her teeth, stepping closer to the boy and adding while she held him by the collar, her eyes burning with fury as she finished, "Including Danzō Shimura! A veteran of our country! With many, many, many powerful friends! Is that what you're telling me!?"

Everyone in the room, but Naruto, shied away from the enraged Tsunade, knowing that she wasn't exactly upset about Naruto's actions, but by the consequences he may face for killing so many Leaf shinobi.

The Namikaze in question though, narrowed his eyes, his draconic side surfacing when Tsunade tried to intimidate him, surprising the woman when he grabbed her wrist and gripped it tight, forcing the blonde to release him and look at him when he replied without a stutter, "That's exactly what I said…" Naruto saw that the other three ninja were about to speak, so he inhaled and spoke with a commanding tone, "Before you lose yo shit, let me explain further, if what I have for you doesn't convince you, then I will accept any punishment you give me, without struggle."

Everybody widened their eyes that, surprised because with all the charges that will come up against him, Naruto will be sentenced with death, there was no other punishment that could fulfil the severity of his crime. That he was willing to do that for the sake of Mikoto, was absolutely remarkable, and immensely foolish.

"I didn't just went in there and slaughtered my way in, well, sorta…" Naruto said with a small dry chuckle, grabbing a scroll from his pouch and opening it on the floor, speaking again, "I knew that if I went in there without a good excuse for my actions, then I wouldn't be able to avoid death penalty…" He then poured some of his chakra on top of the scroll, a poof of smoke forcing everyone to cover their eyes for a moment until it dissipated, the eyes of the four elder shinobi widening when a wrapped up body appeared, "So, I thought of a way to incriminate him, with both Mikoto and Kushina."

Jiraiya shook his head, muttering, "Naruto, you are admitting to falsify evidence right now…"

Naruto cut him off though, nodding as he said, "I know, but surprise, surprise, I didn't even needed anything to falsify…" He narrowed his eyes at the dead man, unwrapping the cloth that covered him and after he was visible, the gasps of the elders resounded in the room, the temperature falling as he stated, observing the man's arm and right eye, "He did a pretty good job incriminating himself."

"T-Those…" Shizune muttered, unbelieving.

"Danzō…" Was all the Third Hokage could mutter as his tired old eyes narrowed at the ten pair of sharingan the elder had, all of them unusable now, but there was no doubt that Danzō had committed a disgusting crime to get them.

Naruto then looked at the stunned Tsunade, adding, "He was also capable of using Wood Release."

That made them gasp again, Tsunade gritting her teeth as she said, observing the dead man, "You m-mean…"

"The arm…" Naruto asserted, looking at the offending limb before he added, "He must have gotten some of the First's DNA."

The room remained silent for a couple of minutes, tense, no one knowing what decision will Tsunade take after learning all of this. This was sure to lessen his punishment, but they weren't sure to what extent.

"I also found this." Naruto spoke after the silence, giving Tsunade a folder which she opened.

The elder shinobi observed as the woman's eyes went wide for a moment before they narrowed, the woman closing them after and sighing deeply, with Hiruzen inquiring, "What is it, Tsunade?"

"My habits, detailed, where I like to go, what I like to do…" The woman answered before she looked back at the dead man, adding, "He could only use this information for two things, either to ensure that I was no threat…"

"Or to assassinate you." Jiraiya finished his teammate's sentence, gravely, disgusted at the old man. Danzō had always been quite shady, but he's never been a threat to the village, on the contrary, the man was willing to do anything for the Leaf's safety. But there were lines that should never be crossed and he crossed them all long ago.

"How did you defeated him, Naruto?…" Tsunade asked the boy after some moments, her eyes narrowed, suspicious, "How were you able to defeat an entire army of elite shinobi?"

Naruto knew that question will be coming and unfortunately, he couldn't really come up with a satisfying answer, he knew well that suspicions about his power were rising in the people that cared for him and it did made him frown whenever he had to lie, but he couldn't reveal a thing to them, not now at least.

 ** _"Just speak and I'll use my aura to make them more susceptible, it should be enough for now."_** Ddraig spoke inside Naruto's head, eliciting a relieved sigh from the silverette.

"I made a pact with the Twelve-Wings…" The revelation made them widened their eyes and Naruto could feel their wariness, the boy adding quickly as an invisible wave of essence showered them all, "Don't worry, I only promised to use more of his power from now on and that in time, I will free him again."

Not so surprising for Naruto, they seemed to buy his explanation, though it also helped that he had already expressed his desire to free the Tailed Beasts. It made them nervous, but Naruto argued that the creatures were living beings that deserved freedom.

Not wanting to have an even bigger headache, Tsunade sighed and massaged her temples, looking at her daughter and Mikoto for a moment before the Senju focused back on Naruto, crossing her arms below her bust, stating, "With all the information you've gathered and the irrefutable evidence against him…" She nodded at the sharingan, "There is no question that Danzō was a traitor and thus, he along with his organization were a threat to our village and country, you saved us from this great threat, Genin Naruto Namikaze, for that, you have my thanks."

Yūgao smiled slightly as a weight was lifted from her shoulders, knowing that no matter what, her boyfriend was in no life-threatening situation anymore.

Naruto however, knew that while his biggest crime has been pardoned, there was still one thing that Tsunade will surely punish him for, the woman speaking such after a pause, "But, you still went behind my back with this…" Tsunade's voice was stern but her worry and pain for talking to him in such manner was clear as she added, "The Feudal Lord will not be pleased with having a shinobi willing to do such large operations without caring for proper authorization or protocol…" She sighed, now more at ease with the solution she came up with, "So, you will be placed under the vigilance of Jiraiya, you are to be with him until further notice."

Naruto chuckled at that, eyeing his godfather who seemed confused but otherwise happy, stating after he refocused on the beautiful Hokage, "That means that I'm leaving with him then?"

Tsunade felt a pang in her heart with those words, she didn't wanted to send him away but there was no other solution, Naruto may have gathered evidence of Danzō's rogue activities, but that still didn't absolved him from disregarding his Hokage in the entirety. Had this been a small thing, like just rushing into a minor situation, then a couple of days of forced rest would do, but Naruto killed an Elder, someone decorated to the highest degree for his achievements in the past wars, someone that the Feudal Lord took into account in matters of importance. Showing him as the traitor he was, was sure to make the Feudal Lord drop any sort of charge against Naruto, but the Lord will still want him to be punished for being reckless and she agreed with that.

"Yes Naruto…" Tsunade replied with a heavy heart, knowing that Yūgao was feeling broken at the news, "It will only be for a couple of years, the time that Jiraiya wanted to train you for…" She softened, caressing his cheek lovingly as she added, "I k-know it's tough, but I'm d-doing this for your own good."

Naruto had to give it to Yūgao, her acting was top notch. Though, the purplette wasn't faking her sadness for him leaving, she and the rest of his mates in the Leaf knew that Naruto would have to leave eventually, he needed to spread his influence and Jiraiya's trip provided the best opportunity to do so. It still hurt to leave his mates though, but it was temporary, "I understand, Princess…" He replied with a small smile, placing a hand on top of hers, adding with a reassuring smile, "You've already done so much for me, I will do as you say, I trust you completely."

Tsunade could only smile sadly at that, keeping her emotions in check, saying with a whisper, "T-Thank you." She kissed his forehead then.

Naruto looked as Tsunade urged Shizune to help her check on both Kushina and Mikoto, the two females being currently under a forced coma, Mikoto due to all the time she was forcefully asleep and Kushina for the strain that having Kurama back in her belly brought her. Good thing he already explained Kurama's reappearance in Kushina, otherwise, another tense and tiring conversation would've ensued.

"Don't worry, brat…" Jiraiya said as he ruffled Naruto's silver locks, adding with a wide grin, "It'll only be for three years top! We'll travel around, you'll get stronger and before you know it, you'll be back to your beloved!" He giggled perversely as he pointed at the sleeping Mikoto.

Hiruzen gigged along with his student, deciding to keep his own dread to the back of his mind for now. The Third knew that Mikoto will have a lot of questions, including why did the Third ordered Itachi to kill them, but for now, he had to put a front for Naruto, knowing that the time for the truth to come out, was nearing.

Naruto snorted, looking at Yūgao for a moment, the purplette huffing with a smirk. The Namikaze then asked his godfather, "Yeah, yeah… can ya give some days to leave everything in order tho?" He didn't wanted to leave suddenly, he wanted to spend some alone time with each of his wives here in the Leaf before he had to go and the thought of being separated from them was already hurting him. But he had to endure, he needed to leave eventually and he knew that it was all for their sakes, sacrifices must be made and plus, he knew that in the end, he will have them all with him sooner or later.

Jiraiya eyed Tsunade who nodded at him, the white-haired man once again ruffling his godson's hair when he replied with a small grin, "Sure kiddo, we'll leave in one week, make sure to leave everything taken care of."

Naruto nodded and with that, gave a one last glance at Mikoto and Kushina, looking back at Yūgao and nodding before he left the room, he needed to check many things before his departure, "Dis gon be fun…" He couldn't keep an excited grin from showing however, the adventures ahead, causing him an eager feeling in his gut, wondering what laid next on his path to global unification.

* * *

Naruto stopped for a moment to take a deep breath, knowing that the conversation to come, was going to be quite an emotional one. The very morning, Tsunade Senju announced the death of Danzō Shimura to the village, she named him as the one that deliver the killing blow, but, she had added that the whole thing was a covert operation headed by the ANBU Commander and a group of elite ANBU, with Naruto acting as the bait.

There had, of course, been an uproar, the citizens of the Leaf demanding for an explanation. All retorts were silenced though, when the Hokage revealed that Danzō Shimura had betrayed the village in numerous occasions, kidnapping children from the poor districts and even noble clans to turn them into mindless weapons, being in the middle of an assassination plot against her and the nail that sealed his coffin, having Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto Uchiha locked in tanks, the women being placed under a forced comma waiting to be used as bargain chips or drones.

The sharingan he stole were not revealed to the public, just to avoid any funny ideas.

It was sort of funny for Naruto to see how quickly the villagers changed after that. Just a moment earlier, they were angrily demanding an explanation and after they had it, they started spitting on the Elder's name, cursing the man, wishing him hell for kidnapping the Uzumaki Princess and the last woman of the Uchiha clan.

Behind closed doors however, things weren't so smoothly, Naruto had to appear before the council as well as the Feudal Lord himself in order to explain the truth of the incident, well, not the whole truth, only a watered down version of it.

He was actually surprised that only Homura seemed aggravated by Danzō's death, since not even the Feudal Lord seemed regretful for the old man's loss. But Naruto knew that the Feudal Lord wanted Naruto to become the next Hokage, it was he that appointed Minato as the Fourth and surprisingly, the Fire Lord mourned the blond's death quite publically. It reached Naruto's ears that when he was revealed to be the man's son, the Fire Lord was elated, claiming his desire for him to become the next leader. So the Fire Lord was kind of biased with him.

Despite that though, he did asked for a punishment to his recklessness, just as Tsunade had predicted. And just as the woman said as well, he was pleased when Tsunade announced that Naruto will be under Jiraiya for a couple of years, travelling and insuring both his safety, and his loyalty to the village.

The meeting had ended less gloomy and with an invitation from the Fire Lord to his home, Naruto thanking him, knowing that he could use the man's interest on him to his advantage.

The Namikaze refocused on the now after his pondering, looking at the roof some roofs away from him, observing the lone figure that sat there, looking at the sky while her pink locks flocked with the breeze.

Naruto jumped and headed towards his teammate, taking a couple of seconds to reach her, saying with a small smile once he landed next to her, "Hey."

Sakura looked at her side, smiling a little when her green orbs landed on her teammate, incapable of masking her sadness, "Hey." Her voice was tiny, wavering, her fingers twiddling nervously as she observed her last teammate for what she knew would be the last time for quite a while.

Naruto sighed and brought an arm around her shoulder, pressing her close to him, the female sobbing quietly on his chest, Naruto caressing her back, lovingly kissing her head before he whispered reassuringly, "Come on now, Saku, it's only going to be for a couple of years."

There were so many things she wanted to point out, that he could die out there, that she could die down here, that so many things could happen without the other one knowing about it. It broke her heart to see another piece of Team Seven going away, leaving her behind, but she knew that it was necessary, Naruto wasn't really leaving out of his own free will, she knew what happened and could understand the punishment. It didn't made it any easier though, "I k-know…" She whispered, resting her body on his, her teary eyes looking at the setting sun, enjoying this moment with her best friend.

The two remained quiet for some moments, the breeze the only thing they could hear, that is until Naruto spoke, "I heard you asked the Princess for an apprenticeship?"

Sakura smiled, closing her eyes before she replied, "I did and she accepted me…" She leaned back, enough to look at his eyes and add, "I refuse to be left behind by you two." She knew that it was not the time to think about her lost love. Despite Naruto not saying it openly, she knew that regardless of his mother being back, Sasuke had left with another purpose and the Uchiha was not coming back until he fulfils that purpose. All the two of them could do, was continuing on their own road and who knows, perhaps, one day, the three of them will cross paths once again.

Naruto chuckled lowly, commenting with a grin, "Looking forward to seeing the results." He bumped her in the forehead with two fingers, just like Itachi used to do to him.

Sakura giggled, revelling on this moment as much as she could, saying after a pause, "How is your mother taking this?" She knew that everybody was starting to ask him that, but they asked about Kushina, he replied courteously, but she and those that knew him well, knew that Hanare was the boy's mother and that it hurt him to see the woman wincing whenever somebody said the contrary. Hanare was also very protective of him, she couldn't fathom how she took the news of him leaving.

Naruto sighed with a wistful smile, snorting before he replied, "As well as you'd hope…" He looked to the direction of Hanare and Kakashi's home, adding with a small smile, "She hasn't stopped crying since I told her."

Sakura smiled, stating, "Just keep her posted on your travels, make sure to never forget about her…" She held his hand, "I am sure that what she fears the most, is to lose you without even knowing."

Naruto snorted but nodded, muttering, "I'm sure than when she and Pa have another brat, she'll focus on the next one."

Sakura chuckled and shook her head, knowing that while it may have some truth, Hanare will never love him less, "You know you're wrong."

Naruto and Sakura just chuckled together, their words now all about their exploits, missions and all the things they have shared together on the last couple of years, it was as sad as they'd expected it to be, but surprisingly, it was still quite comforting, knowing that they will meet each other again soon.

"Well…" Sakura started saying, tugging a pink lock behind her ear before she spoke again, "I'm sure there are more people you want to say goodbye to, you only have five days left, so better get to it." She smiled with watery eyes.

Naruto smiled back at her, standing, lending her a hand to do the same, replying with a small grin, "Ya right… need to say goodbye to a couple of fools…"

The two stared at each other for a couple of moments, smiling, with Sakura stating full of emotion, "You better come back safe, dummy."

Naruto chuckled and brought her to him, encircling her with his arms, the female hugging him as tightly as she could while Naruto said, "Believe it, fool."

With that said, Naruto grabbed her face by the cheeks and planted a kiss on her large forehead, the two bidding each other goodbye before he leapt off towards another roof, knowing that Sakura will see him off when his departure arrives.

"Ready?" He asked Hinata once he reached her position, the lavender-eyed female waiting for him on a roof some metres away from Sakura's home, patiently waiting for her love.

Hinata nodded with a small sad smile, happy to have him all to herself for some hours, despite the fact that he would be leaving soon. For now though, she and Naruto focused on demonstrating their love towards each other, nothing else mattered for the rest of the day.

* * *

Zetsu walked through the darkened corridors of the castle, taking its time to reach the mastermind behind the world's current events. The strange human-like creature would laugh at itself for feeling a creeping sensation whenever it had to visit the old man, but knowing who the man really was, one would forgive it for such reaction.

"Really, Zetsu?…" The annoyed childish voice of the man in question won the creature's attention, making it realise that it was already before the man's throne, the elder adding with a pout, "Do you have a personal vendetta against my daily naps or do you just take sick pleasure in depriving this old sack of bones of his rest?"

Zetsu gulped, not entirely sure if the man was joking or not, "My apologies, **my l-lord."** It cursed itself for stuttering.

The man only sighed and waved off the apology, saying with an eager tone, "Forget about it, instead, why don't you tell me all about that magnificent spike of power I felt yesterday, hmm?" The man was giddy as a child waiting for his father to come home. He had felt the distinctive power of the Absolute God of End, so he knew that either Naruto learned to harness the power more, or the god aided his grandson with something.

Zetsu nodded and reported, "Yes, milord…" The black side continued, **"It was felt throughout the whole world for what I gathered, it certainly startled the Akatsuki."**

"They are mere mortals…" The man said with a shrug, adding with a mocking smirk, "What did you expect from such lowly individuals?"

The Zetsu just nodded, saying after a pause, "Yes, you are correct, sir…" The black half then added, **"I confirm your assumptions, milord, the culprit of the spike, was Naruto Uzumaki."**

The man just laughed delightedly, his aura leaking slightly, making his two guards and the Zetsu shiver at the sheer feel of it. The man then controlled himself, stating with a slightly gleeful tone, "How wonderful… such raw power at his disposition… what a beautiful occurrence…" He then focused on the plant, asking, "But, what caused him to reveal such strength? Was he attacked?"

The Zetsu shook its head, the black side explaining, **"It appears that he had staged an attack on Danzō Shimura, the details are foggy and I am afraid that something stopped me for entering the zone, but just this morning, the Fifth Hokage announced Danzō's death at the hand of the jinchūriki."**

The man shrugged, stating uncaringly, "No idea who that 'Pancho' lad is…" He rested his cheek on his fist, asking, "Was he strong?"

Zetsu did not even dared to correct the god before him, so it just nodded, the white part replying, "He was, one of the strongest in the world back in his prime."

The sitting man chuckled, asking after a moment, "Then I take it that little Obito has him shadowed by someone?"

The Zetsu nodded, replying, "Yes, he put **Konan to the task."**

The man hummed, strangely pleased by the news. The female guard noticed this along with the other two, so she inquired, "What are you thinking, sire?"

The man just waved his hand, saying nonchalantly, "Toddlers…" His words confused them greatly but he gave them no time to probe further, adding, "Is that all you have for me?"

The Zetsu nodded, muttering, "It is, **milord."**

"Very well then, you are dismissed." The powerful old man ordered and the Zetsu bowed before it retreated, disappearing in the darkness of the castle some moments later.

"What is it, milord?" The male guard asked his leash as he observed the man standing from the throne and fixing his long coat, the face of the man locked in the distance, as if trying to see something or someone far into the east.

The man remained silent for a couple of moments, a wide maniacal grin slowly appearing on his face, his aura reacting to his excitement, forcing the two guards to gulp nervously as he replied with utmost giddiness, "Oh nothing, just thinking that it is time." He started walking down the stairs then.

The two guards were left confused, so the female inquired, "Time for what?"

The man stopped down the middle of the stairs, looking at the two over his shoulder as he replied with a villainous smirk, "To meet my beloved grandson, of course."

* * *

Naruto nodded at a couple of giggling girls when they passed by him, blushing and shyly waving at him, squealing when he waved back, "One of the things I definitely won't miss." He muttered to himself before he focused back on the building before him, a wide smile appearing on his face.

The Namikaze didn't wasted any more time and walked inside the Leaf's newest shop, 'The Dragon's Athenaeum, a bookstore that this morning opened in the village, owned by the Leaf's newest citizen.

"My queen." Naruto said courteously with a chivalrous bow once he reached the beautiful woman known as Grayfia Lucifuge.

Grayfia blushed while a couple of books fell from her hands, surprised by the sudden appearance of her mate. She turned around immediately, weakly muttering, "H-Hi." She squirmed nervously on his presence, despite being such a dangerous kunoichi, she couldn't help herself whenever her mate was around, her body turned into a mess on its own.

Naruto smirked, finding the otherwise incredibly sexy woman, immensely cute as she tried to make herself tiny, "How are ya?" Naruto muttered as he approached her, the door of the store already locked, allowing them privacy.

Grayfia smiled when he stood before her, his hands finding her hips, pushing her close to him before she replied, "I am f-fine, thanks to you… I…" She blushed, her smile widening when she confessed, "I am v-very happy wi-with being with you and r-running your store."

She was surprised however, when Naruto grabbed her face by the cheeks and gently pulled them apart, enough so that he could look at her greys to mutter, "Gray, this is YOUR store, not mine."

Grayfia though, stuttered a retort, "B-But…"

Naruto stopped her however, saying over her, "But nothing, you told me that you love books and that you wish to be around knowledge…" He used his hand to point at all the books he bought for her, knowing that she felt as he owned the store because he paid for it, but it wasn't like that, "This is YOUR dream, I am your mate and as such, my responsibility is to ensure you're capable of fulfilling your dreams."

Grayfia didn't wanted to argue about it anymore and decided to claim his lips, using her feelings for him to show him how thankful and happy she was of having him as her provider. She honestly didn't wanted to fight anymore, the terrible things she did during her time under the Shimura, were events that will haunt her enough for a lifetime. Naruto surprised her when he encouraged her to do whatever she truly desired, he didn't wanted soldiers, he wanted people to love and to love him back, to be there with him during this difficult path.

Surprisingly, it was Tsubaki the one that inquired on her likes and when the brunette found out that she was fond of books and knowledge, the councillor immediately suggested a bookstore, which they could also use as a place to gather knowledge about the world, its prominent figures, myths and the like, because as the God of End himself put it, knowledge was the most powerful tool.

Thus, she was blessed with a lovely store filled with books from all over the continent, some shelves still empty, ready to accept new knowledge that her lover will gather on his journeys. It was a fantastic start to her new life.

"T-Thank you." She muttered with a cute coy smile after the kiss, Naruto kissing her on the forehead after.

"No problem…" The Namikaze said before he stepped away from her and grabbed her hand, saying with a small smile, "Ya ready?"

Grayfia smiled and nodded, allowing her mate to take her to the back of the store. He pulled her close to him then and blinded her for a moment after a red flash covered them, teleporting them to a new location.

Grayfia could finally see clearly again after a couple of seconds, once able, observing that they appeared inside a large cove, the female asking with a tilted head, "Where are we?"

Naruto smirked, replying, "Tenshi Village…" He grabbed her hand and started leading her out of the cove, the Lucifuge glowing as she observed the beautiful clearing that led to the small village ahead, "There is something I want to show you here."

Grayfia only smiled and nodded, allowing her mate to take her to wherever he pleased, it didn't really mattered to her, she only wanted to be with him, knowing that he was leaving in four days from now.

It took the pair almost twenty minutes to reach their destination, walking through the village until Grayfia could see a big multi-coloured tent at the distance. Once they approached the tent, Grayfia's eyes widened when she recognised the place, having heard about them from some of her targets in the past.

"I-Is that a… circus?" She asked, hopeful, her eyes shining at the prospect of having a chance to meet such event for the first time.

It both saddened and made him happy to see this sort of reaction from Grayfia, similar to Akeno's reaction with her first festival. Saddened him, because it reminded him of their harsh childhood and how they weren't able to enjoy these things, he could only imagine how he might've turned out, had Kakashi not taking him in as a son and showing all this joys to him. But, the happiness he felt at knowing that he was able to provide them with this new experiences, teaching them everything about it, won out always, so he just grinned and replied, "Yup! And we have front-row tickets!" He showed her two small papers to her.

Grayfia beamed and ended up leading Naruto into the circus, the boy chuckling and giving their tickets to the guard, allowing them entrance.

"Whoa…" Grayfia whispered with a small childish smile, tightening her grip on Naruto's hand while she observed her surroundings giddily, amazed to see a circus for the first time.

Naruto led her to their seats and soon later, the show began. For the rest of the evening, Naruto couldn't keep his eyes away from Grayfia, loving how happy she seemed, awing at every animal and performer that appeared, even clapping sometimes with an outburst, blushing immediately after in embarrassment, making her more beautiful in the jinchūriki's eyes.

Sadly, the show ended and both had to leave the circus, with Grayfia resting her head on his shoulder while Naruto held her by the waist as they walked through the village, enjoying the breeze of the setting day.

Naruto ended up taking her to the clearing that they passed earlier on, the boy picking a small hill that allowed them a view of the village, the setting sun at the distance giving it a pretty golden tint, setting a romantic mood for the two.

Grayfia sighed, closing her eyes and seemingly steeling herself for something, opening them after and grabbing Naruto's hands, the boy looking at her confused when she commented, "I… I c-cannot express how h-happy you make me f-feel…" She averted her gaze from him, too shy to look directly into those blues but she continued, "You… a-and the rest… h-have been so s-supportive, s-so welcoming…" She couldn't stop her tears from falling, talking from her heart for the very first time, "I w-was afraid at first… t-that I –wouldn't be g-good enough for you…" She knew that Naruto was about to comment on that, so she pressed, "B-But I now know t-that… I a-am… and that you w-will always be t-true to me, like I w-will be true to you… forever…" She closed their distance, gently placing herself on his lap, encircling his neck with her arms, their mouths millimetres from each other when she confessed, gathering the strength to keep her eyes on him for this, "I k-know it may be s-soon… but I-I… I f-feel it… in me… that I… I l-love you, Naruto."

Naruto could only smile and wipe her happy tears away, giving her a chaste kiss and holding her close when he replied, "And I love you, Grayfia, forever."

 **LEMON**

Grayfia smiled and crashed her lips on his, almost trying to melt his body in hers, their tongues quickly finding each other, sloppily kissing while she grinded her core on his slowly hardening member.

They separated for air, Grayfia looking at him with half-lidded eyes, whispering longingly, "P-Please, my king… m-make love to me…"

Naruto smiled and assaulted her mouth again, gently pushing her down on the grass, his hands roaming through her voluptuous body, one hand setting on her breast while the other found its place on her ass-cheek, squeezing them both.

"Ñuu…" Grayfia moaned, half delighted, half afraid as sensations she's never felt before assaulted her body, a warmth in her navel making it hard for her to think straight, only capable of focusing on the longing and need she fell for Naruto at the moment.

Naruto used his hand to uncovered Grayfia's large breasts, smirking for a moment before he brought them to his mouth, his teeth delicately biting on them, Grayfia almost screaming when she suddenly released her orgasm.

She covered her face, embarrassed, knowing that she had reached her climax so suddenly, Naruto's words only adding to her embarrassment, "My, my, how cute…" His predatory smirk only served to turn her on even more.

"P-Please…" Grayfia whined, lowering her pants, crawling away from him before she placed her cheek on the grass, lifting her ass up and wiggling it to entice him, "T-Take me…" She muttered weakly, her lust already in control of her every move.

That was it for the draconic ninja, the way that Grayfia's sex was being presented to him along with her sudden shyness was making his lust reach new heights. He took off his pants, Grayfia gulping when she saw the boy's member now free and standing proudly, pointing at her most sacred place.

"Ok…" Naruto muttered when he reached her, grabbing her hips, rubbing his tip on her outer lips, stopping himself to inject some of his essence in her to ease the loss of her virginity, no matter how feral he could get, his mates' wellbeing, was always at the forefront of his mind, "Just relax and trust me, aight?" He whispered, soothingly caressing her hips.

Grayfia only nodded, preparing herself for the intrusion.

Naruto then introduced half of his member in her with a slow motion, Grayfia moaning before she muffled a scream when he thrust the rest in her, knowing that doing it fast was less painful in the long run, she might've lost her hymen due to her career as a ninja, but that did reduced the pain of her first intrusion.

Naruto allowed her a moment to feel the pleasure, Grayfia breathing harshly before she started to subconsciously move her hips, grinded them against his mid-section, whispering lustfully, "N-Naruto…"

The Namikaze understood and started pushing himself out of her until the tip remained, thrusting back in a single move, Grayfia throwing her head back as she started feeling the pleasure of sex.

It started slow, with Naruto minding her virgin body, but when Grayfia started pushing her ass back to meet his thrusts, Naruto lost almost all inhibitions and increased the pace until the clearing was filled with Grayfia's moans and the sound of skin clashing against skin.

"Mooou…" Grayfia mewled, pressing her back on his chest while she bounced her ass on his penis, the feeling of being connected to the man she swore herself to, completely overriding everything else in her mind.

Naruto then laid on his back, bringing the woman with him, a hand on her waist, keeping her in place while he continued his onslaught right below her, her abused vagina glistening along with the shine of the sun.

"N-N-Nooo…" She whined when Naruto brought his free hand to her most sensitive area, rubbing her clitoris along with his thrusts, leaving the woman capable to only moan and mutter incoherent words.

The pair went at it for almost an hour, Naruto knowing that they had to be quick since they were in a public space and Tsunade still thought him to be in the village. So wanting to see his woman's face when they finish, he turned her around, placing her on the grass, parting her legs and once again penetrating her to the deep end.

"Come on, Gray…" The male muttered with pants, his hips drilling in her with crazy speeds when he added, "L-Look me in the e-eyes…"

Grayfia couldn't respond to that so only did as told, she opened her eyes and Naruto claimed her mouth, muffling her moans before he thrust with such power that it lifted her from the ground, a surge of warmth filling her navel, her mouth open and tears falling as she revelled in the feeling of finally being an official mate of his, her body, her soul, her life now belonged to him fully, just like his all, belonged to her.

 **END LEMON**

Naruto rested his head in between her breasts, the woman tightly holding him close to her, not wanting to let him go for the moment. So he just snorted and gave her some moments to recover, enjoying the skin contact, happy to know that he could now officially claim this woman as his.

* * *

"Come oooon!…" Kushina whined while she pushed herself on her best friend's body, a cute pout on her face while she added, "Just a tiny little bit, pleeeease?" She hoped her cuteness was enough to destroy the Nine Tail's resilience.

Sadly for the Uzumaki Princess, Kurama was having none of that, stating with her arms crossed, a teasing smirk on her face, "Nope! Told you already, Kushina! I am not telling you anything about Naruto! Not now at least." While the mythical creature was happy to be with her first friend once again, she wasn't about to spill anything that Naruto didn't wanted Kushina to know just now. Frankly, Kurama could understand well why, Great Red knows how would Kushina react if she hears everything the boy was doing. Regardless of the fact that Naruto had already told Kushina that her son died when he was five years old and that the Naruto she was seeing, was a being that was born from her son, she still saw him as such. Kurama knew that it will be a while for that to change.

They have been spending the last three days inside Kushina's mindscape, catching up, Kurama telling the Uzumaki some of the adventures that Naruto has had during the years. They were just buying time until it seemed enough to wake Kushina up, Tsunade and her most trusted people may know the truth of Naruto's plan, but the village didn't, so they had to keep appearances.

But much to Kurama's annoyance, Kushina has been trying to get her to spill some of Naruto's secrets, unsuccessfully of course, "Mou… sometimes, you're still the monumental bitch I met way back…" Kushina commented with a mock pout and her arms crossed, suppressing her smirk.

Kurama twitched her eyebrow, gritting her teeth when she replied with equal venom, "And sometimes you're still the annoying fuming tomato I met way back!"

"You. Bitch!" Kushina muttered with her face going as red as her hair, lunging herself at the chakra fox, the two entering into a childish brawl.

The pair played around for a little bit, ending the brawl giggling, happy to have this moments with each other again.

But, Kurama could tell that it was a good moment to wake her up, so she said, "It's time, Kushi."

Kushina looked at her friend and nodded, sighing deeply before she closed her eyes, a small tugging sensation assaulting her for a moment before she groaned, the aches of her stiff body now reaching her, "O-Ouch…" She muttered, groggily opening her eyes, blinking a couple of times to clear her view.

"Finally!" A feminine voice attracted the Uzumaki's attention to her right, where a black-haired female was going over some papers.

"S-Shizune?…" Kushina mumbled, her throat a little dry, now able to see that she was in the hospital, the Senju's apprentice seemingly checking over her results, "W-What…"

"Relax, darling…" The voice of her mother figure made Kushina turn to her left, where Tsunade was sitting on a chair, a relieved smile on her face, happy to see the girl she saw as a child waking up, "Take it easy." The busty blonde added while she stood up, walking towards Kushina's bed and clearing some strands of hair from Kushina's face, kissing her forehead lovingly after.

Kushina enjoyed the pampering, smiling slightly before she remembered why she was in the hospital in the first place, inquiring a little hastily, "M-Mom… N-Naruto…"

Tsunade shushed her, gently pushing her back on the bed, replying softly, "He's fine…" Kushina thanked the gods for that, "If you're wondering whether his mission was a success or not…" Tsunade added, pausing to gesture in front of Kushina, speaking with a small smile, "Well, look for yourself."

Kushina tilted her head, confused for a moment until she did as told and looked at her front. Her eyes widened, her mouth gaped as she observed the bed in front of hers, where a beautiful black-haired female rested peacefully, a soft smile on her pale face, seemingly pleased, "M-Miko…" Kushina whispered while tears fell from her eyes, a wide grin appearing on her face, wanting to jump to her sister's side and hug her till death, but she managed to control herself.

"She's fine…" Tsunade answered the silent question, adding when she focused on the Uchiha woman, "She's only unconscious until her mind recovers from being placed under a forced sleep for so long…" She looked back at the redhead, patting her head, finishing with a reassuring smile, "She'll wake up soon."

Kushina couldn't be happier to hear that, to know that she will have the woman that welcomed her to this village before anyone else back in her life, made her immensely happy. But after the adrenaline of the shock wore off, she looked at her mother and asked with a worried tone, "T-Then that means th-that N-Naruto…" She couldn't finish her question.

Tsunade though, knew what she wanted to ask, so nodded, sighing before she spoke, "Yes, Danzō is dead."

There was a tense silence after that, Tsunade massaging her neck, Shizune lost in her notes while Kushina stared at her blanket, not knowing what to say, "H-Has…" The Uzumaki began, stopping for a moment to gather courage, "Has h-he come to v-visit?" She had a feeling he hadn't.

Sadly for her, Tsunade sighed and nodded apologetically, saying, "He hasn't…" Knowing that Kushina was hurt, Tsunade decided to tell her his reason, "But it's not because of you, Kushina."

"What?" She whispered, not able to understand what the Hokage meant. She knew that Naruto wanted to see Mikoto, she couldn't understand why Naruto wouldn't want to see the woman he loved after going to such lengths to rescue her.

Tsunade sighed again, stretching her sore muscles before she replied while looking at the sleeping matriarch, "I don't really know myself, but I asked him yesterday about it…" She looked back at Kushina, adding, "His only response was that he couldn't face her."

Kushina felt even more confused after that, tilting her head, looking at her mother with confused eyes, muttering, "Why? Didn't he did all of this for her sake?" She couldn't hide the hint of jealousy in her tone.

Tsunade pinched Kushina's cheek, admonishing, "He did it for both of your sakes, Kushina, he has given you the freedom to be yourself in public once again…" Kushina looked down at that, nodding while her fist balled the sheet, "But to answer your question, I just don't know, I can't understand him either."

There was a silence after that, but Shizune suddenly muttered, "U-Umm… I think I m-may know why…" Seeing the inquisitive looks of the two females in the room besides her, Shizune inhaled and spoke her mind, "I think he f-feels guilty."

Both Kushina and Tsunade tilted their heads, looking at each other for a moment before they looked back at Shizune, with Kushina asking, "G-Guilty? For what?"

Shizune looked at the matriarch, replying with a sad tone, "Because he's here, while Sasuke and Itachi…"

"Are not." Tsunade added to her apprentice's words, now understanding the situation.

Kushina could only sigh sadly after realisation hit her, able to see where her son was coming from. Mikoto was going to be devastated when she wakes up to find that her clan was gone and that her two children had defected, the reasons of their defection surely adding to the potential depression.

All that Kushina could really do for the woman she saw as a sister, was to be there for her at all times, to love her and ensure that she knew that she was loved and needed. Sadly, there was nothing she could do for Naruto, this is something that only he could overcome and as painful as it was to admit, all she could do, was cheer from the side-lines.

* * *

"Whoa…" Naruto muttered as he observed the ball leaving the field, looking back at the woman that hit it with a small smile, stating proudly, "Aren't ya getting good at this, huh Baki?"

Tsubaki giggled, swinging the bat around nervously, loving the butterflies she felt whenever her lover complimented her in any way, "Well…" She started saying, positioning herself again when she added, "I have a great teacher." She moved the bat around, her eyes narrowed at Naruto's hand.

The Namikaze chuckled, bringing his hand back, stating, "But of course, only the best for my girl!" He then threw another baseball at her.

Tsubaki inhaled and focused on the ball, waiting for the right moment to swing the bat at it. She connected like a professional, the sound of the ball hitting the wood reverberating through the field before the ball disappeared in the sky, leaving the field as well.

Naruto cursed under his breath, whining a little before he whispered in defeat, "Aight, aight, you won."

Tsubaki squealed, throwing the bat away before she made a run towards her mate, jumping on him, the boy catching her with a chuckle, holding her still, close to him as the female said happily, "Then you know what that means?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively at that.

Naruto snorted, kissing her chastely before he replied, "Yeah, I know what ya mean."

He then put her down, grabbing her hand and started leading her away from the field, enjoying the cool breeze of the Leaf's morning, "I'm gonna miss this." Naruto muttered with a small sad smile, speaking both about the Leaf and his women.

Tsubaki looked at her mate with saddened eyes and an equally wistful smile on her face, seizing that there was no one around to see them, so she closed their distance and placed her head on the boy's shoulder, amazed that despite being supposedly fifteen years old, he was already much taller than all of his women, "It's going to be tough…" She whispered, Naruto stopping to look at her when she continued, "But…" She grabbed his cheeks, gently pulling him towards her and delivered a loving kiss, saying after they broke it, "It'll be temporarily." She caressed his face lovingly, mustering a reassuring smile for him.

Naruto smiled back, kissing her forehead and hugging her tightly, whispering, "I know…" He then broke the hug and started walking again, wishing he could held her close but since they were about to enter to the village, people will see them and unfortunately, that was something they still couldn't afford, "Let's enjoy this moment then."

Tsubaki nodded and smiled an honest smile this time, feeling the love he had for her through her mark, her eyes wandering to her home and wishing that soon, her lover will be capable of having their family together for good.

* * *

"So Jiraiya…" Tsunade said to her teammate after he walked into her office, through her window, much to her irritation. But not wanting to argue with him now, she offered him a small smile before she continued, "I take it you have the schedule now?" She had requested Jiraiya to write her his schedule regarding Naruto's training and their travels, she wanted to know everything about it, at least to know where he was at all times.

She might have come up with this punishment but that didn't meant she was happy with the whole ordeal.

But there was nothing she could do since just as she thought, after the truth of Danzō's actions were revealed, the Fire Lord and his advisors had even pledged Naruto a hero, stating that his actions just proved how worthy of being the future Hokage he was. The Senju was quite surprised that Naruto actually winced at that, she had the impression that the boy wanted the title. But regardless, the Fire Lord did requested that Naruto received punishment for his recklessness and disregard of the authority, explaining that as much as his actions were beneficial, the fact that they were done without authorization, could've cost lives of innocent bystanders, or a huge misunderstanding that could spiral out of control. They couldn't afford that behaviour to go unpunished, otherwise people may get the wrong ideas.

Tsunade had then explained her plan, admitting that it was both to keep Naruto in check and to train him for the trials ahead, more specifically, the Akatsuki. That they were currently in sleeping mode, didn't meant that they were not a future threat, they had to seize this moment to prepare because as far as they knew, the terrorist group already had at the least three Tailed Beasts in their possession. Since nobody, not even Jiraiya's spies, knew exactly what the group's aim was, tensions were still quite high.

Returning to the now, she focused on the Toad Hermit as he replied, "Yup…" He brought a sheet from one of his pouches, placing it on top of Tsunade's desk, saying after, "There's the detailed version, you want a summary?"

Tsunade nodded, eyeing the sheet, muttering, "Yes, please."

Jiraiya leaned on the wall, crossing his arms before he spoke, "Well, it's very straightforward really…" He shrugged, adding, "The first year, I plan to focus on investigating the situation in Water."

Tsunade nodded, her honey-coloured eyes focusing on her teammate as she asked, "So you are accepting the mission then?"

Jiraiya nodded, stating, "Yeah, it's important that we investigate what is truly going on there…" Tsunade agreed to that, the Land of Water has been a complete mystery for too long, and nobody liked mysteries, "This sudden request you received should slides us in…" The white-haired man walked towards his teammate, inquiring as he observed the village through the window, "Do you know anything about the woman?"

Unfortunately, Tsunade shook her head, the Hokage remembering the letter she received some days ago before she answered, "Not much, she wasn't very forthcoming with information, though I understand why…" Jiraiya nodded at that, understanding the dangers of revealing too much, "All she revealed was her gender and her allegiance with the Rebels."

Jiraiya nodded, massaging his chin before he developed a goofy grin, saying, "You think she's hot?"

"Jiraiya." Tsunade muttered with a dangerous tone, her eyes narrowing at her teammate.

Jiraiya paled, immediately wavering his hands, trying to placate the furious Hokage, stating, "H-Hey, calm down, alright? It was a j-joke!…" He then chuckled, adding with an honest irritation in his voice, "Besides, with Naruto there beside me, I stand no chance with any woman." Honestly, he admired and loved his godson's luck with women, it was definitely a gold mine for his books, but damn does it gets frustrating sometimes since when the Namikaze is there, every other men becomes mere second choice.

Tsunade snorted, nodding her agreement, adding after a sigh, "Just focus, okay? This is not a situation where you can fool around, both of you." Her voice was soft but her authority was absolute, making sure to have Jiraiya understand the seriousness of the situation.

Jiraiya just sighed and nodded, replying softly, "I know…" His eyes were completely serious now, his goofy demeanour gone when he asked, "Was her request urgent?"

Tsunade shook her head, explaining, "No, she specified that at the moment, interference will only rile the Mizukage and the Rebels are not prepared to engage him just yet…" She stood up and looked at the village as well, continuing, "She requested eight to twelve months to prepare before we send the cavalry."

"I see, that's good actually…" Jiraiya muttered with a small nod, adding after a pause, "It should give me time to prepare Naruto for more hostile situations."

Tsunade nodded, adding to that, "And it should also give you the chance to investigate a strange occurrence in the Land of Whirlpools."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at that, looking at the woman when he inquired, "You mean, in the ruins of Eddy Village?"

Tsunade shook her head, explaining, "No, you may visit it if Naruto wishes to, but the occurrence happened in one of the neighbouring isles…" She went back to her seat, opening a drawer and searching through her folders until she found one in particular, opening it and stating after eyeing the document, "Some seamen reported strange sounds and energies coming off from an isle near Whirlpool…" She looked back at the man, adding gravely, "This also relates to the incident reported by Sand."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, asking, "You mean the villages that were wiped out by a strange ship?"

Tsunade nodded, adding, "The same…" She grabbed another sheet and eyed it, continuing after, "According to what the children of the late Kazekage reported, the strange warriors they fought, retreated towards the sea, apparently in Whirlpool's direction."

Jiraiya nodded slightly, massaging his chin as he spoke, "Then this should be our first task."

"Yes…" Tsunade asserted firmly, "Whoever this people are, they seem to have a powerful weapon, we can't afford something of that calibre to go unchecked."

"Agreed." Jiraiya replied.

Tsunade sighed deeply and put away the documents, massaging her temples before she grabbed their schedule again and inquired, "After Water, what do you plan to do?"

Jiraiya replied, "Well, I want to focus on exchanging information with the other villages regarding the Akatsuki, see if we can get their cooperation…" Tsunade nodded, silent as the man continued, "I want to finish the second year with formalising our alliance with Lightning, I've heard they have the perfect jinchūriki there, so I was hoping to convince them to have Naruto's idol training him."

Tsunade shuddered at the reminder of the rapping jinchūriki, dreading the idea of having him corrupt her godson more than what he already has. But putting that to the side for now, she nodded and asked once again, "And for the third year?"

"Sand…" Knowing that Tsunade was confused, Jiraiya explained, "I want to take Naruto there to get him a Wind teacher, he's already mastered Fire, so since Wind it's his second affinity, Sand should be the best place to find him someone…" He shrugged, adding, "I also want to see if we can find anything related to his Mineral Release and these strange stages it apparently has, there's no place better than there."

Tsunade nodded and declared, "Very well then, when do you leave?"

"In three days…" Jiraiya stated as he walked towards the window, half outside when he added, "You should spend some time with him before that, I know you're gonna miss him." He smiled teasingly before he left, his direction suspiciously the same that the hot-springs.

Tsunade just snorted while shaking her head but inwardly, she agreed. Naruto was going to be away for a while and at least before he left, she wanted to have some time with him, just to remind him that he was incredibly important to her.

* * *

Ayame sighed contently as she traced circles on Naruto's naked chest with her finger, her eyes closed, her naked body feeling every part of Naruto's equally naked-self, his limb member still inside her core, the woman completely unashamed of the debauchery the two committed just moments ago.

Naruto chuckled, hugging his first lover tightly, whispering, "It tickles."

Ayame giggled, burying herself deeper on his chest, fighting the sadness of separating from her man. But regardless of her control, she still muttered a little helplessly, "I-I'm gonna miss you."

Naruto sighed while he closed his eyes for a moment, knowing that there was just no way he could get rid of that sadness at the moment, not until he had planted the seed of unity in the world, only then will they be finally free to be together for eternity. But for now, he kissed her head, muttering lovingly, "I'm going to miss ya too, my love."

Ayame smiled slightly at that, the two lovers falling into a lovely silence before Ayame started giggling.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, looking at his brunette wife with quizzical eyes, inquiring, "What's so funny all of a sudden?"

Ayame shook her head, looking around at the recently finished restaurant 'The Black Dragon'. She was amazed by what the decoration and construction teams were able to create, the place was three storeys high, each floor more luxurious than the last, with the highest floor being furnished with what could only be described as the diner of a king. Naruto had refused to reveal how much he spent on the place, much to Ayame's annoyance because she knew that he had to spend an incredibly large sum for such place.

But ignoring that for now, she focused on the current time, looking at where they were curled together, a VIP zone with a love-seat that was not intended to be used in such perverted manner, "I was just thinking…" She started speaking, her eyes locking to his blues when she added, "That I will never be able to look straight at the eyes of the patrons that occupy this very room."

Naruto chuckled along with her, agreeing, "I know…" He smirked sexily then, grabbing her waist and moving her hips in a sensual manner, the woman moaning immediately as she felt the pleasure of grinding with his member still buried in her, "You'll only be able to remember this whenever you look at those couples." He whispered huskily right next to her ear.

"Aou… N-Naruto…" Ayame mewled, feeling his growing erection inside, for a moment forgetting about it all before she looked at him and whispered desperately, "H-Honey… I w-want to… b-but dad's g-going t… _mew…_ t-to kill me if I d-don't get home sooooooon…" She barely managed to say that, cursing herself for agreeing having dinner with her father today of all days. But, he was her dad and she knew that he was sad to be alone in the home now that she's moved to the Hidden Oak, she couldn't say no to him.

Naruto sighed disappointed, stopping his ministrations, acceding, "Alright."

Ayame rested her back on his chest for a moment, not letting him pull out of her still, she wanted to feel this connection for a little longer before they separated, knowing that after he leaves, they won't be able to do this as often as now.

They finally separated and started clothing themselves again, stretching their muscles, enjoying the relief that comes after a passionate session of sex, "I'll s-see you before you leave, kay?" Ayame whispered timidly once they reached the back door, managing to hide her sadness from her beloved.

Naruto though, could feel it, but decided to keep it to himself, knowing that his beloved waitress was doing it for his sake. So, he just claimed her lips in a passionate kiss, caressing her cheeks lovingly before he whispered, "Aight, say hi to the Old Man for me."

Ayame giggled, kissing him quickly again before she stepped out of the restaurant, saying teasingly, "He'll hunt you down if I say that!"

Naruto just chuckled, nodding at the truth in her words.

 ** _"Hatchling."_** Ddraig's voice suddenly brought his attention, noticing the God's urgency.

 _"Waddup, D? Everything aight?"_ He left the building, locking the doors before he jumped at a roof, crouching as he waited for the dragon's response.

 ** _"The hooded fool has finally found us."_** Ddraig replied with a small hint of eagerness in his voice.

Naruto widened his eyes at that, gulping a little as he felt the desire of revenge coming from his partner. Not wanting to keep this matter at the wait for much longer, he immediately headed towards the Forest of Death, knowing that it was the only place that could give them total privacy.

* * *

A couple of minutes later, in one of the forest's most dangerous zones, now strangely free of souls, an eerie silence showering the place while a lone figure sat on the middle of the field, the figure being Naruto Namikaze, cross-legged, his eyes closed as he awaited for the being that has taken more than expected to find him.

Right behind the Namikaze, some metres away from him, the ground started spitting a foul liquid, black, as black as darkness itself, a circle being formed as the liquid started releasing a thick grey smoke.

Naruto didn't even flinched, not even when a strange humanoid form started to appear from the pool, the liquid covering it for a moment before it fell from the body, revealing a hooded creature, the face completely covered by darkness. The cloak the figure was wearing, had a lot of tatters all over the filthy dark-brown cloth, an evil-feeling black smoke covering its frame.

The creature's most prominent feature however, the thing that would make any mortal weep and pee themselves by its mere appearance, was the gigantic rusty scythe the creature held by its side, a bony hand holding it tightly.

It was the Grim Reaper himself, the God of Death feared throughout the world, Hades.

 **"You…"** The boney being spoke with a dangerous husky tone, the god's voice as eerie as the event he represented, **"It has taken me long but I've finally found you, defiler."** He added with no anger contained whatsoever, the god's aura spreading around the field.

 **"Indeed…"** Naruto's voice resounded throughout the field with even more strength, startling the God of Death as a strange shiver ran down his inexistent back, **"Once again, you disappoint me, child."**

Hades actually took a step, or floated, back, the god's hand suddenly shivering as the mythical bringer of death felt a fear he hadn't felt in quite a long time since he could recognise the voice, **"I-Impossible…"** He stumbled a little with his words, continuing in disbelief, **"I m-made sure th… AH!…"**

Hades couldn't finish his thought however, because Ddraig suddenly brought a hand towards the Reaper and as if an invisible pull was lobbied, the God of Death was violently pulled towards the now standing Naruto, the jinchūriki catching the living skeleton by his skull, the hood of the god falling back to show his skeletal face.

 **"You are strong, Hades…"** Ddraig asserted, bringing his face closer to the god's, the thick crimson smoke covering his whole frame when concluded, **"But you're not that strong, it took me days to recover my strength and to be able to control this boy."** He wasn't about to put Naruto in the gods' radar, the boy was still not ready for that, it was best if no god knew of him for a little longer.

Hades actually gulped, shocking since he had no throat, but he could swear he heard the gulp loudly. But mustering the courage to focus his invisible eyes on the Absolute God, he muttered, **"Y-You mu-must understand, m-m-milord… I w-was just…"**

Ddraig had no time for Hades' pitiful excuses though, so he tightened his grip on the god's skull, Hades yelping when a few cracks appeared in it, the Red Dragon Emperor muttering dangerously, " **I don't care about your sad excuses…"** Ddraig tightened his grip once again, Hades grinding his teeth as the dragon continued, **"Where is it?"**

 **"W-Where i… w-where is what?… m-milord…"** Hades may be a prideful god, he knows he is one of the most powerful gods in the universe, but the being before him, the Absolute God of End, was still eons away from his reach.

Hades screamed when Ddraig suddenly grabbed one of his arms and tore it off, throwing it away before he spoke again, **"Don't play with me, child, even in this mortal body, I am galaxies above you…"** Ddraig then poured his power on the god, Hades moaning in pain as the dragon asked one last time, **"I will ask one last time; Where. Is. Ascalon?"**

Hades gulped, he dreaded that very question. Hades had never considered that Ddraig would be capable of freeing himself from the seal, the seal that had been the work of many gods who like himself, had grown envious of the God that ruled over darkness, thus, that ruled over them. But it appears that as a fool, he had underestimated the power of an Absolute God.

 **"I-I… I d-don't…"** Hades feared what will surely happen after his next word, **"K-K-Know…"**

Ddraig narrowed his eyes at the skeleton, in a flash, tearing one of Hades' legs, the god of death screeching in pain as Ddraig inquired dangerously, **"You don't know?"**

Hades genuinely tried, with all of his might, to attack the god before him, but he just couldn't, Ddraig's raw power was just absurdly toxic, overwhelming. So knowing that he was at the mercy of his ruler, Hades explained hastily, **"I-I… I h-had it in my p-possession b-but… s-someone s-stole it…"**

Ddraig growled, the area surrounding them shaking due to the god's power, **"Who stole it? You better have an answer for me, bones, or you'll regret it."**

 **"Y-Y-Yes!…"** Hades hastily replied, adding quickly, **"It was a v-vampire… b-by the name o-of… V-Van H-Helsing…"**

Ddraig narrowed his glowing red eyes, adding another question, **"Where is this 'Van Helsing' you speak of?"**

Hades, gulped again, replying coyly, **"I-I do-don't know… f-for sure…"** He winced when Ddraig gripped his skull harsher, a disgusting crunching sound announcing a huge fissure, prompting the God of Death to say quickly, **"I t-tracked him h-here… i-in this continent… a-all I know i-it's that he i-is north… n-near Europa…"**

Ddraig remained silent for a moment, his raging reds locked on Hades who fearfully awaited his judgment, **"It shall do, then."** Ddraig finally spoke, leaning back, his grip on Hades' skull softening slowly.

Hades kept the relieved sigh to himself, not wanting to set off the powerful god before him again, **"I-Is that a-all, m-milord?"** Hades now understood that all of this, reviving those two souls that belonged to him, was simply to draw him out, he had been played.

Ddraig though, scared the shit out of Hades when he smirked evilly, stating with small psychotic glee, **"It is."**

Hades then screamed and began to plea for mercy as he was suddenly being consumed by black flames, the flames that could burn the universe itself.

Ddraig released Hades then, observing as the God of Death thrashed around on the ground, not even capable of producing a sound due to the flames burning everything that made him what he was.

 **"It was time a new God of Death took over."** Those were Ddraig's final words before he disappeared in a red flash, leaving a dying god who after a couple of excruciating minutes, dissolved into ash, the God of Death, meeting his own lover for the first and very last time.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes after he felt the presence of his predecessor back inside his mind, the mighty creature opening his giant eyes as his consciousness returned to his monstrous body.

"W-Was…" Naruto started mumbling, gulping before he added a little warily, "Was t-that necessary?"

Ddraig eyed him for a moment, snorting before he focused on the sea before him, replying, **"No, it was an itch I needed scratching, nothing more."**

Naruto sighed, remembering the truth of Ddraig's power, the reason for why he will never be able to be a true hero. Ddraig's power was, simply put, darkness itself, every bad will that existed, fuelled the power of the Absolute God of End and thus, being a hero was all but impossible for him.

But, while there was a time where it did bothered him since he did had a desire to be cheered and be seen as a beacon of hope, he has long since grown up from such childish dreams. The world needed darkness, it was imperative that everything that represented darkness was as present as light, otherwise the lines between the two, will simply blur.

"There'll b-be no consequences after this?" Still, Naruto knew that killing the God of Death, was bound to have some sort of backlash.

Ddraig did nodded, saying, **"There would've been if there wasn't another candidate, one that already takes care of the afterlife along with Hades."**

Naruto tilted his head, surprised to hear that since for what he knew about the deceased god, Hades was a prideful being, "Who?" He inquired.

Ddraig focused on his host, explaining, **"A young girl named Hela, compared to Hades she's but a mere child, only eight thousand years old, but she has the spark to take charge."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, sometimes forgetting that Ddraig was, according to him, thirteen billion years old. Naruto couldn't even fathom the millions of things the Red Dragon Emperor has seen as he has been alive practically since the beginning. Apparently Great Red was born almost fourteen billions of years ago, in something the God of End called 'The Great Explosion'.

"And if she doesn't wants to?" Naruto added a question, knowing that they couldn't be too sure that Hela will agree to step up for Hades. There must be a God of Death, it was imperative.

Ddraig though, shrugged, stating nonchalantly, **"Then we either pay her a visit or I create a new God of Death…"** The dragon looked at his confused host, knowing what he wanted to ask, **"Remember boy, we are the rulers of the End, death falls into that realm, meaning that I, and by extension you, have the power to create gods to take care of those domains."**

Naruto nodded, now understanding what the dragon was talking about. He then remembered the main point of the conversation with the God of Death, so the Namikaze tilted his head and asked, "What's 'Ascalon' by the way?"

 **"A sword…"** Naruto's eyes immediately lit up at that, stars appearing before him as the god continued, **"The most powerful sword in existence."**

"Really!? Oh, oh, oh, what's it made of!? What does it looks like!? Is it cool!? Is it scary!? Or is…" Naruto continued rambling shamelessly about every possible adjective one could think of for a sword.

 **"Calm down brat, or I won't give it to you…"** Ddraig was glad that Naruto immediately shut up and sat obediently. The god snorted before he continued, **"The sword is made from one of my own teeth…"** Naruto's eyes widened, listening as Ddraig added, **"Long ago, during Hagoromo's time, there were a couple of dragons that threatened to invade this planet… since I was not going to involve myself in the conflict, Hagoromo asked me for a way to defeat them, so, I ripped one of my fangs and had him forge a sword, but that's not what it makes it the most powerful in the world."**

"Seriously? What is it then?" Naruto asked, surprised, enthralled by the information, the tales of the past have always fascinated him.

 **"Two things, one, it's a conduct of my very power, think of it as a version of your Boosted Gear, but the sword stores my own power instead…"** Naruto drooled at the revelation, to think there was an artefact capable of holding Ddraig's power, was amazing, **"And the other one, there is a soul in it, belonging to a once very powerful being."**

"Whoa…" Naruto whispered, awed, his fingers twirling giddily, salivating the feel of such powerful blade, "So, the blade it's like… umm… a-alive or something?" He tried to explain his understanding.

Ddraig nodded, asserting, **"You could say so, it has no real will of its own, but its sentient enough to choose its wielder as well as to react negatively to those it doesn't like, it also displays some traits of the soul inside it."**

"Awesome…" Naruto muttered, excited, wanting to have it in his possession, "But, doesn't that means that Ascalon has already choose its wielder?…" He inquired with a pout, deflated at the thought, "I mean, if its with that Van who knows what guy, then it means it accepted him, right?"

 **"Not necessarily…"** Knowing that the boy needed further explanation, Ddraig added, **"It only means that the vampire is strong enough to grab it; since it's an extension of my power, I am able to sense it whenever somebody utilises its true power, if I haven't sensed it yet, it means that the vampire it's not capable of unleashing its true potential, he probably uses it as a common sword or just keeps it as a trophy."**

"I see." Naruto mumbled with a slight nod, losing himself in the sand for a moment.

Ddraig remained silent as well, enjoying the breeze, only talking after some moments, **"Don't worry about it too much, regardless of where this vampire is, if he was capable of stealing the sword from Hades, then it means you are still not ready to retrieve it."**

Naruto tightened his fists, frustrated at the reminder that there were still so many more powerful entities than him out there in the world, "But don't we have a timeline with this?" He asked, trying to push for Ascalon's retrieval.

 **"Patience, hatchling…"** Ddraig said softly, knowing the eagerness the boy was feeling, **"That sword will represent your power, as long as you're not worthy of wielding it, it will remain out of your reach…"** He eyed his host, encouraging, **"So if you want it, then train and focus, I will let you know when you are ready to search for it."**

Naruto sighed, defeated, he wasn't happy about it but it was fruitless to argue with the god, he was right after all, "Aight, aight…" He mumbled while he stood up, cleaning the sand from his clothes and saying after, "Then I better go back to the outside world, got a date with Akeno."

Ddraig nodded and with that, Naruto focused back on the outside, all information regarding his mission put to the side for the moment as he wanted to focus on his beloved Fallen Angel and nothing more. No matter how exciting his journey ahead may seem, nothing will ever take away the fact that he was going to miss being with his lovers.

* * *

A white-haired young man walked through a dark and creepy corridor, an apparently permanent smug smirk plastered on his face as he fixed his pair of glasses, amused, eager to see the reaction of the Uchiha.

Kabuto has never liked Sasuke, the moment that Orochimaru ordered him to observe the boy, the medic-nin immediately discerned that the Snake Sannin was going to develop an obsession with the Uchiha and much to his chagrin, the sannin did just that. Whether he was obsessed with Sasuke's eyes or Sasuke himself, was something that Kabuto could not tell, and it angered him greatly.

But, he now had news that could change everything for the young Uchiha and if Kabuto was lucky, perhaps show Orochimaru how foolish his obsession with Sasuke was.

"Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto announced his presence with a bow.

Orochimaru and Sasuke stopped clashing against each other, the snake summoner seemed relatively fine, but Sasuke looked a little ragged and tired, no doubt Orochimaru's training was as brutal as the man himself.

"Ah Kabuto…" Orochimaru hissed with a smirk, adding a little warningly, "I hope you have a good reason to disturb us, you know how little Sasuke gets when someone interrupts his training, kukuku."

Kabuto could in fact feel the burning eyes of the ninja in question, but he decided to ignore Sasuke in order to focus on his leash and say, "I do, milord…" He smirked, speaking after the pause, "I've received some… remarkable… news."

"Really now?…" Orochimaru hissed intrigued, tilting his head as he urged, "Well?"

"It appears that Danzō Shimura, is dead." Kabuto announced, noticing, out of the corner of his eyes, how Sasuke's jaw moved after his words, _'Hmm…'_

Orochimaru however, smiled slightly, seemingly pleased, "My, my, the old fool has finally kicked the bucket then?…" Kabuto nodded, Orochimaru giggling creepily before he added, "How did he died, Kabuto?"

Kabuto smirked, knowing that it was the moment to show Orochimaru how foolish it was to focus on Sasuke, "He was killed, along with all of his Root…" Orochimaru and Sasuke raised an eyebrow, surprised, their eyes widening a little when the medic added, "According to our spies, a group of ANBU infiltrated Root's HQ, using none other than Naruto Namikaze as bait…" Kabuto fixed his glasses, finishing, "In fact, it was he who killed Danzō."

Orochimaru giggled giddily after that, feeling Sasuke's excitement at the news. But before he tackled such, the sannin turned towards his most trusted lackey to comment, "How astonishing for our little jinchūriki, to think that he has grown so strong in such little amount of time…" The snake looked at Sasuke for a moment before he inquired, "But why did Tsunade ordered such brash action? It doesn't seems like her, to be honest." He wasn't a fool, Tsunade might be a fiery and straightforward woman, but she still carried the same 'Will of Fire' mentality that their sensei, such intense solution seemed out of place.

Kabuto smiled, looking at his leash to reply, "I would guess that it's because of the two people that were rescued during the attack, Kushina Uzumaki…" Orochimaru widened his eyes while Kabuto looked at Sasuke with a vicious smirk, "And Mikoto Uchiha."

Orochimaru's eyes widened even more, turning to look at his apprentice to see him, surprisingly, smirking. Sasuke didn't seemed shocked, nor elated, he seemed fired up by something.

"So the Fourth's wife and the supposedly late Uchiha matriarch are alive, huh?…" Orochimaru said, smirking after a moment and once he focused on Sasuke, he asked, "What do you think about this, Sasuke?"

Sasuke was certainly relieved, a huge weight was now lifted from his shoulders, knowing that his mother was now safe and sound cleared his mind of worry, allowing him to finally focus on his path. But knowing what Kabuto was trying to do as well as Orochimaru wanting to test him, Sasuke did not hid his excitement, only masked it with something else, "It's good to hear she's alive, I won't deny that…" His statement certainly stunned the two Sound-nin, "But matters little to me, I still have a goal and not even my mother will change that…" He smirked viciously then, his sharingan flaring dangerously when he finished resolute, "It excites me though, to know that the Dobe is growing that strong, it only makes it all the sweater."

Kabuto frowned at that, feeling Orochimaru's pleasure with the boy's answer, backed when the sannin spoke after a chuckle, "Ah, what a wonderful fire you have, dear Sasuke…" Knowing that the Uchiha wanted to continue his training, Orochimaru dismissed Kabuto, "Well then, thank you for the information Kabuto, you may leave now."

Kabuto nodded stiffly before he turned on his heel and walked away, gritting his teeth in annoyance but otherwise managed to calm himself in time, he knew that he still had time to probe Sasuke's unworthiness to Orochimaru.

* * *

Ino nuzzled her nose on Naruto's, her eyes closed, revelling the warmth being this close to her mate brought her. She was sitting on his lap, her legs spread, her breasts smashed against his chest. She leaned on and kissed him again, melting herself in the heat that only a connection like theirs could create.

The pair of lovebirds were in the field behind the Hokage Mountain, where Ino's family get their flowers from. This was a sacred place for her and since Naruto was leaving soon at the earliest hour, she wanted to be here with her love, cementing this place as theirs.

"I… gotta… go…" Ino whispered between kisses, loving the way his hands felt on her butt. She was tempted to just take her panties off and lose her purity right there, but she wasn't really ready, not yet. Besides, she wanted a more appropriate setting and preferably, not a public one.

Naruto sighed sadly at that, caressing her cheek before he kissed her chastely and smiled, the girl getting up and offering her hand to him. He took it and stood up, dusting himself up before he muttered, "Aight then, let's go."

Ino held his hand and led him towards the village, reluctantly releasing it once they reached it, complacent with just joke around as they made their way towards her flower shop.

It took them a couple of minutes to reach the Yamanaka flower shop, Ino twirling around and saying to her boyfriend, "Well, I'll see ya in two days to see you off, okay?" She was fighting with all of her might the desire to kiss him silly.

Naruto just nodded, replying, "Aight."

He was about to walk away but Ino suddenly said, "Oh, wait!…" She ran into her store, Naruto waiting for her with a raised eyebrow, his confusion growing when she walked out with a gorgeous bouquet of light-blue flowers. Ino walked towards him and gave the bouquet to him, smiling widely as she said, "There!"

Naruto just snorted, stating amusedly, "Forget-me-nots? What makes you think I'll ever forget ya, Ino?"

Ino couldn't help but blush at the proclamation, but remembering what she and the rest of Naruto's lovers wanted to achieve, she shook her head and said, "They're not for you, dummy!…" Knowing that her mate was confused, she sighed and placed both hands on his shoulders, her eyes soft and loving, saying with a gentle tone, "They are for Mikoto."

Naruto's face fell after that, his heart twisting with a painful pang at the reminder of the woman he's loved the most and his own inability to visit her. He knew it seemed sort of stupid to feel like that after everything he went through just to get her back, but damn did it hurt to fail her, "Ino…" He muttered, helpless, stretching her name with a sigh.

Ino was tempted to kiss him reassuringly, to tell him that it would be okay, but knowing that they were in public, she opted for muttering, "Babe, I know you're reluctant, I know you feel guilty and that despite all the reassurances we give you, you will still feel guilty…" She did kissed his forehead though, adding after, "But you cannot leave without seeing her, I am sure she will know you're there and when she wakes up and sees those flowers, she'll understand your promise."

Naruto tilted his head, asking, "Promise?"

Ino smiled, nodding as she explained, "Mhm, regardless of whatever, she's your mate now and you promised to always do right by us, no matter what…" She put a palm on his cheek and finished, softly but stern, "She deserves to know that."

Naruto sighed, unable to say anything after that. He could only look at the bouquet, the image of Mikoto's smiling face appearing in his mind, hunting him as it always has, he's never forget her and never will.

She deserved to know that.

"Alright…" Naruto muttered, smiling a little at the blonde, gesturing at the flowers before he said, "I'll go now."

Ino smiled widely at that, happy to see her man stepping up and following his word as usual, "You do that."

With that, Naruto waved goodbye and turned to walk away, a small smile on his face as he made his way towards the Hospital, where a sleeping raven-haired beauty awaited for his visit.

* * *

It was sort of funny, he knew, the reluctance he felt, the erratic beating of his heart as he stood like a complete idiot right in front of the door, incapable to move forward, incapable to even blink.

 _'You killed an entire elite force along with a veteran just for her, why can't you just do it!?…'_ Naruto mentally asked himself, frustrated because his feet just wouldn't respond.

He could only look at the door, listening to the beats of his heart that had it not been for his draconic hearing, he would've swore anyone who walked by him could hear them as well.

"L-Lord Namikaze?…" A soft voice drew Naruto's attention to his side, to see a really cute nurse looking at him worriedly, adding, "It's e-everything alright?" Her eyes wandered to the bouquet in his hands.

Naruto sighed, his eyes tired and sad but he nodded with a small smile, replying, "Yeah, yeah, just… thinking some stuff."

The nurse just nodded with a small smile before she left him alone.

"Let's just do this." The silverette muttered to himself and gathered enough courage to push open the door before him.

Naruto walked inside the room, knowing that just behind the curtain to his side, the woman of his dreams laid asleep. Steeling his heart, he pushed the curtain open and despite already seeing her back when he rescued her, he still found himself stolen of his breath when his blues landed on her.

She just looked absolutely beautiful, her midnight hair silky, brilliant and smooth, her pale skin giving a wonderful contrast with her black locks, her face, her lips, every detail of her so absurdly stunning that made Naruto fall in love with this woman so devotedly that he tore a whole cell of elite ninja just to get her back.

He walked towards her, tentatively, with baby steps, placing the flowers on the table beside her bed before he rested his weight on her bed, losing himself in just observing her peaceful face, "It's as if… there was nothing wrong in the world for ya, huh?…" He muttered with a bitter smile as he traced his fingers through her face, surprised to feel her warmth and how she seemed to lean on his touch ever so slightly.

"There are so many things…" The Namikaze started muttering, holding his tears back when he continued, "So many things I wish I could've done, to p-protect you… to spare you t-this pain…" He cleared some strands of hair from her forehead, adding, "How am I suppose t-to look at you?… a-after every failure I committed… how am I supposed t-to tell you that you are b-bounded to me for eternity without being asked?…" He leaned on and kissed her forehead lovingly, a single tear falling to her cheek when he spoke again, "H-How am I supposed to t-tell you how much I l-love you when I've failed you so much?"

For a moment there, Naruto had a hope that she might've heard him, that just in like those romantic films, she was awake the whole time and she was just listening to his confession, waking up later to tell him that she reciprocated everything he felt for her.

But this wasn't fiction, it was real life and just like Ddraig told him, she was still in a coma, she will be waking up in at the very least, a couple of weeks from now, being forced to sleep for so long, was something that required time to recover from.

"N-Naruto…" The voice of another woman brought his attention to the entrance of the room to see none other than Kushina Uzumaki, the woman looking at him longingly as she walked towards Mikoto's bed a little uncertain, "I-I…" She stuttered, noticing the heavy atmosphere in the room, "I s-should come back l-later…"

The Uzumaki didn't wanted to intrude so she made to walk away but was surprised when Naruto grabbed her hand, the boy looking at her apologetically when he said with a small smile, "No, it's okay, Kushina…" He sighed, looking at Mikoto before he added, "Actually, I have to apologise for not coming to visit you… I j-just…"

Kushina though, rush towards him, getting bold when he hugged him and with her head resting against his chest, she muttered, "You d-don't have to apologise, I-I…" She looked at the woman she saw as a sister, adding, "I understand why y-you didn't come."

Naruto just sighed and rested his chin on the head of the woman that birthed him, sighing as a comfortable silence enveloped them, Kushina feeling extremely happy that Naruto allowed her to be this close to him while Naruto allowed to lose himself a little bit in the feelings that belonged to his late father.

"She w-won't blame you, Naruto…" Kushina's voice was heard after some moments, the woman releasing the hug, adding tenderly with her violet eyes locked to his blues, "Y-You shouldn't feel guilty about anything." She tried to reassure him but frowned when it was clear she wasn't reaching him.

Naruto snorted bitterly, turning to Mikoto, caressing her cheek with such tenderness that it made Kushina a little bit jealous, "How could I not feel guilty?…" He whispered, his eyes tired and sorrowful when he added mockingly, "What am I supposed to say when I see her again? 'Hi Miko! It's so good to see ya back! Everything's chill and all! Ah, almost forgot, Itachi did killed your whole clan and almost succeeded in killing you too! Oh and you wouldn't guess what Sasuke did!? He defected and went to Orochimaru who wants to use his body as a vessel! But anyway, wanna go for some ice-cream? My treat!'"

Kushina winced at the sarcasm, noticing how truly despaired Naruto was about the whole thing. She couldn't really understand why he felt that way, hence why she tried to argue, "B-But Naruto… none of those things were your fault…" She rubbed his shoulder, adding, "Itachi and Sasuke are responsible for their own actions, you're not guilty for them."

"I know that…" He muttered, hopelessly adding, "But it doesn't make it any easier."

"O-Oh…" Was all Kushina could whisper, her eyes sad and frustrated for not being capable of helping the man she loved above all.

"You know that I'm leaving?" Naruto inquired after some moments of silence.

Kushina shook her head, her heart aching at the reminder of her conversation with her mother, where Tsunade informed her that Naruto will be leaving with Jiraiya for at least three years as a punishment for his reckless actions. While she might understand the reasoning of the punishment, she wished that he wouldn't had to leave, leaving her worried sick every day, not knowing where he was or what he was facing.

"Y-Yes…" Kushina whispered, her fingers twiddling, shifting on her place, her mind racing with all the things she wanted to say to him, to ask to go with him. But she knew that it was impossible, she understood that Naruto was a major player, his power and potential were capable to reach legendary status. Despite how much it pained her, Naruto needed to go through such trials on his own in order to fulfil his potential, "My m-mom told me…" She added, looking at him with a sad smile as she continued, "Y-You're leaving for three y-years with P-Pervy Sage, right?"

Naruto snorted, nodding, replying with his eyes on hers, "Yeah, at the least, though it is possible we may be gone a year more, it all depends on the Akatsuki really…" He then narrowed his eyes at her, adding, "Which reminds me, they will surely come for you as well, you have to promise me that you'll train and that you'll call me whenever you need me." He brushed his fingers on her neck, where a thunder god seal was placed so that Naruto could be there for her in a flash.

"I'm not a damsel in d-distress, 'tebbane!…" Kushina blushed by the sensations his fingers brought, irritated for being treated like a Princess as well. But she softened, knowing that he was just worried for her, and that made her immensely happy, "But I p-promise you, I'll be careful…" She then looked down at the ground, whispering, "As l-long as you promise to keep in touch with me."

Naruto just snorted, kissing her forehead before he replied, "I will, Kushina, I'll send you letters as well, aight?"

Kushina smiled a little, happy to hear him saying that.

"I'm leaving soon, so why don't we go for some ramen?" He said, trying his best to think on anything but Mikoto.

Kushina nodded and walked towards her best friend, kissing her cheek before she walked towards the door, saying to Naruto with a small smile, "I-I'll wait for you outside." She knew that he wanted to speak his goodbyes.

Naruto nodded with a small smile and with that, she left, leaving him alone with the woman of his dreams.

"S-So…" He muttered, his attention back on Mikoto who seemed as peaceful as ever, "I'm leaving tomorrow… I… I d-don't know when I'll see ya again but…" He sighed deeply and brought a hand to her cheek, caressing her, leaning down until his lips locked with her. It was a miniscule kiss, not even three seconds of contact, but it was enough to convey Naruto's undying love for this woman, as well as his eternal commitment, "W-Whether you end up hating me or not, I will always love ya Miko… and I will always do right by you…" He pressed his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as he made his vow, "Even if I have to jump into cold water… or if you need a lifeline… I won't ever, let go."

He stayed like that for some seconds, engraving this sensation deep within his heart, gathering the strength to begin his journey and hoping, begging to Great Red, that Mikoto, will long to see him as much as he will surely long to see her.

With that, Naruto retracted his face, looking at Mikoto one last time before he walked towards the door of the room and controlled his emotions, he still had time to spend with Kushina and Tsunade later, since she requested, before he had to go with his parents who wanted to be with him before he left. His date with Yūgao was in the middle of the night, so he had the luck to spend time with all of those he loved.

Just as Naruto left, he completely missed Mikoto's smile.

* * *

"So how was your mother?" Yūgao inquired as she happily rested inside Naruto's arms, the two laying on a branch, looking at the beautiful moon that showered them with its light, a gentle and cool breeze making the whole date even more amazing in the purplette's eyes.

Naruto snorted, remembering the dinner he just had with his parents a couple of hours ago, needless to say, he could barely get away from Hanare's arms, "Absurdly emotional." He replied with a small chuckle.

Yūgao pinched his arm, stating, "She's just sad to see you leaving, she's your mother, you can't really expect anything else from her."

"That's true." He muttered with a fond smile. They have been through a lot after Hanare started dating Kakashi, she and him have developed a genuine mother and son bond that absolutely nothing was capable of breaking it. He would freely admit that leaving his parents was as hard as leaving his lovers.

Yūgao closed her eyes, burying herself even deeper into his arms, the amazing warmth that only he could provide her melting every single fear and doubt she had about the future. It sucked that he had to leave, but it was inevitable, they had already discussed that for Naruto to expand his influence, he would have to leave the village. Back then, he was even contemplating defection, but thankfully, this opportunity was presented to him.

"Naru…" She whispered, her voice suddenly soft and slightly trembling, her worry etched in her tone when she added an inquiry, "A-Are you entirely s-sure about your plan?"

Naruto just sighed, resting his chin above her head, tightening his grip on her before he replied with a whisper, but still resolute, "It's the best course of action, Yū, ya know that."

The ANBU Captain just closed her eyes, whispering after a moment, "I still can't believe Lord Jiraiya agreed to it."

Naruto smiled a little at that, muttering after a chuckle, "Wasn't easy…" He wasn't going to tell her that he had to agree telling Jiraiya some of their sexual experiences, he was just glad that none of his lovers read the sannin's books because the next copies, will surely hold a lot of inspiration from their thirsts, "But he said that as long as Tsunade doesn't know about it and that I be careful at all times, then there'll be no problem."

Yūgao nodded at that, humming happily before she decided to melt in his chest, her breathing steading after some seconds, a slight snore escaping her enticing lips.

Naruto snorted, shaking his head amusedly as he nuzzled his mate, wanting to keep her as comfortable as possible. He took this moment to look over the village he called home, the moon giving it a peaceful glow, a couple of lights still turned on while he could faintly hear some movement in the village, no doubt some teenagers having late night fun.

 _"What a start, huh D?"_ He asked his partner with a melancholic smile, memories of his adventures so far flooding his head, remembering how everything started for him. The fights he won, the ones he lost, the people he met, the ones he lost, and more importantly, the women that he met, the ones that gave his life a meaning.

He heard the mythical god humming in agreement, the being's voice a little sleepy as he replied, **_"Indeed hatchling…"_ ** Ddraig smirked, proud, remembering the trials his successor has had over the last couple of years and how he was able to overcome them, growing into a damn fine warrior, **_"Now, your true journey begins."_** He added with a serious tone this time.

Naruto nodded, his eyes narrowed at the distance as he replied, _"I know, from here on, playtime is over…"_ He knew that he was about to enter to the main stage, where he was going to confront the most powerful beings in the world, _"I have to be ready."_ He added, a raging fire in his heart.

 ** _"Just keep focus, and you will."_** Ddraig reassured.

"N-Naruto?…" Yūgao's sleepy voice won his attention, the female rubbing her eyes as she gently separated slightly from him, "Why did you let me fall asleep?" She pouted a little, looking incredibly cute in Naruto's eyes.

Naruto smiled, caressing her cheek before he replied, "Didn't had the heart to, you look absolutely adorable when you sleep." He teased her with a charming smirk.

"Mou…" She produced an extremely uncharacteristic whine, her heart racing and her cheeks heating up at the sweet words of her mate. She just leaned on and kissed him deeply, wanting to hide her embarrassment with a kiss, distracting him from her face.

Naruto then raised an eyebrow when after breaking the kiss, Yūgao stood up, cleaning some leafs of her clothes, noticing his confused gaze so explained, "It's late, my love…" She offered him a hand, helping him stand up as she added, "You're leaving in a couple of hours, you should rest as much as you can." She stood on her toes and kissed him again.

Naruto chuckled in her mouth, squeezing her butt before they broke the kiss. He then grabbed a scroll from his pouch, giving it to his confused mate, saying after she grabbed it, "Inside that, there is a body…" Yūgao widened her eyes at that, listening as the Namikaze continued, "It belonged to one of Danzō's henchmen."

Yūgao looked at the scroll, muttering after a moment, "What a-are you giving me this for?"

"Kurama…" Naruto's answer made her widen her eyes, now understanding, "Give that to Kushina, Kurama and I have already found a viable way to separate her soul from the vessel, all Kushina needs to do, it's to stabilise her power and use this body, it should finally free Kurama."

Yūgao blinked a couple of times before she nodded, shaking her head after and placing the scroll in her pocket.

The two then kissed again before they started making their way back to the village, separating when their paths differed, with Yūgao heading to the Namikaze state while Naruto walked towards the Uchiha compound, wanting to spend his last night in the Leaf there.

* * *

He sighed deeply, inhaling the scent of the house, remembering every little thing he lived in this compound, in this house, in the grounds behind it. So many memories rushed through him as he laid on his bed inside the Uchiha house.

Unsurprisingly, he was unable to sleep at all. He wasn't nervous or anything the like, he just spent the whole night looking over pictures of him and Sasuke, a couple with Mikoto and some with Itachi even.

Naruto had also cleaned the house, leaving it as clean as he could so that Mikoto would find it immaculate. Though, he genuinely doubted that the Uchiha matriarch will want to stay here, where she will have a constant reminder of her massacred clan and her sons. Kushina told him yesterday that she was planning on inviting Mikoto to live with her in the Namikaze state, knowing that the blackette needed to have people that loved her deeply in order to move on and adapt to life once again, so the most likely scenario, was that Mikoto will end up rooming with the Uzumaki.

"It's time to go, bro." The youthful voice of Junior took Naruto out of his melancholy trip, his eyes wandering to his stomach, where the dragon Prince laid curled in a ball, using his lizard form.

"Aight." Naruto muttered and the lizard crawled to a small pocket inside Naruto's black coat, settling there as the silverette stood up, stretching a couple of times, having a one last glance at the room he lived in for the last couple of weeks after Sasuke's defection.

Naruto picked his sword, the hilt of the lightning blade resting on his hip before he prepared his all-black gear and undid his headband, keeping it in a drawer, wanting to leave a reason to come back here, a small excuse to see Mikoto in any case.

He finally walked down and looked around with a sigh before he stepped out of the house and locked it, jumping towards a nearby roof and running towards the gates, knowing that Jiraiya was already waiting for him.

"Finally." Tsunade muttered with a small smile once Naruto landed in front of the rather large group.

"Holy shit." Naruto muttered, unbelieving to see the spectacle before him. His friends where obviously all here, as well as Kushina, his parents, Shizune, Sarutobi and Konohamaru. But behind them, practically the whole village was present to see him off, cheering him and wishing him good luck and safe travels, pleading him to come back safely.

"They all came to see ya off, Boss!" Konohamaru stated with a wide grin, a couple of tears falling from his eyes, sad to see his mentor leaving.

Naruto stared at the crowd, smiling a little at them as he waved, thanking them for their wishes. He eyed his mates then, all of them scattered throughout the crowd, nodding at him quickly, not wanting to raise any suspicion.

"Well…" The Namikaze started saying once he focused on his friends, adding, "I guess it's time to leave."

Hanare walked towards him and crushed him with a hug, crying helplessly as she started muttering infinite things, regular wishes that a mother had for her son, threatening to be careful and to always stay in touch otherwise she herself would go out there to look for him and punish him.

It took Naruto a couple of minutes to say his goodbyes to them all, the jinchūriki now standing outside the gates, waving the people as Jiraiya stated, "Ready, brat?"

He looked at his loved ones one last time, all of them nodding at him with sad smiles but still supporting him and wishing him well, "Ready." He muttered with a smirk and with that, the two took off.

Slowly but steadily, the pair of travellers lost sight of the Leaf as they walked through the path that led them towards their destination, stopping after half an hour where Jiraiya looked at him and after a sigh, said, "Alright then Naruto, I am still not completely happy about this, but I understand your reasons…" He took a scroll and handed it to him, saying, "That scroll contains three things; one, the information regarding the mission in Whirlpool…" Naruto nodded, listening as the sannin continued, "Two, there is a training schedule I prepared for you right there, make sure to follow it, alright?…" Naruto nodded again, "And lastly, the dates in which we are to meet; remember, I may be allowing you to travel on your own, but I still want to see you at least three months a year, understand?"

"I do, Pervy Sage, don't worry." Naruto reassured, happy with his godfather's understanding.

Jiraiya smiled a little, adding as he started to walk towards a different direction, "Then I'm off, make sure to get to Whirlpool but do not engage anything until I send you the green light, I have to speak to Sand first to see what they have on the suspects."

Naruto nodded and waved his godfather off, stating, "Aight, take care Pervy Sage! See ya soon!"

Jiraiya wished him the same and after some moments, the white-haired man disappeared on the horizon, heading towards the Sand Village.

Naruto kept the scroll in a pocket and looked at the direction of the Leaf, sighing before his eyes wandered towards the other way, muttering, "And the road continues." He smiled and started walking towards Whirlpool's direction, his destination set and his plan already in motion, the word was about to finally meet, the next Absolute God of End.

* * *

"Naruto Namikaze…" A blue-haired female wearing a black cloak with red clouds muttered to herself as she observed her target from a distance. She was confused to see him going on his own apparently, her old sensei already far away while Naruto headed somewhere else, "What are you doing?" She added before she shook her head and flapped her paper wings. Whatever the jinchūriki was going to do, she was going to be there observing him from afar, or so she'll try.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya lads have it, this arc's finale! I hope you enjoyed it! I want to thank you all for continuing reading this story throughout this year, when I started the story, I never thought it would gather the following it has now and you've no idea how happy it makes me, so thank you from the bottom of my heart and I hope that I am capable of continuing delivering a story that you enjoy! As usual though, I will be taking a couple of weeks off to revise what's coming, so I'll be seeing you in a month or so. Cheers!**

 **Next Arc: The Land of Water.**

 **Main Target: Mei Terumi.**

Song of the chapter: **Cold Water by Major Lazer.**


	32. Sweet Gypsy Rose (Part 1)

**A/N: Oh shit waddup! It's ya boi! Back again with the return of TBE!**

 **I don't really have much else to say, so enjoy the start of the Mist arc!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-FORTITUDE-**

 **Sweet Gypsy Rose (Part 1)**

"Man…" A tall young male muttered annoyed to his partner as he observed the endless sea of sand before him, the distinctive heat of the desert only adding to his bad mood when he stretched a little, moaning before he added, "This is so damn boring."

The man's partner, a young woman wearing the same brownish ninja gear, distinctive of the Village Hidden in the Sand, rolled her eyes at those words, stating with an irate tone, "I know, Desu, you've already said it like a thousand times before!…" She turned to her partner, punching him on the shoulder, admonishing, "But until we make chūnin, this is the best we can expect, so shut the hell up and focus!"

The man rubbed his shoulder, replying, "Damn… you don't have to be so feisty about it…" He was about to add something else but had to stop his rail of thought when he caught glimpse of an approaching figure at the distance, seemingly leaping, "What the hell is that?" He muttered.

The female narrowed her eyes at the figure afar, suspicious, looking above to the ninja on the top of the wall to ask, "Hey! Do you see that!?"

She could see the two males at the top of the wall using their binoculars, nodding at her before one looked down and replied, "Yeah! It seems to be…"

"BEHOLD!…" The two guards on the ground were startled by the sudden scream, shocked and stupefied when they witnessed a large toad before them, a strange but quite famed white-haired man dancing on top of the creature as he continued gallantly, "Feast your eyes upon the sight of yours truly! Loved by women across the land, envied by men far and wide!…" He suddenly appeared before the woman, who had an unamused raised eyebrow as the sannin grabbed her hand and said charmingly, apparently, "Jiraiya, Toad Hermit, Sannin and excellent love partner at your service, milady."

There was a long silence after that, a roll of sweat running down Jiraiya's scruff as he observed the two ninja with anticipation, it has been a long time since someone actually praised his, in his humble opinion, absolutely fascinating and captivating introductions.

"Hehe…" A somewhat amused laugh was heard coming from behind the three ninja, the laugh belonging to a tall handsome blond man. He was wearing a black suit with a red sash around his waist, a huge metallic fan strapped on his back, the boy adding with a bitter smirk, "I see that Naruto was not joking about your… extravagance… Master Jiraiya."

Jiraiya sighed while his head hung, muttering depressed, "That damn brat… he just won't tire to mock my name…" He sent a mental curse to his godson before he immediately recovered his cheerfulness, straightening up and saying once he set his eyes on the young man, "Ignoring my godson's poor tastes… you must be Tetsu of the Sand."

Tetsu smiled while he shook hands with the famous ninja, uttering, "Indeed I am, it is a pleasure to meet such a legend as yourself, Master Jiraiya."

Jiraiya's chest inflated, walking behind the Sand-nin as he led him towards the Kazekage Tower, muttering, "And it is my pleasure to meet young ninja who actually respect their elders."

Tetsu just looked at the sannin puzzled, the white-haired man seemed genuinely pissed off about something there, "I s-see." He muttered, deciding to just focus on getting to the Tower.

It took the pair a couple of minutes to reach the seat of power of the Sand, Tetsu nodding at the guards who let them in and soon later, he took the sannin towards the war-room.

Jiraiya followed the blond man as he entered the war-room, currently packed with the councillors of the village. Since the Sand still hadn't chosen a Kazekage, the Council was the one leading the government.

"Ah, Master Jiraiya…" The one man that seemed to be the lead councillor said once he noticed the famed hermit, the whole table standing up and bowing as he added to his greeting, "It is good to finally see you here."

Jiraiya returned the bow, saying, "It is good to be here, Baki…" He sat on the chair offered to him, observing at the side for a second, where the three famed Sand Siblings stood diligently, "Let's get down to business, shall we?" He urged, his demeanour now of a serious warrior.

The councillors nodded at those words, with Baki stating, "Yes, let's get to that…" He sighed as he brought his elbows on top of the table, crossing his hands before his face when he spoke with eyes narrowed, "Did you read the dossier we sent Lady Tsunade?"

Jiraiya nodded, stating, "Yes, I know that there was a sudden attack on one of Wind's coast villages…" He looked at the three young ninja, continuing, "The report said that the Sand Siblings along with a group of your men drove the attackers off, but there were some… strange… weapons that ended up pushing you to the corner…" He looked back at Baki, inquiring, "Correct?"

Baki nodded, replying, "That is the gist of it, but to go in on detail…" He leaned back, saying after, "A villager managed to escape the attackers, he reached the nearest outpost and informed our shinobi of the attack, we were made aware of the situation and we dispatched the Siblings and a medium-sized unit to counter the attack…" He looked at his students, urging the redheaded girl, "Gaara, can you please explain what you saw?"

Gaara nodded and stepped up, looking at the sannin to say with her famous dead-like tone, "When we arrived there, the attackers were wearing strange silver-plate armour, very sturdy, nothing like we've ever seen before."

Jiraiya scratched his chin, commenting, "You mean like Snow's signature armour?"

Gaara however, shook her head, explaining, "No, there were no chakra enforcers or any sort of known technology in them, they were plain sturdy and heavy metal…" She narrowed her eyes, adding, "But the design, it reminded me of a book I read about the West, according to the book, silver-plate armour is common in Europa."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, muttering, "Westerns? Here?"

Tetsu shrugged, adding to his sister's words, "Who knows, but that wasn't even the scariest part…" He stepped up to say, "Just when we thought we'd driven them off, there was a huge roar coming from the coast."

"What produced it?" Jiraiya leaned on, intrigued.

"The scariest piece of machinery I have ever seen." Kankurō replied while scratching his scruff nervously, wincing at the memory of the sighting.

"A ship?" Jiraiya deduced with a raised eyebrow.

"Not just a ship…" Gaara replied, crossing her arms when she added, "It was a juggernaut of metal, I don't think the Land of Water has even produced such war machine, the weaponry on that thing…" She rubbed her forearm, adding a little troubled, strange on her, "I barely managed to protect my men and the villagers with my sand, barely."

Jiraiya sighed troubled, he has heard rumours, his spies managing to catch a few words about a 'beast' roaming the seas, it made him think that perhaps, said 'beast' was this warship the siblings were describing, "What were they after?…" He inquired, "I doubt it was just a random attack."

Gaara shrugged but replied, "Hard to assure, but the villagers said that a woman was caught by the attackers…" She looked at her friend's godfather to add, "We couldn't find the woman they described though, so either the villagers imagined it, or she was taken to the warship without us noticing."

"A woman?…" Jiraiya muttered to himself, extremely confused, "What the hell would they want a woman for?"

"Well, we doubt it is for pitiful reasons…" Baki commented, earning the sannin's attention as he continued, "The attack was swift and effective, it didn't seemed as the work of just a rich guy kidnapping a damsel."

"Europeans…" Jiraiya whispered, alarmed at the notion of the westerners being in the Elemental Nations, "We can't allow their war to reach here, we won't survive." It wasn't an exaggeration, the little that was known of the western continent, came from the villagers of Elena, a city built by western refugees, right on the northern corner of the Elemental Nations, very, very hard to reach due to the frozen mountains that separate it from the rest of the eastern side of the globe.

"We know…" Baki nodded at that, adding gravely, "That is why we requested the Leaf's help, this warship along with its crew, pose a serious threat to our land, we have no clue what they're after, what they're capable of, or what their numbers are."

Jiraiya sighed, standing up from his seat while saying, "Yes, you are correct, I must inform my apprentice of this so he can begin his mission."

Baki raised an eyebrow at that, along with the other Sand people, the elite jōnin inquiring, "You're not participating in this mission?"

Jiraiya caught the deflated tone of the man, making the sannin snort as he replied, "I would if my boy wouldn't be able to handle this himself, but he most definitely can, after all…" He looked at the container of the dreaded One Tailed Beast, adding with a smirk, "He was capable to deal with your very own jinchūriki."

The people in the room widened their eyes at the same time when they heard that, immediately knowing who the hermit was talking about, "T-The Dark Swordsman." A councillor muttered the name with both fear and respect, despite the famed swordsman's young age, his reputation was already incredible.

Gaara for her part felt eager at the mention of her friend. Naruto has most definitely kept his word as best as he could, in the form of constant letters. At the beginning, it was such a strange thing for Gaara since she had no clue how to reply, Naruto's letters seemed so friendly, so eager to hear from her, it baffled her. It wasn't until her brothers helped her write the first couple of letters that she eventually managed to get the hang of it. She didn't knew when it became so natural for her to just reply easily.

"The very same…" Jiraiya said with a proud smile, adding, "He's already on his way to Whirlpool…" That raised a few eyebrows, the white-haired pervert complementing, "He won't move until I give him the green light though…" Jiraiya then waved his hand as he finished, "His orders are to first test the waters, he might be reckless and your standard definition of a rash ninja, but he's not stupid, he knows his limits, if he sees that he can't handle it himself, I'll come to his aid."

That seemed to finally appease the councillors, with Baki nodding as he said, "Then please, let him know, it is imperative to deal with this as soon as possible."

Jiraiya nodded and bowed at the councillors, the Sand people returning the bow and with that, the Toad Hermit made his way to the nearest training ground in order to send a letter to his godson at once, smirking when he felt the distinctive presence of Gaara heading towards him.

* * *

"Hooooooly shit…" A dark clothed young man muttered relieved while stretching, his bones cracking at the motion, moving his legs a little to remove their stiffness, "That was one long ass cruise, boi!" Naruto added, his voice a little muffled due to the new addition to his costume, a black buff that covered half of his face, a little bit like his father's signature mask, but this one was looser and had a graffiti painted skull on it.

A lizard popped his head out from beneath Naruto's coat, the creature crawling until he was resting on the silverette's shoulder, saying after, **"You're right about that, I hate the sea…"** Canym shivered at the memory of their long sea travel to Terji, an island that stood between the Land of Fire and Whirlpool Country. It took them a whole day on ship to get here, **"Still don't know why you're wearing that ridiculous mask though."**

Naruto huffed while he fixed the mask, stating as if it were such an obvious thing, "It was on sale, ya fool! I couldn't pass up that price!…" He knew that his dragon partner was still not on board with the mask, but figuring that he'll get around it eventually, I mean, Canym does wear a couple of quite ridiculous shades, Naruto grabbed a letter from his pocket and said as he looked at it, "Aight, Rosy's supposed to meet me in the 'Stinky Shell' bar… what a colourful name that one."

 ** _"Fits the place."_** Ddraig commented harshly from within Naruto's mind, the third most powerful being in the universe currently resting on his usual place, intrigued to see his successor on his very first high-risk solo mission.

"Can't argue that…" Naruto agreed as he looked around the island, it didn't looked too bad nor shady, but damn did it smelled like fish, "Need to ask around…" The Namikaze added before his eyes landed on a couple of old fellas sitting on their porches, enjoying the cold breeze of the coast. The silverette kept the sheet back on his pocket before he started approaching the elders, stating once he was before them, "Yo!"

The two elders looked at the young masked man with narrowed eyes, though it was clearly because they could barely see what the heck was in front of them, as one of them stated, "Who're you?"

"It's ya boi…" Naruto pointed at himself, saying with an inflated chest, "Ruto Skillz, baby! Coming at ya with the freshest tunes from up North!…" He suddenly handed the elders a couple of strange disks, stating proudly, "Be sure to check out mah mixtape when you have the chance!"

The two old men just stared at the boy with blank faces, one of them commenting half-way amused, half-way confused, "'Tis boy strange."

The other old man nodded at that, looking at the disk as he commented with his old tired voice, "Aye… must be one of 'em high-landers."

Naruto tilted his head but ignored that, deciding to just ask what he needed, "Yeah, anyways, ya fellas wouldn't happen to know where I can find the 'Stinky Shell'?"

"Mm…" The old man hummed as he swung on his rocking chair, saying after some moments, "Ah yes… that old bar of Joji's."

The other elder nodded at that with a thoughtful hum, adding, "Memories, memories…"

 _'These old fools…'_ Naruto thought irately as the two elders seemed to be on a current trip down memory lane, forcing Naruto to say, "Hello! Anyone there!?"

The two men seemed to completely ignore the Namikaze, their faces blank as they hummed to themselves on occasion. But before Naruto could explode, a gentle feminine voice said from behind him, "Oh dear, I apologise…" Naruto turned to look at the woman in question, a quite pretty middle-aged female who added with a small gentle smile, "My dad and his best friend usually lose themselves in their memories…" She looked at her father who still seem lost in the past, finishing with a bitter smile, "Takes quite a while to get him out of those trips."

Naruto just sighed at that, nodding while he commented, "Noticeable…" He shook his head then, focusing on the woman to inquire, "Can you point me towards the so called 'Stinky Shell', milady?"

The woman giggled, saying, "My, how chivalrous…" She then pointed towards the busiest looking road a couple of metres from them, explaining, "It's not hard to find, just follow that road up, it should take you a couple of minutes to reach a marine blue building with a big sign in the form of a seashell, can't miss it."

Naruto bowed, saying, "Thank you, fair lady…" He started walking towards said road, adding as he left, "Check out mah mixtape too, ma'am!" The woman just giggled and waved him goodbye.

Just as the woman had said, it took Naruto close to ten minutes to reach the building, entering once he did. It wasn't shady as he thought, it was big and was full of diverse looking people, from dangerous thug-like men, to regular looking fishermen.

"She's supposed to be here already." Naruto muttered to himself as he carefully looked around the bar, his presence already attracting the eyes of everyone inside.

"Pst…" A sudden noise drew the Uzumaki's attention to his side, where a young blond man was sitting on his own, drinking a beer, urging him to come near as he whispered, "Here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, finding it strange that Rosalia was not on sight. But, he figured that this lad was one of her little minions, so he shrugged and sat in the blond's table, ordering a beer when the waitress approached him, stating after she left, "Who are ya?" Naruto wasn't so sure about his connection with the western female though, so he had to be careful.

The boy seemed a little distressed, saying, "I am one of Lady Rosalia's scouts…" He looked around, leaning close to Naruto to whisper, "Listen, we don't have much time, somebody kidnapped Lady Rosalia!"

Naruto's whole demeanour changed after that, his aura now dangerous, his blues cold and deadly, the people in the bar suddenly sweating and shivering as an oppressive feeling showered them all, "What the fuck are you talking about, boy?" Naruto asked commandingly, demanding the details immediately.

The man sweated, gulping before he did as told, "Y-Yes… Lady Rosalia w-was gathering some information in a coast village of Wind…" The man then produced a small note from his pocket, giving it to Naruto as he added, "She managed to send me one o-of her birds with this message to you… along with another one instructing me to meet you here i-in her place."

Naruto grabbed the folded sheet, unfolding it and reading it aloud, "Naruto, please, forget about me, don't search for me… it was nice…" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the last sentence, keeping it to himself as he sighed and in a fit of rage, he burned the sheet.

The young man seemed alarmed by the note, saying with a frantic whisper, "W-What!? We can't just forget about h-her, right?" She had given him a chance and he felt indebted to her, it seemed so wrong to just abandon her now.

Naruto sighed but said after he drank his whole bear in one sip, "Of course not…" He stood up, urging the young lad to do likewise as he added, "Let's go to somewhere more quiet, where you can tell me in detail what you know."

There was no way in hell that Naruto Namikaze was going to leave one of his girls to the wolves, he would be damned before that happens.

* * *

Jiraiya found a perfect training ground just some metres away from the Kazekage Tower, stopping to look at his surroundings for a moment before he said aloud, "You must be Naruto's friend, Gaara, correct?"

After those words, a cloud of sand appeared before the hermit, a female figure showing after the dust dissipated, Gaara looking at the white-haired man with her usual deadpanned look, nodding stiffly when she replied, "Yes…" She tilted her head, adding strangely fondly, "He's my only friend."

Jiraiya definitely felt for the girl, for what his godson has told him about her as well as the things he's heard on his own, Gaara had one of the worst lives a jinchūriki could have, not too far from what Naruto had to go through, but at the very least, Naruto had people that genuinely loved him, Gaara didn't. Her brothers love her, for sure, but they were too scared to show it or help her. Thus, she was basically alone with a Tailed Beast bent to drive all its hosts mad, which it achieved.

But, the Toad Sage could see that Naruto made a huge impact on the beautiful princess-like female, though it was also clear she was too naïve to understand it herself, "Hehe…" Jiraiya chuckled a little before he inquired with a friendly smile, "Well then, what can I do for you, Gaara?"

Gaara looked at the ground for a moment before she focused her green orbs on the man to reply, "I want to know about Naruto's current status."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, confused for a moment, _'Oh… she wants to know where he is…'_ He managed to understand her question, so he answered, "Well, right now, he should be either arriving or already in the Land of the Moon today…" The pervert then took out a scroll from his pocket, continuing after, "The last sighting of a strange sea-beast came from Moon fishermen, so our best bet to find their location, it's Moon."

"Oh." Was all the girl said as she tilted her head to the other side, her arms crossed below her bust, impassive, looking at the man as he opened the scroll and began writing, seemingly not knowing what else to say.

Jiraiya finished the letter for Naruto but did not sealed it, focusing back on the One-Tails jinchūriki to ask with a teasing smirk, "Anything you want me to tell him on your behalf?"

Gaara once again tilted her head, her eyes bemused, muttering confused, "Like what?"

Jiraiya snorted, finding the obliviousness of the girl quite endearing, "I don't know, like a special message… a confession… expressing a desire…" His teasing smirk widened even more when he finished, "An _invitation_ to something… steamy."

Jiraiya sighed when Gaara seemed even more confused than before, the young lady completely unaware of the pervert's innuendo, only capable of saying dryly, "I do not understand what it is you're speaking about, Master Jiraiya."

Jiraiya massaged his temples, muttering to himself, "Kind of cute regardless…" He sighed after that and sat cross-legged, entering into a thinking pose, tapping his finger on his chin before he said, "Let's see… why don't you tell me what it is that you feel when I mention Naruto?"

Gaara's eyes fell to the ground, pondering on the question, her hand subconsciously going to her belly, gently placing her palm on it as she muttered confused, "Well… I don't know w-what it is…" She looked at the old pervert, adding, "But, it feels… strange."

Jiraiya leaned on, intrigued, asking expectantly, "Your belly?…" The girl nodded at him, prompting Jiraiya to smirk deviously when he added another question, "Strange how?"

"Well…" Gaara started saying, struggling to understand what was going on, only capable of hearing the chuckles of Shukaku within her mind, confusing her even more before she stuttered out, "I-It… jumps… I guess…"

"Ooooh…" Jiraiya muttered, understanding well what the girl was describing, even if she herself didn't had a clue, _'Butterflies… how cute… gigigi…'_ He kept the perverse giggle to himself however, not wanting to be buried into the girl's fatal sand, "Well then…" Jiraiya said amused before he added, "That probably means that you miss him."

Gaara tilted her head, her eyes unfocused, a foreign feeling inundating her chest as she whispered a question, "Miss… him?…"

"Mhm…" Jiraiya nodded eagerly, asking with a sly tone, "Do you miss Naruto, Gaara?"

Gaara remained silent for some moments, the words apparently creating something in her she's never felt before. But even so, she managed to focus back on the man, nodding slightly as she said, "I miss Naruto." It was so foreign to her, but it felt so right.

Jiraiya just smiled widely at that, happy for the girl, it was always so good to see someone getting out of their dark holes, "Then, that's what I'll tell him." The white-haired man then said and wrote that on the letter, sealing it once done.

Gaara observed as the man made a couple of hand-seals, a small puff of smoke appearing before the man, revealing a small toad that said, "Yo! What's up, Jiraiya?"

"Ah, Kichi…" Jiraiya greeted the amphibious creature, handing the scroll to Gamakichi as he said, "I need you to deliver this to Naruto, as soon as possible please."

Gamikichi nodded, though he said petulantly, "You know the price, though!"

Jiraiya just mumbled curses but took a couple of sweets form his pocket, handing them to the eager toad, muttering, "Here, you gourmand toad…" The toad ignored the insult and saluted, disappearing in a puff of smoke, doing as ordered, "Well, I'll let you know when Naruto replies to your message, okay?"

Gaara nodded confused, muttering dizzily, "O-Okay… thank you."

"You're welcome…" Jiraiya said with a smile while he stood up, dusting himself off before he looked at the girl with a lecherous eagerness and asked, "Now, why don't ya point me towards the local hotsprings, huh?" He was a virgin when it came to Sand and the famous pervert would be damn if he stays like that after this trip, you can bet your sweet ass on that.

* * *

"Aight…" Naruto muttered once they entered a rented room, the silverette turning to look at the young man with fierce eyes, asking with a deadly tone, "Tell me everything that you know."

The young man gulped, nodding timidly before he did as told, somehow managing to speak through the thick atmosphere that suddenly showered the room they were in, "A-As I said…" He stuttered, calming his nerves to continue, "I don't really k-know myself since I wasn't there, but… _gulp_ … her message simply stated that she was 'caught by her past' and that I should move on and forget this…" He gave the note she sent him, adding after, "She sent something similar to her other scouts… w-we're all confused."

"Caught by her past…" Naruto muttered to himself, his eyes narrowed at the note, remembering the one she sent him, finding this whole thing strange, "What the heck are you talking about, Rosy?" He asked the air, frustrated, his teeth gritting against each other, needing to find an answer to Rosalia's whereabouts soon, otherwise he might lose it.

Before either he or Rosalia's scout could say anything else, a puff of smoke suddenly appeared beside the jinchūriki, both men looking at the puff, the scout alarmed but calming himself down when he noticed that Naruto seemed to know what was going on.

"Yo, Ruto!" Gamakichi greeted the silverette.

"Kichi, mah boi…" Naruto greeted back, crouching to grab the scroll the toad was presenting to him, the Namikaze raising an eyebrow when he commented, "What's this? Did Pervy Sage met with the Sand Council already?"

The toad shrugged, replying, "Can't say, bro, he just gave this to me."

Naruto just nodded, patting the little toad before it said its goodbyes and disappeared in another puff.

The silverette opened the scroll then, his eyes narrowing as he read the very long letter, stopping to say to the scout, "For what Pervy Sage tells me here…" He paused for a second, "The attack in the village was not random, they were apparently after a woman…" He tsked, continuing, "That woman has to be Rosalia."

The scout tilted his head, confused, inquiring, "But why?…" He scratched his scruff, adding, "I m-mean, yeah, Lady Rosalia has information on dangerous people… but this doesn't seem l-like a hit from one of them."

Naruto eyed Jiraiya's letter again, stopping when he saw something he wrote, "Rosy said that her 'past' caught her, right?…" The scout nodded at that, Naruto commenting, "For what Pervy Sage adds here, the Sand team that confronted the attackers, reported seeing them wearing strange silver-plate armour and a gigantic warship… Pervy Sage says that the type of armour described by the Sand-nin, it's also described in European texts…"

The scout widened his eyes, slowing catching up to what the handsome silverette was implying, "W-Wait a minute… isn't Lady Rosalia…"

Naruto nodded, muttering, "European…" Naruto balled his free hand, adding with eyes narrowed, "Whatever these fuckers are after, they need Rosalia for this…" His aura suddenly flared, eager to get his hands on the fools that dared to touch his woman, didn't matter who they were, "She must have a relation with someone there… but I ain't allowing this to happen."

The scout gulped, shivering, the oppressive and vicious aura of the silverette making him pity the idiots that kidnapped Rosalia. He really didn't know much about this young man, but he has heard Rosalia speaking about him and it was easy to tell that there was no one but him for the western beauty, "S-So…" He stuttered, adding once he caught his voice once again, "What should we d-do?"

Naruto inhaled, calming his rage, knowing that sooner than later, he was going to save Rosalia from her captors and just like he did with Danzō, the ones that harmed her were not going to get away unscathed, "I want you and the rest of Rosy's scouts to stay in the major coast villages on the mainland…" He walked towards the window in the room, adding, "Keep your eyes open and inform me of anything you see or hear regarding strange armoured men or a big ass warships."

The scout nodded, inquiring, "Okay but… how do we reach you?"

Naruto brought a hand to his pocket, taking out a couple dozens of small sheets, handing them to the scout, explaining after the young man grabbed them, "Whatever you have to inform me of, write it down in those special sheets…" He grabbed one, quickly writing some gibberish before he poured some of his chakra in it, the paper bursting in fire, prompting the Namikaze to explain, "It's going to send whatever's written there to me." He showed him a scroll then, opening it and showing the scout that an exact copy of the gibberish in the sheet appeared on the scroll.

"Understood…" The scout nodded, now more reassured that his boss was going to be rescued soon, "I'll spread these between us, we'll inform you of anything we gather."

Naruto nodded and with that, he bided goodbye to the scout. He focused back on the window, looking at the direction of her mate's kingdom, muttering to himself, "If someone knows what's going on in these seas, it's Piña and her men…" He then sighed before a small smile appeared on his lips, grabbing Jiraiya's letter, focusing on the post data his godfather wrote, "Now, what do I write to my lovely Gaara?"

* * *

 _A redheaded female ran across a devastated land filled with mud, blood and corpses, her ragged breath mixing with the far away sounds of wails and explosions._

 _"W-Why?…" Rosalia muttered to herself as she shook her head to get rid of her tears, her heart broken, struggling to come to terms with the truth of her family, of what they were, their purpose, their sins, their absolute malice, "Why a-are those damn stones worth so much blood!?" She added heatedly, her teeth grinding harshly against each other as she increased her pace, trying to ignore the carnage that surrounded her._

 _Rosalia Graff was her full name, born and raised in Prussia, a powerful player within the Empire, one of the two factions that have been fighting the eternal war in Europa against their bitter enemies, the Union. Rosalia was used to the carnage, the depression and the horrors of war, everyone in Europa was used to it by now, as there was no single spot in this wretched continent that was not touched by the war._

 _The Graff family was also a royal one, her father, the great Haido Graff, was one of the Empire's Generals, leading the armies on the northern side of the continent alongside her mother, another powerful noble. But, ever since she was a child, she has smelled something foul within her family, in her parents, a certain viciousness and arrogance that sickened her._

 _They have never been cold or uncaring towards her mind you, but they weren't loving either, it was more in the middle ground, complimenting her when earned, nuzzling her when necessary and that was about it. But after eighteen years of life, of seeing the land through her mansion, of hearing the commoners when they thought she wasn't listening, she slowly began to realise the truth of the Empire and why it was so hated throughout Europa._

 _They were simply a tyrannical state._

 _She was smart though, and she kept all her thoughts to herself. She instead decided to prove to herself that her parents were different, that they disapproved of the Empire's dirty tactics. Her father was adored by his men, so she figured that Haido and Justina, her mother, were different than the rest._

 _She was so fucking wrong._

 _Slowly, through her missions and friends she's gather that shared her mind-set, she slowly uncovered the dark truth of her parents._

 _Her mother, a woman that on the outside was a regal and absolutely gracious woman, was in reality an absolute psychopath. Rosalia had once found her bathing in the blood of the young women she killed, apparently because it helped her keep her youthful looks._

 _And her father, a man that preached about creating a utopia, a unified world that the Empire will lead to glory, was in reality a madman bent on global domination. He was devoted to the Empire and its values for sure, but he was not bent on aiding the Emperor. No, Haido wanted the crown for himself and apparently, he had found a way to do achieve it._

 _"The Gelel Stones…" Rosalia muttered to herself once she entered the village, silent, the abhorrent smell of death filling every corner of the town as she made her way towards her psychopath of a mother, "You believe them to be worth more t-than all these lives, father?" She added, disgusted as she approached her target._

 _Finally, after a while of running, she was now able to see the elegant figure of her mother, the woman wearing a gorgeous light-armour, her blue eyes observing her recent carnage with maniacal glee, though restrained in the presence of her men._

 _"Mother." Rosalia made her presence known with a cold tone, her eyes dull, her heart heavy and her belly disgusted._

 _"Mm?…" The mature beauty hummed as she turned her face to see who had spoken to her, smiling slightly when she saw her daughter, saying with a kind tone, "Rose, what are you doing here, dear? This is no place for you."_

 _Rosalia looked down on the ground, knowing what she had to do, there was no other way, she couldn't allow this to continue, she couldn't let this go any further, the death toll was already too great._

 _A single tear fell from her eyes when she steeled her heart, walking towards her mother, tenderly hugging her, the elder woman confused but returning the hug, listening as her daughter said with a broken voice, "R-Regardless of it all, m-mom…" Rosalia closed her eyes, tightening the hug when she whispered one last time, "I d-do love you very much."_

 _The woman was incredibly confused, muttering as such, "What are yo…" She couldn't finish though, because a sudden blade was plunged in her back, the woman moaning in pain as the blade cut through her blood vessels before it reached her heart, killing her instantly._

 _"What the hell!?" One of the soldiers screamed when he saw her leader falling to the ground, blood sprouting from her back, no signs of life in her whatsoever._

 _"Get her!" Another soldier screamed as he pointed towards Rosalia, the rest of the men launching at her in a minute._

 _Rosalia remained frozen for a second, looking at her dead mother, the bloodied blade still in her hand, a remainder of what she'd done. But, knowing that she was in immediate danger and that her mission was still not done, Rosalia focused back on the now and after twiddling her fingers in an intricate manner, fire covered her hands as she screamed, "Meteora Incantea!" She pummelled the ground with her palms then, a huge explosion ensuing after._

 _"AH!" The soldiers' screams filled the village as they were consumed by a powerful melting fire, the men turning into ashes the moment the fire consumed them._

 _Rosalia panted harshly, her most powerful technique being also the most taxing. She looked around after slightly catching her breath, observing how her whole surroundings were now scorched, a little bit of soot covering her as well._

 _Her violet orbs then slowly landed on the scorched corpse below her feet, the corpse of her mother. Rosalia shed some tears before she recovered her wits, inhaling deeply, her eyes now focused once again when she muttered to herself, "O-One left."_

 _She ran back towards the exit of the village, her last target being on the capital of Prussia. She knew she will more than likely be killed for this, if the pain of killing her parents didn't take her first that is. But there was no other way, her parents were causing so much pain to the world that she couldn't let it go any further. She needed to put an end to it and now, she was half-way there._

 _Only her father remained._

* * *

Violet orbs slowly revealed themselves as her eye-lids opened, the rays of the morning sun now reaching her, stopping her most definitely not peaceful sleep, the echoes of her dream still reverberating inside her mind.

"Dammit." Rosalia muttered to herself as she struggled to contain her tears from spilling out, a daunting task at the moment.

She could hear the heavy machinery working overtime to keep the humongous warship of her father afloat, an S-class flagship of the Imperial Army, matched only by the Juggernaut of the Union's Royal Army. She had faint memories of this ship, since she never really spent too much time in it when she was by her parents' side, it has always crept her out.

"Who would've guessed this metal monster would serve as your throne, father." She muttered to herself as she stood up from her bed, her eyes locking on the floor before she sighed and walked towards her closet, opening it and grabbing a set of clothes that were given to her by her father.

A knock on her door won her attention, a strong feminine voice was then heard saying, "Lady Graff, your father is waiting."

Rosalia closed her eyes, inhaling, strongly shaking away all her memories and thoughts in order to survive this torture. She locked the last button of her shirt and then donned her boots, looking at the wall before she walked towards the door and opened it, her eyes landing on the figure of one of her father's knights, "Lead the way." Rosalia said with as much disinterest as possible, her eyes empty, resigned to her fate already.

The knight didn't even bothered to look at Rosalia, only doing as told and leading the young redhead towards her father.

It took the couple a few silent minutes to reach the madman known as Haido Graff, the two females walking into a large room with a huge window that allowed Rosalia to look at the outside, a throne right in the middle of the large room, the figure of her father wearing archbishop-like robes sitting on it, the man's arrogant face, strangely showing a glimpse of affection at the sight of his daughter, "Thank you, Ranke…" He said to his knight, adding, "You may leave now."

The woman in question bowed and did as told, disappearing from the room and leaving the daughter and father on their own.

Haido stood up from his throne and walked towards Rosalia who remained frozen in her place, her dull eyes tracing her father as he settled before her, the man stating, "How are you settling, Rose?"

Rosalia looked at her father for a few moments, silent, she tried to look tough but couldn't keep her stare, forced to look at the side as she whispered helplessly, "J-Just get it over with…" She brought her left hand to her right forearm, biting her lip when she added bitterly, "Just get this thing off of me and use it… t-that's all I've ever been for y-you and mother…"

Haido stared at her daughter before he sighed, walking towards the window, observing the sea when he commented, "Despite what you might believe, Rosalia, that is not true…" He looked at his daughter over his shoulder, adding, "Even after you killed your mother…" She winced at that, the man speaking again, "Even after you tried to kill me…" He sighed deeply then, finishing with surprising honesty, "You are still my daughter."

Rosalia couldn't hold her tears back after that, looking at her father, frantically asking, "T-Then why!?…" She clutched her heart, adding with a broken and lost tone, "Why did y-you injected me with t-that fucking mineral, father!? Why, if not to turn me into a fricking m-monster!?"

Haido sighed at that question, replying after a moment of pondering, "Because you were sick…" Rosalia's eyes widened after that, the man turning to look at her to continue, "You were born with a disease that was threatening to kill you, but I had found the Gelel mineral then, so I knew that if everything that was said about that mineral was true, then it could definitely save your life…" He then shrugged, adding honestly, "The fact that it made you such a strong warrior was a welcoming bonus that I was not reluctant to use."

Rosalia didn't know how to feel really, her emotions were in complete shambles and she had no clue what to do, so she only whispered a question, "What is it t-that you're doing here, father?"

Haido stared at his daughter for a moment before he walked back towards his throne, sitting on it as he responded, "The Gelel mineral originates from this continent…" He looked at his daughter then, continuing, "Since the stone has proved its worth in the war effort, the Emperor issued an expedition to find its source and claim it, we have gone to great lengths to keep its existence hidden from the Union, but we can't be too sure, we must claim it as soon as possible."

Rosalia's eyes widened, a dreadful thought entering her mind when she stuttered a question, "W-Wait… you're telling me that…"

Haido seemed to figure out what Rosalia wanted to ask, so he nodded while speaking, "Yes, the Empire has set its sights on the Elemental Nations…" Rosalia's eyes widened even more as her father continued, "The Union has conquered Novus Mundus, a quite impressive campaign headed by the Goddess of Victory, Cornelia li Britannia herself…" He leaned on, narrowing his eyes and crossing his hands before his face when he concluded, "This of course, didn't sit well with Emperor Maximillian, who convinced the Moskha Council that the Elemental Nations could bolster our strength significantly."

Rosalia was extremely confused, stuttering, "B-But…" She managed to regain her wits to inquire, "A full invasion? What could've possibly convinced the Emperor enough to order such a thing?"

Haido leaned back, replying to his daughter's question, "Mainly four things…" He focused on his daughter to say, "The Gelel mineral, the technology of Spring Country, the resources of Land of the Moon and, mainly, the creatures known as 'Tailed Beasts'…" He sighed, looking at the window as he kept speaking, "Maximillian read about their existence and was extremely fascinated by them, they could prove immense value against the Britannias' power."

Rosalia wished she could tell Naruto about all of this, the people of the Elemental Nations have no idea the danger they were in. Rosalia knew that the eastern continent was strong and had world-class individuals in it, Naruto included, but as a whole, the continent has never experienced a war like the one fought in the West, one that has raged on for who knows how long now. Even if the countries in the Elemental Nations unite, Rosalia doubted they had a chance against the Empire or the Union.

It seemed that one way or another, they will eventually be consumed by the 'War Without Horizon' as well.

"I know you despise me and the Empire…" Haido started saying, drawing Rosalia's attention back to the man as he continued, "And while I did held anger towards you for killing Justina, I did understood your reasons and I respect you for following your ideals, Rose…" He sat straight then, finishing, "I love you, you are my daughter and I wish for you to stand by my side when I finally take the crown from Maximillian, we will rule this world together and I will show you how righteous my vision for this planet is, it will take time, but I am sure you will see it, eventually."

Rosalia stared at her father for a couple of seconds before she brought her gaze down, not having the strength to even argue with the man anymore, just enough to whisper helplessly, "Is there anything else you need from me, father?"

Haido sighed but knew that he was right, she will eventually see the truth of his path and will follow it as he desires it, he will make sure of that, "No, you may return to your quarters."

Rosalia nodded and did as told, her heart broken, her will gone, she was screwed and there was nothing she could do to help herself, or her continent. She smiled sadly though, because she knew that regardless of the enemy, if there was one person capable of stopping all of this, it was her one and only, "Naruto…"

* * *

Piña sighed irately as she eyed the letter before her, another marriage proposal coming from another arrogant noble who just wanted to have a kingdom for themselves. It was weird for her though, because some of the men that had offered her marriage, were in fact quite handsome, a couple of them even chivalrous and charming.

Specially one who has been a total gentleman and has actually tried to win her over with genuine gifts and letters, as well as a couple of visits to just go out for a walk inside her palace.

And Piña was one hundred percent sure that before Naruto, she would've actually given that man a chance, heck, she believed that she could've actually settle well with him. But there was something quite strange, something that for what she talked to with the others, apparently every one of Naruto's mates shared.

That was that for some strange reason, every single man that approaches her, actually disgusts her. It varies of course, with the aforementioned noble man, she doesn't gags or recoils in disgust, it's more like just an unpleasant feeling in her belly. But the distaste is still there.

She had talked it over with her fellow mates and for what they all said, they shared the same sentiment. Sometimes the disgust was so great, that they had to run away to vomit, and strangely, said disgust came with the men or women they felt in their guts to be quite sinister. A clear example being a noble that approached her two months ago, she actually had to run to the bathroom to vomit, her gut seemingly screaming at her to get that man away from her land as soon as possible. She did so and a few weeks later, Piña was surprised to find out that a couple of bodies were found in a secret house he had in the middle of the Land of Earth, it was almost as if she, by some sheer miracle, could feel the man's evilness as clear as day.

But, she had made some digging on her own to try and find out anything that may tell her of this strange phenomena and surprise, surprise, she actually did. A very old book she found in her royal library, a dusty book stacked in the fiction section, called 'Dragons: Behaviours, Physiology and Psychology', a detailed study on the behaviours of the legendary creatures.

She was shocked to find such detailed information in that book, as it matched quite a lot of her lover's behaviour, it planted a wonder in her mind regarding whoever wrote the book, but there was no signature in it, it was almost as if the writer wished to remain anonymous. But when she finished reading it, she had come up with the theory that just as the book described the bond between dragon mates, it appears that the ones sharing the bond, find people who are not their mates somewhat abhorrent, their bodies are so intonated with each other that the mere contact with someone who is not their mate, carries a sense of disgust, like a defensive mechanism against cheating.

"I'm seriously getting so sick of this." The beautiful redhead muttered to herself as she leaned back on her seat, crossing her arms below her bust while releasing a heavy sigh, wishing she could just mute everything in the world at the moment.

"Good thing for ya that your lover's here to take off that stress of yours." The sudden husky whisper of a very recognisable and delicious voice made her yelp cutely when a set of hands landed on her shoulders, rubbing them off with a gentle touch.

"N-Naruto…" Piña whispered with a mewl, her eyes closed, not even needing to look at her man since she had felt him approaching her with her mark. Instead, she focused on enjoying the massage her mate was giving her, standing up when he made her to in order for him to sit on her chair, bringing her down on his lap before he brought his hands to her belly, rubbing it while injecting a little bit of essence in her.

"My, my…" Naruto whispered when he started massaging her thighs, feeling her tension, whispering again right next to her ear, "What has you so tense, sweetness?"

Piña threw her head back when Naruto's skilled fingers started brushing over her clothed vagina, the woman managing to say between the pleasure, "Mmm… idiots… a-arrogant… horny idiots…" She felt the sudden anger of her mate, making her turn to look at him in order to claim his lips with a ferocious and needy kiss, a reminder of her preference to only him and no one else, "But you're here now, lover-boy…" She whispered, biting his lobe sensually before she finished, "You can make it all better for me now, can't you?"

Naruto smirked while he kissed his Queen, caressing her butt slightly as he said after they ended the lip-lock, "Anything for my sweetness…" Piña just giggled with a small blush, loving the butterflies he caused. But while Naruto would most certainly prefer to play around instead of talking, Rosalia's safety was at stake, so he put their foreplay aside for the moment to say, "But first, I gotta ask some things first."

Piña tilted her head, her eyebrow raised while her sex tingled impatiently. But, feeling the urgency in her mate, she quelled her lust for now and nodded, saying, "Anything, darling."

Naruto sighed before he began, "Do ya remember Rosalia?"

Piña pondered for a second before the name rang some bells, inquiring, "Isn't she the info-broker you tempted first?"

Naruto nodded, explaining, "The same…" He focused on his mate as he continued, "She was kidnapped…" Piña's eyes widened at that, listening intently as her mate added, "Apparently, by the same fools I'm searching for…" He drank some of the water that Piña was drinking before he kept going, "Have your men reported any sightings of a big-ass ship lately? Or any suspicious activities on the islands surrounding Whirlpool?"

Piña's eyes widened even more when she heard that, nodding, replying as she fixed her posture, "In fact, Grey said something about some fishermen talking about a 'metallic-like monster' in the deep sea…" She opened a drawer from her desk, searching through a stack of files before she found one, taking it out and placing it on the desk, explaining as she opened it, "The people from the southern shores have also reported strange lights coming from the far distance…" She looked back at her mate, concluding, "Whirlpool's direction."

Naruto brought a hand to his chin, massaging it with eyes narrowed as he muttered to himself, "I see."

"Naruto…" Piña's voice won the silverette's attention, making him turn to face his woman as she asked, "What's going on?"

Naruto sighed before he responded, "There was a surprise attack on a coast village in the Land of Wind, that's were Rosy was kidnapped…" He looked at the files on Piña's desk then, speaking as he observed them, "The men that attacked were wearing strange silver-plate armour… Gaara and her siblings arrived at the scene and managed to push them back, but something from the sea appeared and almost obliterated the whole town…" He locked his blues to Piña's reds, finishing, "An enormous warship."

Piña tilted her head, muttering, "The supposedly 'metallic monster'?"

Naruto nodded at the assumption, sharing it. He then sighed before he continued his explanation, "For what Pervy Sage managed to gather from the witnesses of the attack, it appears that the attackers were Europeans…" Piña's eyes widened at that, alarmed, "We know absolutely nothing about them and what they could be doing here, but if the stories of them are true, then whatever it is they're doing here, can't be good."

Piña bit her lip, nodding, a dreadful feeling in her gut as she contemplated the many possible outcomes of having the Europeans here in their land. But, pushing those thoughts aside, she focused back on her mate to ask, "But what does Rosalia has to do with this?"

Naruto massaged his temples, whispering, "I have no fucking clue…" He looked back at his redheaded lover, adding, "But she left me a note saying that I should forget about her, to not look for her at all because, as she wrote it, her 'past has caught up' with her…" Sensing the confusion in Piña, he explained, "She's European."

"Oh…" Piña nodded in understanding, managing to form a theory, "Then whoever these people are, Rosalia must have some connection with them."

"Correct." Naruto agreed to that.

The couple remained in silence for a few minutes, pondering on everything that was said. It wasn't until Piña sighed that the silence was broken, with the female caressing her man's hair lovingly as she muttered, "You'll have to check with Grey for this, he's the one that could tell you more about this, he's dealing with the reports and all."

"Aight, I'll do that tomorrow first thing…" Naruto replied with a nod before he developed a mischievous smirk, placing both arms below the woman and in a swift movement, he stood up with her in his arms, bridal style, the woman yelping surprised as she locked her arms tightly around him as to not fall, "I have a certain stressful Queen to take care of and I think that it's going to take me the whole day to do so." Naruto said huskily, sending shivers down her spine.

"N-Naru…" Piña whined with a delightful moan, her lust now fully back in action, barely managing to ask, "Didn't you said that there w-was someone fo-following you… _aaa…_ " She struggled to continue for a moment there since Naruto started biting her lobe, "If s-someone sees u-us…"

Naruto snorted at that, the memory of his stalker, who he know was Konan, flashing before his mind as he dismissed the concern, "Don't worry 'bout that…" Seeing the female's raised eyebrow, he continued, "I managed to fool her before I came here to Moon, she's currently following a Blood Clone."

Piña could only smile with the same mischievousness of her mate, saying lustfully, "Well then, my King…" She pressed herself on him, already eager to get in bed with her lover and get rid of that damn itch, "Why don't you show this Queen a _good_ time?"

It was going to be one heck of a day for those two indeed.

* * *

"I-I-I j-just think you're…" A kid stuttered, sweating, blushing like a madman as he shakily handed a rose to a beautiful girl his age, the girl taking the flower while tilting her head, confused, looking back at the brunette boy who finished his confession after a long moment of struggle, "V-Very p-pretty and… umm… I w-would like to know if… i-if… you'd b-be my… uuu… my g-g-girlfriend?"

Eight year old Emi Namikaze (Not official for security reasons) brought a finger to her mouth, humming, confused by the sudden confession. She was a smart little girl, the smartest of her class and she couldn't wait to tell her father that! But she had no idea what was this about, "Girlfriend?…" Emi muttered, tilting her head to the other side before she suddenly felt a strange oppression showering the whole fricking world.

* * *

"MH!?" Naruto suddenly stopped his drilling into Piña's vagina, a sudden rush of anger suddenly assaulting him, his aura showering the whole world when a strange sensation of something extremely precious to him being threatened reached him.

Piña stopped her moaning in order to look at her lover atop of her, the handsome silverette had his eyes set on the window of her room, as if trying to look at something far, far away, "N-Naruto?… w-what's wrong? Why did you stopped?" She didn't understand why her mate had a sudden murderous glint in his eyes.

"I don't know why but…" The Namikaze muttered, narrowing his eyes at the direction of Wave, adding confused, "I have a sudden urge to murder one sonavabich."

Piña just sighed before she locked her legs on his butt, pushing him deeper within her, throwing her arms around his shoulder as she whispered commandingly, "Take it out on this pussy then."

Naruto could only do as told.

* * *

Emi saw the boy in front of her shiver, a sudden cold sweat getting to her as well, a strange thought reaching her, _'W-Why do I feel that Daddy will get mad about something?…'_. Deciding to trust her gut, the little blonde focused back on the boy to say, "Chik…"

She was interrupted however, when a middle-aged blackette walked into the classroom, announcing as she focused on the blonde, "Emi…" Said girl looked at her teacher, the woman continuing with a smile, "Your mother's here to pick you up."

Emi immediately forgot about everything else, her eyes lighting up as she jumped from her seat, "Awesome!…" She claimed happily. Since Tsunami was the Governor of Wave, she barely had the time to pick her up from school, a task that was usually delegated to either Inari or Haku. So the surprise of the day, was certainly one she adored, "See ya!" She said goodbye to her classmates, completely forgetting about the poor boy and his confession.

A wise move.

The teacher could barely see Emi as she ran past her, just giggling while she locked her eyes to the school's main entrance.

"Mama!" Emi screeched happily as she came crashing on her mother, the little blonde burying herself in the Governor's bosom.

"My, my…" Tsunami said with a happy smile, hugging her sunshine tightly, kissing her head before she spoke, "So much energy."

Emi giggled, releasing her mother, quickly grabbing a hold of the blackette's hand while she said happily, "That's because Mommy's here to pick me up!"

Tsunami giggled while she started leading her daughter by the hand. Though, she did felt a pang of regret, she loved being Wave's Governor and she's been doing some amazing work in her home, but it took too much time from her, time she'd rather much spend with her children. But, knowing that it was a sacrifice that she had to make for now, she shook those thoughts away in order to look at Emi, raising an eyebrow when she saw the bubbly blonde holding a rose, "Dear, what's with that rose?"

"Huh?…" Emi looked confused for a moment before she remembered, looking at the flower in her hand when she responded, "A boy in my class gave it to me! Said something about a gir… umm… girlfrond… something like that…"

Tsunami snorted, taking the flower from her daughter and throwing it away quickly, thinking with a certain dread in her gut, _'Better not tell Naruto about that… Great Red knows the horrors he would bring to that poor kid…'_. She then focused on Emi again, saying sternly, "Ignore those sort of things for now, okay Emi? We don't wanna cause Daddy a heart attack, do we?"

Emi gasped, alarmed, stating frantically, "Never!…" She then pouted slightly though, the mention of Naruto bringing her mood down as she whispered, hopefully, big puppy eyes, "Mama, when's Papa coming?"

Tsunami could only sigh at that, while Emi was growing at an astounding rate, she was still a little girl that missed her father. It broke Tsunami's heart whenever she found Emi in her room or her cottage reading Naruto's letters over and over again. She couldn't fathom how hard it must be for the Namikaze as well, "Very soon in fact…" She did said it with a smile, earning a surprised look in Emi, intently listening to her as she added, "He will be here in a couple of months." He needed to go to the Land of Water, and Waves was the only way one could do that.

"Yay!…" Emi screamed with a blinding smile, happy beyond belief by knowing that her beloved father was going to be with her soon, "I'm gonna have him all to myself! Believe it!"

Tsunami just giggled, nodding at the people of her home who greeted her with beaming smiles. It was amazing for her, whenever she walked around Wave, to see how much it changed ever since her mate and his team freed them from Gatō's rule. Wave was now the continent's fastest growing economies, it was a booming tourist paradise and there was even talk of building their very own Ninja Village. Though, the security wasn't much of an issue anymore as the Land of Fire had Leaf-nin posted in the village on a permanent basis, but as their economy grew, there was a reasonable desire for full independency.

"Mommy." Emi's voice won Tsunami's attention.

"Mhm?" The blackette hummed once her eyes landed on her daughter.

Emi looked at their surroundings, confusing Tsunami as the blonde seemed to be making sure that no one was around. Once Emi was happy with the results, she began, "Daddy told me before he left that I should be careful to show this to anyone who wasn't you or Big Sis."

That alarmed Tsunami for a moment, crouching to be right in front of the cute girl to ask, "Emi, what are you talking about?"

Emi looked down on the floor, replying coyly, "W-Well… Daddy said t-that… umm…" She struggled for a moment before she timidly looked at her mother, continuing, "That one day… I m-may have some… p-powers… like his…"

Tsunami's eyes widened at that, understanding now reaching her as she remembered, _'Her magic… she woke it?…'_. She focused back on her little girl, asking, "Emi, did your magic awoke?"

Emi titled her head, asking confused, "I-Is that… what it's called?"

Tsunami nodded at that, humming before she inquired, "Darling, show me, please."

"Oh… o-okay…" Emi muttered before she looked around the floor, her eyes landing on a small rock, grabbing it and after she sat down on the ground and placed the rock in front of her, she said, "Two days ago I was trying to c-copy some of the moves that Papa has… and… t-this happens when I… umm… concet… concentr…"

"Concentrate." Tsunami said with an amused smile, finding Emi's struggle with big words cute.

"C-Concen… trate…" Emi repeated with a small nod, her eyes looking back at the rock. She then aimed her palms at the pebble, her blue eyes narrowing at it while her tongue showed childish concentration.

Tsunami observed intently, her eyebrows raising as strange green smoke started to ooze off of Emi's hands. It took the little girl a couple of moments, but Tsunami was astonished when the pebble started to move before it suddenly floated. It was just a couple of centimetres from the ground, but it was still astounding for an eight year old.

"Phew…" Emi whispered while wiping the sweat from her forehead, tired, looking at her mother to ask a little afraid, "Mama… i-is… this wrong?" She didn't wanted to be called a freak.

Tsunami immediately nuzzled her daughter, saying reassuringly, "Of course not, my love…" She gently cupped Emi's cheeks, locking her black eyes to the girl's to add with a motherly smile, "Your father also has similar powers remember? You can be a hero like him!"

Emi's eyes went from uncertain to immensely happy in a matter of seconds, the very idea of being like her father, filling her with glee beyond measure, "Really!?…" Her mother nodded at her, making Emi jump around in glee as she stated with utmost childish resolve, "Then I will make you and Papa proud!"

Tsunami just giggled as she looked at her bubbly daughter jumping around, heading towards their house, "You already have, dear…" She whispered lovingly before she stood up again and started following the blonde, adding to herself, "Though, I need to inform Naruto of this." She knew that life was about to get even more intense with this new development.

* * *

Grey sighed deeply as he eyed yet another report of strange sightings far into the sea, on Whirlpool's direction. They have become such a common occurrence now that it wasn't feasible to deem those sightings as mere hallucinations or reflections caused by the sea.

At first, when the reports of strange activity in the islands surrounding Whirlpool came in, he chalked them off to the nomad caravan that wandered around the destroyed country. He did found it strange that despite being a known group that usually send people to either Moon or Wind's shores to replenish their stocks, some people didn't knew about them and thus, they were surprised when they saw signs of human activity in the apparent abandoned isles.

But, just three days ago, the nomad tribe send a couple of its people to replenish their resources, as well as to report the very same thing, a strange humongous machine-like beast that howled eerily in the deep of the sea. The nomads also reported strange activity that did not belonged to them.

That alarmed Grey because as far as he and the tribe themselves knew, they were the only human inhabitants of the land. If there was a group roaming around the decayed country and they're seemingly doing it sneakily, then it is obvious that their purpose is not any good.

"What has ya frowning so much, old man?" A sudden recognisable voice made Grey turn to look at the window of his office, his eyes widening when he recognised the form of the famed Dark Swordsman, Naruto Namikaze himself, leaning against the window frame coolly, smirking at the old man.

Grey chuckled amicably while he stood up, walking towards Naruto and firmly shaking hands with the silverette, stating, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the hero of Moon himself!…" He urged Naruto to sit on the chair before the man's desk, the silverette doing as told, crossing his legs while Grey leaned on his desk, his arms crossed when he said with a friendly tone, "What a surprise to see you back in Moon so soon."

Naruto smiled at the man, nodding as he said, "Yeah, I had to stop by for a… umm… mission." He scratched his scruff while avoiding the man's eyes.

Grey just smirked amused, saying teasingly, "Ah yes, I'm sure that's the only reason you're here for…" Putting Piña and Naruto's not so secret aside, Grey focused back and inquired, "But if it is a mission you're here for, then I take it you need something from us?"

Naruto ignored the fact that Grey knew very well of Piña's activities with him in order to shake his head and respond, "Y-Yeah… _ahem_ …" He straightened, continuing, "There was an attack on a coast village in Wind territory, the witnesses, as well as Sand shinobi, reported sighting a gigantic warship along with men wearing strange European-like armour…" Grey's eyes widened at that, the jinchūriki speaking again after a pause, "Piñ… I m-mean… the Queen… hehe…" He ignored Grey's knowing smirk, "Told me that you umm… received some reports of a strange sea monster?"

Grey hummed, going around his desk to sit on his chair, grabbing a stack of papers and spreading them all over the desk, focusing back on the silverette to comment, "Well, as the Queen said, I have received numerous reports regarding a strange 'beast' roaming the sea, as well as unexplained activity in the isles surrounding Whirlpool."

Naruto leaned on the desk, grabbing a couple of papers, his eyes roaming through the information written in them. He could see the consistencies in the sightings, all of them reporting a gigantic metallic-like monster, strange howls coming from the deep sea and activity in the isles, "They must be in one of those isles then."

Grey nodded, leaning back as he pondered on the things that Naruto said, "If I take into account what you said, then this 'gigantic beast' should be the warship you speak of, it makes sense that common people have no idea how such a thing could even exist…" Naruto nodded at that, the grizzled-haired man adding, "The howls can also be attributed to the sound heavy machinery makes, if what you say about them probably being European is true, then it can also explain such machine, Europeans have much more advanced technology, military specifically."

"Yeah…" Naruto agreed to that, eyeing the reports before he looked back at the man, saying, "But, there still nothing to say what the hell are they doing out there… what could possibly be in those isles that attracted a European warship?"

Grey narrowed his eyes in thought, pondering on Naruto's words. It wasn't until some minutes later that a thought crossed his mind, the man's eyes widening as he leaned on, confusing Naruto when he said, "The Gelel mineral."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, muttering confused, "Gelel mineral? The hell is that?"

Grey paused for a second, locking his eyes on Naruto's when he responded, "I'm not even sure it exists, as the records of it are considered mere legends, but as they say, every legend holds some truth…" He leaned back on his seat before he added, "The Gelel stone was supposedly a powerful mineral, capable of replenishing one's chakra in a moment, it was also said to be an extremely powerful fuel for any sort of thing that required raw energy to work."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, intrigued, asking, "The Gelel stone?…" He hummed, standing up, leaning on Grey's desk as he asked, "You know anything else about it? Its location and that?"

Grey shook his head at that, stating, "I'm afraid not, Naruto…" He sighed, continuing, "As I said, all I know about it are mere legends, told in ancient books…" He hummed though, rubbing his chin with his thumb as a thought occurred to him, "But… the tales originated from the isles of Whirlpool and currently, the only people that could have a remote idea of the stones, are the nomad tribe that reside in the main island…" He looked back at the jinchūriki, finishing, "If there is someone that could tell you about the mineral, it can only be from that tribe."

Naruto nodded, standing straight, asking, "Aight then, how do I contact them?"

Grey hummed again, muttering, "You just missed their envoys but they left Moon two days ago, it's at the very least on day of travel to the port, meaning that it is likely that they are still travelling through the sea to Whirlpool…" He started writing a letter then, taking some moments to finish it, handing it to the silverette as he said, "Here, give that to either the envoys if you reach them before they land, or to the elder, it says that you are being sent by the Queen directly to investigate the sightings."

Naruto grabbed the letter and kept it safe on his pocket, saying after, "Aight, but would it be a problem if I ask about the mineral?"

Grey leaned back, sighing before he replied, "Hard to say… they are nomads, so they are very, very secluded, usually prefer to stay away from anyone that does not belong to their tribe…" He scratched his scruff, adding, "Heck, they even have no clue what chakra is, despite being capable of using it as well…" That surprised Naruto, "But, try your luck, the elder, Kahiko, is a good and noble man, I'm sure that if you prove you're of trust, he might point you into the right direction."

Naruto nodded, saying, "Understood then, thank ya, old man…" He started walking towards the window, saying with a smirk, "Gotta go and take care of this then, I'll see ya again when I'm done."

Grey just smirked teasingly, saying amused, "You make sure you do, I'm sure our beloved Queen will be lonely without you…" He just chuckled as Naruto disappeared in a red flash, managing to catch the slight blush on his cheeks, muttering with a happy smile, "Youngsters."

* * *

 _"Rose…" A young blond-haired man said to Rosalia as she fixed her gear, the woman looking still shaken by killing her own mother just some days ago, "We can do this on our own." He reassured, placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder._

 _Another soldier, a female, added with concern, "You've already done enough Rosy, you don't have to put yourself through this."_

 _Rosalia looked at her friends with sad eyes, the memory of her dead mother still too fresh in her mind. The people around her, five soldiers, were those that like her, wanted to end the Empire from within. They were part of a newly created movement known as the Resistance, a faction that opposed both the Empire and the Union, though the Empire was the one that had the hate, since the Union, while not deprived of corruption and hate, were without a doubt a prosperous kingdom that did offered basic freedom to its people. The Resistance however, desired just freedom from the two major powers, the wish of a Europa with many borders was the strongest, as they all wanted to just be separated depending their traditions and language, they still wanted to cooperate as a continent, but they all desired to be independent in their own small nations._

 _As for the Empire, it was currently on high alert after the murder of her mother, who was a high-ranking officer within the Imperial Army. There was no apparent notice of the Empire knowing Justina's murderer, as she has been allowed to walk into the military compounds like any other day, but she still couldn't be too sure._

 _As for her father, the man was genuinely devastated but admirably, he didn't showed it. As far as everybody else knew, he was still the fearsome General of the Empire, but she could see the sadness within him._

 _It did made it all the more difficult for her to go on with the assassination, but there was no other way. She has tried, countless of times through many, many years to change her parents' minds, at the very least, to have them abandon this bloody search for a bunch of minerals, to convince them that there was already too much blood on this continent. Heck, there was even a village right in the middle of the continent that had literally become a town of monsters. But, it was all in vain, her parents were already mad with power and there was nothing she could do to change that._

 _"I'm not g-going to deny that I'm not okay…" The redhead began saying, looking at the ground when she continued, "But… I have to this… I appreciate your concern… but I can't sleep knowing that I wasn't the one that killed my father…" She looked at her friends then, her eyes teary but still full of resolve, "I h-have to do this myself."_

 _Her friends sighed, not liking to see their friend like this but they could understand where she was coming from. She wanted to do this herself because they were her parents, and despite knowing well that they were a danger to the whole world, she still loved them deeply._

 _"Alright then…" A handsome black-haired man said, earning the attention of the Resistance fighters, "After this, we have to make a run to Helvetia as soon as possible, we won't be able to do much more after this, the whole Imperial Army will be on us."_

 _"It's easy travel to Milan from there." Another female soldier commented, earning a nod from their leader._

 _Rosalia inhaled as everyone nodded at each other and went to their designated places, the mission was now a go and she had to be ready._

 _"Rose…" The same black-haired man said when she was about to head towards her father, the woman looking at the man as he said with clear worry, "You be careful, okay?"_

 _Rosalia managed to muster a smile, cupping his cheeks, bringing him close to give him a loving and deep kiss, whispering after they ended it, "Don't worry Luka, we'll be in Milan soon, together, free of this all for a while."_

 _Luka just nodded, albeit reluctantly, and promptly went to his position._

 _Rosalia just inhaled once again before her eyes steeled, knowing that the longer she stays still, the more difficult her mission will get. So, she began her trek towards her father._

 _It took the redheaded young woman a couple of minutes to reach the powerful man, surfing through the headquarters of the Prussian front, stopping when she was right before her father's office._

 _She knocked a couple of times, waiting until her father said it was okay to come in. She did as told and opened the door, her eyes immediately landing on the two knights dutifully standing beside her father, who was currently observing the facility through his large window, standing, stiff but she could still feel his sombreness._

 _"Father." She muttered dryly, walking to stand behind the man._

 _Haido eyed her over his shoulder, offering her a small smile as he said, "Rosy, what can I do for you, my child?"_

 _Rosalia bit her lip, looking at the side when she responded, "C-Can…" She looked at the two knights, adding, "Can we have some privacy?"_

 _Haido nodded without hesitation, though his knights seemed troubled, so he commanded, "Leave us alone, now."_

 _The guards did as told, though reluctantly, making sure to leave Rosalia a scrutinizing gaze before they left the room._

 _Rosalia turned back to her father as he approached her, gently placing both hands on her shoulder, saying with an incredibly uncharacteristic soft tone, "I know I haven't been able to comfort you during this difficult time…" He caressed her cheek then, adding with a very, very strange smile, "But regardless of it all, I want you to know that your mother and I, love you very much."_

 _"D-Dad…" Rosalia muttered, confused, observing as her father walked towards the window again, the tension surrounding her, made her subconsciously activate her powers._

 _"Regardless of you killing her…" Rosalia's eyes widened at the maximum when she heard that, shivering when the man continued, "Even if you're here to try and kill me…" She shook harshly then when he turned to see her, despite the venom in his voice, his eyes still carried the genuine love a father had for his daughter, "Doesn't matter, I'll only keep you here close to me, to show you the righteousness of my ways."_

 _"D-D-Da…" She tried to speak but couldn't even move, the shock of the situation preventing her from even remembering her mission._

 _But before she or Haido could even do a thing, a sudden male scream was heard from outside the room, "Rose!…" The door was then burst open, revealing Luka as the owner of the voice, her fellow Resistance soldiers engaging the two guards while Luka approached Haido in a flash, "Get out of here! They knew from the very start!… argh!…" He grunted when Haido suddenly revealed power he shouldn't have, throwing the man to the far corner of the room._

 _"L-Luka!…" Rosalia screeched, still too shocked to move, only able to weakly whisper to her father, desperately, "D-Daddy… please… if you l-love me… please…"_

 _Haido though, now turned into a strange grey-skinned man, said as he approached the downed Luka, stating with a commanding tone, "It's because I love you, that I'm protecting you from these fools and their ideals…" He grabbed Luka by the neck then, smirking evilly when he added, "But do not worry, my child, soon, you'll be alright once again."_

 _"NO!" Rosalia screamed hopelessly as she observed her father tightening his grip on her lover, also able to hear the pained screams of the other Resistance soldiers._

 _Luka could only look at his girlfriend weakly, offering her a painful smile when he muttered sorrowful, "I… l-love… you…" He then somehow gather strength to active a magical equation._

 _Rosalia widened her eyes when a sudden blue light showered her, stretching her arm out towards her father and boyfriend, "N-No! W-Wa…" She couldn't finish her sentence though, because she suddenly disappeared._

 _Haido's eyes widened when he couldn't feel his daughter's mana anymore, signalling that she was far away from here already. He only turned to look at the man in his deadly grip, his eyes narrowed and full of hate when he angrily spat, "You…"_

 _Luka just smirked, a magical seal that made Haido widened his eyes appeared on his left hand, the man finishing Haido's sentence with regretful amusement, "Bastard."_

 _The only thing that could be seen from outside the building after that, was a huge explosion that consumed the centre of the headquarters, the alarm sounding seconds later as the soldiers quickly made their way to see if their leader was still alive._

 _He was._

* * *

Rosalia woke up with a gasp, struggling to regain her breath, her chest upping and lowering in chaotic rhythm, sweat covering her whole frame while tears fell from her eyes.

It was such a painful memory, the last time she saw her lover and friends. Turns out that Luka had placed a magical seal on her that served to teleport her to a safe house near the borders of Prussia in case of an emergency. It made her both love him and hate him at the same time.

She could barely understand how she was capable of making her way towards Night Country, the nearest Elemental Nation from Europa's borders. She had to run towards the east because the whole Empire had placed a tight security detail on their borders, so it became impossible for her to cross on her own.

So somehow, she ran for a whole two weeks, eating whatever stray animal she could catch, drinking from any river she came across and doing her best to just run away from it all, her memories, her past, her actions, it was all she could do.

"D-Dammit…" She cursed life as she curled herself into a ball, crying like she hadn't cried in years, allowing every emotion she suppressed to come forward and drown her in misery.

She had never thought that she could find something worth living anymore, but she did, in the form of a jinchūriki. It was sort of stupid she knew, after Luka, she had vowed to never love again but somehow, she fell in love with a kid way younger than her. But she couldn't help it, he was the only constant she's had ever since she left Europa, his letters, their occasional encounters, it made her fell for him without even noticing.

"I-It doesn't matter a-anymore…" She whispered to herself, hopeless, heartbroken again as her eyes wandered towards the magically enforced window of her room, her eyes fruitlessly trying to find her light, her touchstone, her constant, "Naruto…"

But like most things in life, it was utterly useless.

* * *

 **A/N: And there ya lads have it! Let me clear some stuff regarding Europa that you may be wondering:**

 **The Union is basically the British Empire.**

 **The Empire is basically the Soviet Union.**

 **Novus Mundus is America's original name.**

 **Prussia is one of Germany's eldest names.**

 **Helvetia is Switzerland's old name**

 **I will be basically using the names of the old world as I think that the timeline of this story sort of fits with the Industrial Revolution.**

 **Will Europa be an important plot in this story: Yes.**

 **With that said, I hope you've liked this chapter and I will see ya lads later, cheers!**

 **Song of the chapter:** Say Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose by Tony Orlando and Dawn.


	33. Sweet Gypsy Rose (Part 2)

**A/N: HELLO! It's ya boi! So sorry for the late chapter but you fellas can blame the World Cup for that, I've either been too drunk or too hangover to do a single fucking thing, never expected that England would get this far, heck, didn't even thought they would get out of the group stage and now no one in the country knows how to handle this shit, which reminds me...**

 **IT'S COMING HOME! (Yeah, yeah, I know it probably won't, but a lad can dream)**

 **Don't have much to say other that I'll put a list of the women that are BOUNDED, not tempted, to Naruto and which anime they're from right at the end of the chapter, just so you lads can keep track of them.**

 **Without further ado, let's get to it!**

"Naruto"- normal talk.

 _'Naruto'_ \- thought.

 _"Naruto" -_ mental talk.

 ** _"Naruto"_** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity mental talk.

 _ **'Naruto'**_ \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity thought.

 **"Naruto"** \- Tailed Beast/Creature/Divinity speaking.

* * *

 **-FORTITUDE-**

 **Sweet Gypsy Rose (Part 2)**

"Oooh man…" A silver-haired figure said with a relieved tone, regaining his breath after such long travel, "Damn mah clone ass, fool." He added, stretching his pained muscles.

Now, usually, a travel as this wouldn't be enough to replete the energies of someone like Naruto Namikaze, a creature with the legendary stamina of a dragon but, the person was not the real Naruto Namikaze, it was in fact the youngster's blood clone.

"Aight now, what to do?" The blood clone muttered to himself as he massaged his chin, allowing his butt to fall on the ground, sitting cross-legged, enjoying the breeze the coast behind him produced.

Naruto's clone wasn't really pondering about his purpose on Whirlpool's main island, as he had his goal there very clear, "Investigate the ruins of Eddy, salvage anything that may be useful to ya." He repeated the orders the real jinchūriki gave him.

No, his dilemma was not regarding his mission, but it was all about the silent companion observing him from afar, the woman he knew worked with the Akatsuki, the very reason for why he was created in the first place.

Clone Naruto sighed deeply, cracking his neck before he stood up, turning to look behind, towards the deep foliage of the coast, "What the hell…" He added to himself before he smirked and while crossing his arms, he said loudly, "Just come out now, Konan…" His smirked widened when he felt a sudden spike of chakra coming from the direction he was looking at, meaning that the blue-haired beauty was most definitely surprised by the clone's words, "I know you're there." He finished, hoping that the woman wouldn't start playing fool at this point.

 _'How did he?…'_ A couple of metres away from the Twelve-Wings jinchūriki, a blue-haired female wearing a black robe with red clouds thought to herself stunned, shocked that the boy had actually managed to detect her, _'I was sure to cloak my presence… with every ounce of my power… how was he able to sense me?…'_ It was definitely not funny, she was supposed to be the fourth strongest member of the Akatsuki, just behind Tobi, Pain and Itachi, but this just added more doubts to her already crumbling resolve regarding her place in the organization she had helped create.

But, after taking a long breath, she knew it was futile to try and ignore the young man and just play pretend, not to say anything about the quite apparent eagerness she felt to meet him again, an eagerness she steadily refused to acknowledge. So she just opened her paper wings and flew out of her hiding spot, landing some steps away from the handsome silverette.

The two remained frozen for some moments, gauging each other, Naruto still wearing his reptilian smirk while his blues bore in the woman's. Konan for her part, felt lost in those blues she so often thought of, surprised, and a little saddened, that they had lost their glow and brightness. The last time he meet him on Wave, his eyes, while no longer fluorescent as presented in Itachi's tsukuyomi, were still bright and full of hope and dreams, but the ones she was seeing right now, those deeper and darker blues, were now more realistic, grounded, wiser, pained.

It strangely saddened her.

"For how long have you know of my presence?" Konan asked impassively, tilting her head, her ambers locked to his blues, genuinely curious for his answer.

Naruto scrunched his face, scratching his chin, humming thoughtfully before he looked back at her to reply, "I felt you back at Terji, there was almost no trace of chakra in that place since it's such a remote land from the mainland, so our presence was an obvious distinction within the chakra flow of the place."

Konan nodded at that, accepting his explanation, it was correct after all. Terji was so far and disconnected from the mainland and everything in it, that it had no presence of ninja or even chakra wielders. Since the boy is a jinchūriki, they have a deeper connection with the nature around them, so he was understandably capable of feeling disturbances within the flow of chakra.

Still though, she didn't understand why he called her out if he had no intention of fighting her, which his too lazy stance asserted, it was obvious that he had no desires for confrontation, so she tilted her head slightly, inquiring stoically, "And why did you call me now? Why not try to lose me?"

Naruto's clone smirked again, knowing that this was a perfect opportunity to develop something, however small may be, with the stoic beauty, "'Cause I wanted to see ya again…" He chuckled charmingly when Konan's eyes widened ever so slightly, the woman managing to suppress her surprise enough to not show, but Naruto still managed to catch her eyebrows' twitching, "Since you're obviously going to be following me, why don't ya just stay next to me? Should be fun, right?"

Konan was at a loss right now, the supernatural charm the boy, no, young man before her had was without a doubt dangerous, he had such an alluring voice, it sent tremors down her skin. But managing to control her confusion, she sputtered another question, "Why are you so calm about this? Our ultimate goal is to kill you, why are you inviting me, part of the group after you, to just walk side by side to whatever you're going? Are you insane?"

Naruto laughed wholeheartedly at that, understanding the woman's extreme confusion, to just invite your enemy to calmly and amicably walk side by side towards adventure, was something only a truly insane fool would do.

Unfortunately for her, he was a truly insane fool.

"You might be onto something there…" Naruto shrugged, his eyes wandering around them before they settled back on the origami user, adding, "But is obvious that you want to learn about me, so why not let me learn about ya?"

"I want to learn about you to kill you." Konan argued blankly, not understanding what the hell was wrong with the male.

Naruto just smiled while shrugging, "And I want to learn about you to get on your pants…" He had to suppress a laugh when Konan stumbled in shock after such direct declaration, the sudden blush on her cheeks making up for such an endearing view of an inexperienced woman, "We both have nefarious goals towards each other, so why not just learn together?"

How stupid, rash, direct and bone-headed can someone be to propose such a thing? How stupid, deluded, oblivious and naïve can someone be to actually nod and whisper stunned, "A-Alright." Konan had no clue what the hell pushed her to agree, but there just was something, something between them that drive her to just wing it, a certain playfulness in her heart that was so foreign, yet so enticing that she just accepted.

There was nothing to lose, she tried to convince herself.

Naruto smiled widely after that, stating with excitement, "Alright! Let's do this then!" He then turned around and made haste towards the depth of the woods.

Konan shook her head, asking as she slowly, and reluctantly, followed, "Where are we going?" There was no point in losing to her confusion, it was best to just wing it, a rare, rare opportunity to perhaps, maybe, just chill.

Naruto looked at the cloaked beauty over his shoulder, a small toothy grin on his face as he replied, eagerly pointing at their front, "We going to the ruins of Eddy! Treasure hunting, baby!"

Konan could only stare at the boy's back and continue walking, "What a strange, strange boy…" To stunned to say anything else, or do anything else other than just follow.

You only live once, she guessed.

* * *

Haido paced around his large throne room, his long robe dragging across the floor as his teeth gritted against each other, his fists tightened into balls, his anger as clear as the view from the huge window before him.

"My lord…" The feminine voice of one of his knights drew his attention towards the centre of the room, where the three female knights kneeled on his presence, confused by the anger of their leader, "You requested our presence?"

Haido stopped for a moment, his back turned on the knights, closing his eyes while he took a deep breath and muttered, "Yes…" He opened his eyes again, looking at the women over his shoulder to add, "Read the letter on my throne."

The knights were extremely confused but not wanting to keep their leader waiting, a blonde female wearing a purple medium-armour walked towards the throne, grabbing the sheet in question, licking her lips before she started reading, "Haido…" She turned towards the other people in the room, continuing, "While the search of the fuel you showed us in the battle on Gaul's borders, the one you call 'plutonium', is indeed worthy of your endeavour, I must inform you that Gallia has fallen to the Union's forces, they are now at the front door of Prussia and I do not need to tell you how important to the Empire it is that Prussia remains in our control…" The knights shivered at the news, the blonde continuing after a pause, "Hence, the Emperor has ordered your return, he, however, did added that you must at least map the Elemental Nations' most prominent landmarks, to aid our nearing invasion efforts, but after that, your search for the mineral is thus terminated, it shall be resumed after you reconquer Gallia. This is not a request, it is an order from Emperor Maximilian himself, do not ignore it…" The knight gulped, her eyes focusing back on her leader as she finished with a whisper, "Signed, Minister Pavel."

There was a tense silence after Ranke finished reading the letter, her violet orbs landing on her fellow knights before the one that looked the oldest, a brunette woman wearing a blue-coloured armour said, "Milord, what shall we do?"

Haido remained silent for a moment, furious. He did not liked the order one bit, but he was also livid after learning of Gallia's fall. While it wasn't such a crippling hit for the Empire, it did gave the Union an open path to Prussia, one of the Empire's pillars, "While I do share the concerns of the Emperor regarding Gallia…" He started saying and after a long pondering moment, he came to a conclusion, "We are near the Gelel stones, I can feel it!…" He gritted his teeth, fists tight, seething, "To miss such an opportunity! After coming so far!"

The knights looked reluctant, with the blonde one saying carefully, "But milord, to d-disobey the Emperor…"

"I know!…" Haido screamed, angry at the situation, "But I'm not going back empty handed, the Gelel stones are too powerful to be left alone, we must have them in our possession…" He narrowed his eyes, finally able to calm himself down a little to add sternly, "If Prussia must fall for it, then so be it."

The knights widened their eyes, shocked by their leader's words. But none dared to say anything, only nod submissively as they all spoke in unison, "Understood, milord."

Haido took a long and deep breath, knowing that this was his last gamble, either he failed and pays with his life, or he wins and overthrows the Emperor, it was all or nothing, "Where is Temujin?" He asked, his eyes narrowing at the distance.

The brunette knight known as Fugai looked up, stating with a little bit of fear in her voice, "He hasn't c-communicated with us, milord."

Haido closed his eyes while he took another deep breath, controlling the anger he felt coming once again, it appears that good subordinates was too much to ask for nowadays, "Then find him…" He said with a deadly tone, "Search for him and ensure he's gotten something out of those roamers…" He turned fully towards them then, adding, "If he didn't, then you interrogate them, they're the only ones that could have certain knowledge of the mineral."

They nodded, saluting before they started making their ways to follow their orders. But Haido stopped them abruptly however, stating, "Bring me my daughter before you leave…" Haido then turned back to his window, raising his chin, his eyes cold and focused as he said with a low tone, "It's time to reawaken her power."

* * *

Naruto gasped for air as he laid on his back, his eyes closed, his arms wide open, sprawled all over the sand of the coast, letting the breeze and sun to caress him while he managed to recover his strength.

"D-Damn…" He muttered, breathless, his chest rising and falling in decreasing rhythm, the sounds of the shore serving to help receding his exhaustion, "Never… thought… f-flying such distances was… was… so daaaaaaaaamn tiring, boi…"

Naruto had just flown all over from Moon to the isle near Whirlpool's mainland and man did it took a toll on him. He couldn't really tell how far the distance was, but he barely managed to reach land before he couldn't keep himself airborne and would've been forced to crash in the treacherous sea.

He heard Ddraig snorting within his mind, the majestic creature commenting somewhat amused, somewhat annoyed, **_"I told you to glide through the currents, not flap all the way…"_ ** The divine beast then opened his eyes, adding in a somewhat admonishing tone, **_"What did I told you about flying?"_**

Naruto sighed, repeating the Red Dragon Emperor's lesson with a petulant childish tone, "Let the wind guide you, feel it, don't go against it…" He sat up, scratching his scruff while squinting his eyes, looking at his surroundings, "But come on! It was mah first time! Had to try out some skillz, boi!" He added sheepishly, ignoring the annoyed grunt coming from his predecessor.

Naruto and Ddraig then talked a couple of minutes about random things while the Uzumaki swordsman caught his breath back. It was until he took a deep long sigh that he stood up and after dusting himself up, he grabbed a map from his coat's hidden pocket, eyeing it as he commented, "Aye then, I couldn't catch up to the people sent for supplies, but I'm sure I wasn't that far off…" He looked towards the deep forest before him, muttering, "I may be able to catch a scent."

The silverette shook his coat then, a tiny whined coming from another hidden pocket, some movement following the sound before the head of a small white lizard popped out, shaking his head before he said, **"Oi! I was having a pretty wonderful dream! What'cha want, lizard?"**

"Aye, aye…" Naruto said with a roll of his eyes, unimpressed, already used to the lazy preferences of his life-companion, "I need ya to catch a sent, lizard."

Canym just grumbled some unpleasant words but ultimately did as told, crawling out of Naruto's pocket and falling onto the ground, **"How rude…"** Canym muttered, not caring to look back at his partner who had a twitch on his eyebrow. But, the white mythical dragon focused on the shore before him, smelling the sand and the environment, **"Hold up… I think I got something…"** The lizard said before he crawled through Naruto's cloak and positioned himself on the jinchūriki's shoulder, adding while nodding his head at the front, **"The scent is fairly new, heading over there."**

Naruto smirked, muttering, "Atta boy…" He whined when Canym bit him lightly on the neck, but not wanting to waste any more time, Naruto just jumped towards the trees and started hopping through the branches, listening as Canym guided him through the foliage.

The minutes passed while he travelled through the forest, glancing at his sides every awhile to see if there was any sign of the nomad tribe, but alas, there was none, "Junior…" Naruto muttered, stopping abruptly to catch his breath before he added, "Ya sure the scent belongs to humans? Maybe it was an animal or something like that."

Junior shook his head, commenting, **"Nah bro…"** Canym looked at his partner, adding, **"The scent I caught was definitely that of humans, there was a little trace of Moon's scent as well, so it's definitely them."**

Naruto just hummed, scratching below his chin, annoyed by his current impasse. The next Absolute God of End was about to propose a rest since it was starting to get dark, but he stopped when he suddenly heard a noise coming from some metres away from him, "Ya hear that?" Naruto asked his partner, who nodded at those words.

Naruto crouched, using his divine essence to try and cover his presence, jumping as silent as possible towards the next tree, managing to land with a relative silence.

The boy's blues immediately landed on the culprit of said noise, a very small furry creature, using its front legs to rip apart a couple of fruits that Naruto could identify as blueberries.

"Shit…" Naruto muttered, trying to get a better look at the creature as it happily devoured the fruit, "That's one weird-ass looking cat."

Canym was about tell Naruto that the creature below them was most definitely not a cat, but had to stop when another sudden sound alerted them of another presence, the eyes of both dragons immediately landing on the newcomer, who turned out to be a young looking woman, girl would be more appropriate. She had long black hair kept in place with a big pink hat, her brown eyes spoke of a true gentle soul. Her clothes were composed of a short sleeved dress type shirt with a pink stripe on the edges, a white collard long sleeved shirt underneath it. She also had a reddish-coloured cloth belt around her waist.

She seemed to be quite exasperated with the small animal, since she was panting with her hands reposed on her waist, saying once she recuperated her breath, "Nerugui!…" The small creature looked at her, tilting its head in confusion as the girl added, "Why do you keep going around like this!? You can get lost!"

The creature only did some strange noises, its snout pointing at the rest of the blueberries it had yet to devour, clearly having the rebellious idea to continue eating regarding the words of its apparent owner.

The girl huffed, annoyed by her rebellious pet. She just lifted the creature on her arms, the animal looking at her weirdly, its eyes lighting up when the girl picked up the rest of the blueberries, muttering, "Geez, you're such a guzzler…" She giggled when the animal started eating immediately after she put her hand in front of it, with the fruit on her palm, "Come on, buddy…" She started walking towards the east, adding, "Grandpa is already losing it without you." She giggled as she made her way through the foliage.

Up in the trees, hidden thanks to his essence, Naruto looked at Canym when the dragon whispered, **"You think she's from the caravan we search?"**

"Has to…" Naruto replied, standing up and allowing some moments to pass so that the girl would be far enough to not notice him, "They are supposed to be the only inhabitants of these islands."

Canym just nodded and after some more moments, Naruto decided that the girl was already far enough, so he jumped to the next tree and discretely began tracking the female, hoping that she would take him to the people he was searching for.

* * *

"Grandpa!…" The girl announced loudly when she finally reached a large group of people, caravans surrounding them while everyone occupied themselves with different tasks. The girl had walked right towards an elderly man, showing the small creature on her arms to him as she added with a small smile, "I have Nerugui right here!"

The old man gasped when he looked at his pet, grabbing it from the girl's arms and petting it delicately, stating, "What a relief…" He pinched the ferret's scalp slightly, adding with a hint of annoyance, "This little rebel just keeps worrying us without a care."

The girl nodded with a small smile, her eyes and her grandfather's suddenly following the ferret when it jumped out of the old man's arms and ran straight towards a tent nearby, the creature nuzzling next to a young handsome blond man who was laying on a sleeping bag, seemingly unconscious. He was wearing simple clothing, but there was a strange looking armour right next to him.

"He hasn't woken up, huh?" The girl made a rhetorical question, a small worried frown on her face as her eyes focused on the young man.

The old man sighed, replying, "No, his wounds have healed but, I guess he only has his stamina left to recover."

Naruto, at the distance, observed as the girl nodded at those words, but his eyes roamed back to the downed man in the tent. While the man himself was not so strange, the armour next to him certainly was, _'Could he be involved with the Europeans?…'_ He narrowed his eyes at the blond, mentally adding, _'He doesn't seem to be a westerner… but the armour certainly is…'_

Deciding that he had nothing left to do but to approach the nomads, Naruto sighed before he let his body fall from the tree he was hiding on, managing to make a silent landing to not startle the tribe.

He still made quite the shock to the wanderers, who immediately responded to his presence the moment he walked out of the forest and into the caravan's area, the women quickly hiding the children while the men focused on the newcomer with a wary glance. Though, they were all shivering, which was normal since Naruto's presence was just too imposing, more so when the ones feeling it had such a small amount of contact with outsiders.

"Hello there." Naruto said with a friendly smile, trying to ease the tensions, using his draconic aura to soothe their nerves.

It seemed to work as the people relaxed if just a bit, the elderly man that seemed to be the leader approaching him with a careful glance, stating with a terse amicable tone, "Hello newcomer, what can we do for you?"

Naruto took a scroll out of his pocket, saying once his eyes landed on the grizzly haired man, "Are you the elder Kahiko?…" Said elder nodded, grabbing the scroll that the silverette handed to him, Naruto adding, "I was send by your highness, Queen Co Lada." He stifled his chuckle, still finding Piña's name too funny. Not that he would ever say that in her presence of course, he still wanted to live for a very long time, thank you.

Kahiko read the letter, finally relaxing as he realised that the young man was telling the truth. It also served to qualm the nerves of the nomads, seeing as their leader was now relaxed, "I apologise for the tension…" Kahiko bowed, smiling after the gesture, shaking Naruto's hand as he added, "But as you can guess, we don't have much contact with highlanders."

Naruto shook the old man's hand with a smile, stating, "Yeah, no probs, old man…" He completely ignored the twitch in Kahiko's eyebrow, as well as the young girl's giggle, to say, "But as you read, I'm here to investigate the strange occurrences that you have reported."

Kahiko seemed genuinely relieved after hearing that, stating as much when he said, "Such great news, those things have caused quite the distress for my people."

Naruto nodded, saying, "Well, can we go somewhere more private to discuss the matter in more detail?" It even surprised him how business-like he could get when he proposed himself to.

He still hated it though.

"Of course, please…" Kahiko said with a small smile, his hands directing Naruto to what he guessed was the old man's personal caravan, "Follow me."

Naruto nodded and with that, he followed after the man, his eyes glancing at the unconscious man laying some metres away from him, knowing that with that armour, he must have something to do with the invaders.

* * *

"So it is a ship…" Kahiko muttered while scratching his chin, thoughtful, going over everything the boy sitting across him just said. The Elder had never believed that the sightings were of a real gigantic creature, he didn't doubted there were such beings out there in the vastness of the sea, but he found it extremely difficult to believe that one of those creatures had come all the way here, there was nothing for a being like that on this place, "It makes sense now." He added, sipping his tea as his eyes focused back on the young man.

Naruto nodded at that, sipping his beverage as well, gulping it down before he added, "Yeah, it's understandable why would your people believe it to be a sea monster…" He set the tea cup on the table, leaning back, adding after a sigh, "But well, it is a monster, just one made out of metal."

Kahiko nodded, leaning towards the boy to inquire, "But what could those westerners be doing here?…" He had been shocked to hear that it was more than likely that the people aboard that ship were Europeans. Kahiko and his people may be a secluded tribe, but that didn't meant they didn't tried to learn everything from the outside, one needed to be prepared for anything, "Why make such a long travel? As far as I know, Whirlpool is the furthest land from Europa, there has to be a good reason for them to spend so many resources on such expedition."

Naruto nodded, hoping that the old man won't shut their conversation off after what he was about to say, "Well, there's no way to tell for sure… but Grey…" Kahiko nodded, remembering the General of Moon's army, "Seems to believe that they are here for something they call… the 'Gelel Stone'."

Naruto was surprised when Kahiko's breath hitched after that, his eyes widening and his body tensing, telling Naruto that the stone was apparently no mere legend, "I-Impossible…" Kahiko muttered, shocked, adding, "How did they heard about it!?"

Naruto leaned on, asking with a raised eyebrow, "Wait, it's real? The stone?"

Kahiko shook his head, apprehensive all of a sudden, as if remembering that Naruto was an outsider, "I… umm…" He struggled to come up with any excuses.

Naruto sighed, massaging his temples before he said, "Listen, old man…" He focused his blues on the elder, "I know you don't trust me, I know I am an outsider, but this is no longer just about you and your secrets…" He narrowed his eyes, hoping that the old man could see the severity of the situation, "If we have Europeans coming all over here for that mineral, then this can get very ugly, I don't have to tell ya what could happen if they bring their war to us."

Kahiko's eyes widened again, remembering everything he's read regarding said conflict, "We won't survive…" Naruto nodded grimly, not even capable to imagine what horrors a war like that could bring. Kahiko took some moments to come to a decision, his eyes travelling to the ground before he muttered, "Alright…" He looked back at Naruto, finishing, "I'll tell you what I know."

Naruto smiled a little after that, saying with a small grateful nod, "Thank you."

Kahiko just nodded before he leaned back on his seat, closing his eyes, remembering the tales of old when he began, "The Gelel mineral was indeed very real…" His eyes opened, locking to Naruto's, "My people, had been the guardians of the mineral for centuries."

Naruto's eyebrow lifted, asking with a tilt of his head, "Guardians? I thought you were nomads?" He reasoned that the mineral must come from a mine, so a nomad tribe could not act as wardens if they were constantly on the move, away from the origin of the mineral.

Kahiko nodded, explaining, "We are now…" He sighed, "But we weren't always…" He smiled a little wistfully, continuing, "We used to have a settlement in the isle where the mineral could be found, but my very own people lusted for its power, it became such a temptation that infighting broke out, eventually causing us to break apart."

Naruto nodded, sighing before he asked, "What happened to the mine? Or wherever you got the mineral from."

"Well, it sank…" Kahiko replied, adding with a pang in his heart, "Along with our home island…" Looking back at the surprised Naruto, the elder spoke once again, "Some of us thought that they could extract at the very least most of the mineral if they built a… mm… pumping mechanism you could say…" He sighed, melancholic, "But it backfired…" He looked at the distance, continuing, "The mineral reacted violently to the machine and it went out of control, it destroyed the foundations of the island, since the mine was at the very core of the land, causing it to crumble into the sea…" He massaged his tired temples, finishing, "Not all of us made it, me and the rest of the elders around barely made it… we eventually moved on and reformed our tribe, as nomads this time."

Naruto nodded, feeling it for the old man, he couldn't begin to imagine what it would feel to lose your home, "I see…" The jinchūriki muttered, sympathetic, adding after a moment of silence, "But why? What is it with this mineral that it seems to draw so many to it?"

Kahiko sighed, leaning back, whispering, "I can't really give you the answers because I don't know them myself, I was but a mere child when the mineral was still around…" He looked back at the blue-eyed male, continuing, "But I can tell you that it grants you tremendous power."

Naruto tilted his head, inquiring, "How?"

"I can't remember well…" Kahiko started saying, struggling with his memories, "But I do remember that it was turned into liquid and you drink it…" He massaged his chin, adding, "It made your body more resistant to everything… it also allowed us to use the trickery you people use."

Naruto felt confused, muttering, "Trickery?…" It took him a moment to understanding, stating after some seconds, "Oh! You mean chakra!?"

Kahiko nodded, saying, "That thing… yes…" He sighed then, looking at his tea while he commented, "But as I said, I was a too young back then, I don't really know anything more about it, only that if the mineral still exists, then it's probably at the deepest of the sea."

Naruto sighed, nodding his head, slowly but steadily, he was finding answers on his search for Rosalia, "The young man…" Naruto won Kahiko's attention back, adding, "The one recuperating in the tent, is he part of your tribe?"

Kahiko tilted his head, saying, "No…" Knowing that Naruto wanted more information, the elder elaborated, "He was found in a pit by our pet Nerugui, it seems that he fell in it by accident…" He looked at Naruto curiously then, saying, "I had actually thought that he was sent by Queen Co Lada."

Naruto shook his head, stating, "No… he has no connection to Moon whatsoever."

Kahiko was extremely confused after that, muttering as such, "Then… who is he? What is he doing here?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, a moment of pondering before he laid out his theory, "If only by my guess, I think he's part of the Europeans…" Kahiko's eyes widened at that, alarmed, listening as the jinchūriki continued, "The armour that I assume he was wearing, resembles the one described by the Sand shinobi who fought against them…" Naruto focused on the old man, stating, "If my guess is correct, then either he got separated from the rest, or…"

"He was searching for us." Kahiko deduced with wide eyes, Naruto nodding his theory, the old man feeling nervous for having the young man in his caravan.

Before anyone could say anything else, the old man's granddaughter walked into the caravan, saying with a small hint of urgency, "Grandpa!…" The two men focused on her as she added, "He's awake now!"

"The youngster?" Kahiko asked, gulping nervously.

"Yes." The girl affirmed, her small smile turning into a confused frown when she sensed the worry in her grandfather.

But before she could ask what was wrong, the man said, "Alright then, go and see if he's feeling okay, I will come see him in some moments."

The girl nodded and did as told, though a little reluctantly, confused by the strange demeanour her grandfather was showing.

Kahiko looked at Naruto then, asking, "What do we do?"

Naruto pondered for a moment, thinking on a plan quickly, "Go and just play along, I'll be watching over ya from afar, if he tries to attack you or anything, I'll step in."

Kahiko nodded, standing up, adding before they headed out, "And if he just walks away?"

"I'll follow him then…" Naruto replied, explaining, "If there is someone that will lead me to the invaders, it's him."

Kahiko just nodded and with that, the two men left the caravan, with Naruto immediately disappearing into the forest, getting into position as Kahiko walked towards the blond knight, hoping that whatever happens, his people won't suffer any harm.

* * *

Kahiko walked towards the tent his granddaughter had placed the injured young man, calming his nerves, reminding himself that Naruto was hidden in the trees, ready for action. Even if he didn't really fully trusted the silverette, he did had a letter signed by the Queen of Moon herself, so he knew that at the very least, the ninja was working with them.

"I see you finally woke up." The elder said with a small smile once he finally reached the blond, eyeing him up, trying to see if there were any lingering injuries.

The young man seemed strange, his eyes were full of doubt and reluctance, as if he was struggling with something, "Yeah… I guess…" He muttered, his green eyes travelling to the small ferret that looked at him curiously, tilting its head as if trying to figure him out, "You helped me?" He asked, though it was more rhetorical than anything else.

Kahiko nodded, explaining, "Yes, my granddaughter here…" He pointed at the pretty lady beside him, who smiled gently with a small blush, "She found you in the hole you fell in, she came to us and told us about you, so we set out to help you."

The blond male just remained silent, visibly struggling with something. That is until he nodded and stood up with a groan, the girl quickly running towards him, helping him get up while saying, "You mustn't overdo it, you've been asleep for two days."

The young man stared at the girl, making her turn to look at the side to avoid his piercing green orbs, listening as he whispered, "Right… thanks…" She nodded timidly while letting go of him, "My stuff?" He asked, looking around to figure out his surroundings.

Kahiko pointed towards a pile of armour beside the sleeping bag, stating, "Everything you had on you is right there."

The young man nodded, turning to grab his stuff as the girl inquired, "What i-is… umm… your name?"

The blond grabbed his armour, looking at it to ensure that nothing was wrong before he turned towards the two people, taking some moments to ponder what to do before he muttered tersely, "Temujin." His eyes then went back to his things, armouring himself once again.

Kahiko eyed him warily, a quick glance at the forest before he said with a small amicable smile, "Are you sure you want to leave already?…" The old man wanted him gone for sure, but he had to play the fool for this to work, otherwise he may risk raising the suspicions of the young man named Temujin, "I would advise you stay a couple of hours more and eat something to recuperate your strength."

His granddaughter then added, "Nerugui seems to like you as well…" She pointed at the small ferret who so far hasn't separated from the blond knight, adding once her eyes set again on his, "Please, reconsider."

Temujin felt a swirl of conflicting emotions within him as their kind words reached him. He knew what he was supposed to do but he just couldn't find himself going with it. He wasn't here to harm them, he was here for information regarding the Gelel stone, but he never expected to fall into a pit, where he injured himself quite badly. These people had nursed him back to health and seemed to genuinely worry for him. It was such a difficult choice to make but at the end, he just went with his gut.

"I'm sorry, but I must go back to my…" Temujin stopped, not sure what to say since he couldn't reveal his group, not yet, "Team, we were scouting the area since there were rumours of strange activity coming from Whirlpool's mainland…" He finally locked the last piece of his armour, sighing before he finished his fictitious tale, "I got separated after we encountered a… bear… my team must be worried."

Kahiko nodded, his granddaughter just lowering her head, worrying his grandfather for the obvious attraction she was feeling towards the blond knight. But shaking such thoughts out of his mind, Kahiko smiled and said, "I'm sure they are…" He then pointed towards the southeast, adding, "Well, Whirlpool's main island is on that direction, you should be able to make it to the shore before the dusk."

Temujin just nodded, stopping for a moment before he bowed and started walking towards the direction he was pointed out. But, he had to stop again when he felt small bites on his right foot, his eyes focusing on the culprit, frowning when he saw the small ferret trying to stop him from leaving.

The girl quickly ran to catch the rebellious ferret, timidly apologising for the creature.

Temujin just waved it off, muttering, "Thank you for your help."

Kahiko and his granddaughter bowed with small smiles and with that, the blond knight began his trek towards wherever his destination was.

"Grandpa…" The black-haired girl started saying, earning her grandfather's attention as she continued, "Don't you think it's too risky for him to set off so quickly after just waking up?"

Kahiko sighed, placing a hand atop of the girl's head as he muttered, "He's not what you think he is, Emina…" His eyes travelled to where he managed to catch a glimpse of Naruto, who nodded at him before he disappeared to follow the knight, "It's better this way." He finished, walking back towards his caravan, hoping that whatever happens, the Gelel mineral does not fall into the wrong hands.

* * *

 _'Where are ya going, ya fool?…'_ Naruto thought as he silently tailed the blond knight named Temujin. Just as the Namikaze had expected, the knight was not heading towards where he said he would, instead, he was heading towards the north, skilfully surfing through the woods of Whirlpool, as if he was very familiar with the traitorous ground already, _'Then why did he injured himself if he already knew this place so well?…'_ The jinchūriki added another thought.

He stopped however, when Temujin led him towards the edge of a large canyon, the blond doing a quick look around, ensuring he was not being followed. Once satisfied, Temujin allowed himself to skid down the walls of the canyon, skilfully landing on the ground.

Naruto stealthily looked over the edge, his eyes widening when he caught glimpse of what it seemed to be the wreckage of a once powerful ship, stranded in the shore of the canyon, _'The hell…'_ He thought, his eyes narrowing as he saw a feminine figure walking out of the wreckage, straining his ears to hear their conversation.

"Well, took you long enough, Temujin." A tall, brown-haired woman said once she jumped out of the ship, her violet eyes landing on the form of the younger knight, crossing her arms below the bust of her blue coloured armour.

Temujin staggered, sighing before he said, "Yeah, yeah, I know…" He looked at the woman, adding with just a tint of a stutter, "I-I got injured in the woods and it took me a while to recover, Fugai."

Fugai narrowed her eyes, stating, "The Boss is not happy with your delay, you know that, right?…" She sighed when the boy just nodded with a small frown, saying after, "Did you managed to find the tribe?"

Temujin flinched for a second, action that Fugai caught but said nothing of it, listening as he replied, "Yeah, I did…" He looked at her, "They were the ones that nursed me back to health."

Fugai tilted her head, raising an eyebrow when nothing else came off of Temujin's mouth, urging, "And? Did you find out where the vein is located?"

"No." Temujin replied tensely, knowing that his answer was not the correct one.

Fugai narrowed her eyes, her aura now threatening as she walked towards the younger man, about to question his answer but both knights had to go on guard when a sudden voice drew their attention.

"Top of the morning to ya, laddies!…" Naruto approached them, nonchalantly, a laidback pace while he gave the two knights a wide grin, adding when he was some steps in front of them, "None of you fellas would happen to know where can I get a delicious bowl of ramen around here, would ya?"

The two knights stood side by side, on guard, the female one saying with eyes narrowed, "Who the hell are you and how did you reached this place?" She drew her sword, Temujin doing likewise as he readied his stance.

Naruto tilted his head, his hand resting on the grip of his lightning sword, concealed by his dark cloak, replying with an amused tone, "Well, I've been following Prince charming here of course, you people have been causing quite the stir, so you won the attention of the mainland." While usually you'd want to play the fool to try and pry information from the target, in this situation, Naruto had nothing to go with and the Europeans have already proved to know what they're doing, he betted that his best course of action, was to force them to retreat so he could follow their scent and find the warship, where he was sure Rosalia was locked in.

Temujin widened his eyes, shocked, _'I… I n-never even noticed!…'_ He thought to himself, frightened by knowing that he was being followed throughout his entire journey, he couldn't understand how he didn't noticed the silver-haired boy.

Fugai though, remained fierce, her eyes narrowing at the strange masked boy, gauging him, trying to get a sense of him until she spoke, asserting almost, "You are a ninja."

Naruto smirked, getting a kunai out of his pouch, playing with it a little, the woman capable of discerning that a mocking smirk was plastered on his face, the boy saying amused, "You are correct, fair lady…" He then eyed her, making it look as if he was checking her out, but he was trying to get her overconfident, he didn't wanted to waste too much time on them, "And you my lady, you must be the woman that old crazy hag told me I was gon marry! You know, in one of her visions!"

Fugai could only raise an eyebrow, snorting after a moment, stating, "What a joke…" She crouched then, a sadistic smirk appearing on her face as she added, "I bet you can't even last one minute!" She lunged at him, intending to cut him in half in one vicious slash.

Naruto smirked, waiting until the woman was right in front of him to suddenly sidestep with insane speed, a red slash hitting her on the side of her armour, sending her rolling a couple of steps until she managed to recover, crouching, a hand resting on her bleeding wound while her eyes were wide open in shock, "My, my, so impatient…" He showed his mesmerising Thunder God Sword then, the crimson crackling blade producing an ominous hum as he added, "But I assure you darling, my stamina is quite legendary." He smirked before he used wind chakra to lunge at the woman.

Fugai brought her sword up to try and parry the ferocious attack the boy landed on her, shocked to realise that she only answered the attack by mere instinct instead of skill, since she couldn't even notice the boy moving towards her, "D-Dammit…" She cursed, struggling way too much to her liking with the insane strength the young ninja seem to have.

Before Naruto could press on though, he sense a huge concentration of energy coming his way, managing to catch out of the corner of his eye, a powerful slash of energy originating from the blond knight, forcing him to jump away to avoid the hit that while it may not be enough to severely injure him, it was sure to cause some considerable damage.

Naruto landed some steps away from the female knight, but his eyes were now solely focused on the male knight, narrowed, confused by the sudden change in the boy. Temujin was panting, struggling to even maintain himself afoot, but his eyes, once olive-green, were now red, though they were slowly receding back to what Naruto figured was their natural colour. But the biggest change was the presence the knight just had some moments ago, it was quite remarkable, possibly equal to his two-winged state, the strange attack he just did serving as a testament of said power.

The Namikaze had to focus back on the female though, because he could sense a shift in the air, meaning that a large projectile or attack was coming his way. So in an impressive show of skill, Naruto once again utilised his wind affinity to aid his leap, managing to get out of the way of a huge projectile that crashed violently where he once stood, the Uzumaki landing some metres away, narrowing his eyes when he realised that the projectile was the woman herself.

"Hahaha…" A petulant laugh was heard coming from the dust that ensued the crash, a shadow beginning to emerge, forcing Naruto to go on guard when it didn't seemed to resemble the woman's figure anymore. Instead, the shadow was larger and bulkier, "Quite the slippery rat, you are." The woman's voice was unquestionably different, lower and brusque.

Naruto's eyebrow raised when he finally saw the woman's new figure revealed, a little shocked to see that she had now fur all over her skin, her figure no longer fully human but that of a large canine, reminisce of the old western tales of the so called 'werewolves', "Well, this is a surprise…" Naruto muttered, his smirk returning, the woman had received an incredible boost from whatever it was she did to turn herself into that, but he was still way above her and the male knight who was struggling to remain on his feet, "You fellas are full of surprises, aren't ya?"

It definitely irritated Fugai when she saw that the strange ninja hadn't even flinched at her change and power, pushing her to growl menacingly while leaning on, her wolf-like state augmenting her thirst for blood as she stated, "I'll make sure to rip that smirk off of your face!" She lunged at him with tremendous speed, leaving a trail of dust in her wake.

Naruto smirked below his mask, his body slowly being covered with a red smoke. He sidestepped the charge of the female werewolf but to his surprise, she turned immediately towards him and threw a slash of her deadly paws, Naruto barely having the time to parry the strike with his lightning sword.

"Nice." The jinchūriki muttered with a wide grin, excited, landing and using the momentum of his fall to push the woman back, twirling around to land a powerful kick on the wolf's unprotected snout.

The wolf skidded back, shaking her head to get rid of the pain before she growled loudly, launching herself at the ninja again, this time, her sanity slowly shrinking into the depths of her mind as the bloodlust started to take over.

"Damn…" Naruto muttered as he scurried away of her paws again and again. She wasn't acting like an intelligent being anymore, but her attacks were relentless, her strength something as vicious as his own whenever he entered his draconic state, "Feisty woman, huh? I like it." He smirked when he finally managed to lock one of her wrists and immediately coated his hand with lightning, the shocking current travelling throughout the body of the female knight who screeched in pain.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Naruto quickly jumped at the woman, who tried to slash him one more time but due to the electricity still going in her, she was slow and allowed Naruto to manoeuvre around her attack, landing right beside her on her blind spot and in a flash, he buried the lightning sword in her, deep into her left flank, the sparkling blade going straight through her lungs.

"U-Urgh…" The female gurgled, a lot of blood coming out of her mouth as she slowly fell to the ground, unable to do anything else as her life was slowly leaving her behind.

Naruto inhaled while he observed the woman turning back to her human self. He didn't liked to kill unnecessarily but sometimes it was unavoidable, he deemed this occasion to be one of said times.

Instead, Naruto tried to focus again on the male knight, who was strangely getting worse after doing whatever it was he did before. But once again, before the Namikaze could say anything else, his sense of danger tingled, forcing him to look beside him, above, to see, much to his surprise, a large feline creature aiming at him with its scary looking mouth wide open, its fangs all too eager to sunk themselves in his soft flesh.

"The hell…" Naruto muttered while he prepared to slash at the large creature but much to his shock, the jaguar's eyes widened when it looked at him straight at the eyes, a powerful sense of familiarity washing over Naruto once he focused on the beautiful purple eyes of the feline.

Adding to his shock, the jaguar suddenly changed its trajectory, landing some steps away from Naruto, giving him a quick glance with shocking sad eyes before it suddenly lunged at Temujin and dragged him away to who knows where, disappearing from view seconds after.

Naruto remained frozen on his place, shocked beyond belief after what he just witnessed. There was such a strong sense of familiarity with that creature, a disturbing one, it made his heart ache all of sudden.

"Dammit…" Naruto muttered to himself, inhaling to regain control of himself, adding after a deep sigh, "They escaped…" He kept all the questions regarding the encounter to himself for now, smirking a little as he uttered, "Good thing they didn't noticed Junior crawling into that fool's clothes."

He looked at the body beside him then, sighing and closing his eyes when he realised that the female knight was already dead. He just picked her body up and searched for a fitting place to bury her. Despite it all, he felt it honourable to bury the female warrior, she had given her all and that effort could only be repaid as such, "Before I head back to Kahiko, need to ensure they're okay." He added as an afterthought, feeling that he was close to find that warship and its crew.

* * *

"B-But…" Emina said with a worried tone, adding after a brief pause, "He seemed so… nice… how can you be sure that he was part of the invaders?" Her grandfather had just told her about the blond knight, retelling what the ninja sent by Moon's Queen told him. She was finding it difficult to admit that the man was part of the invaders, partly because she found herself quite taken by him and because he didn't hurt them as one would think.

Kahiko sighed, realizing the infatuation of his grandchild with the knight, "Because, Emina, that's what the ninja told me."

Emina frowned slightly, countering, "And why do you trust this ninja? As far as I know, The Land of Moon has no shinobi."

Kahiko just shrugged, speaking his guess, "True, but he did carried a letter signed by the Queen herself…" He showed her said paper, adding, "While the knight had nothing with him other than his armour, I find his tale quite difficult to believe since expeditions to Whirlpool must be approved by the Land of Fire."

Before the girl could add anything else, a smug female voice was heard saying from behind them, a sudden ominous feeling surrounding them as she said, "Well, well, well…" Both Kahiko and Emina turned behind quickly, widening their eyes when they saw that the woman in question was wearing an exact copy of Temujin's armour, only this one was turquoise in colour. She had long blonde hair and reddish-coloured eyes, a smug look on her face while her aura radiated a sense of bloodlust that made the whole tribe shiver as she walked towards the centre of the camp, where Kahiko and Emina were talking, "Seeing that you are in such talkative mood, why don't you answer a couple of questions I have?"

Kahiko put his grandchild behind him, the rest of the men doing the same with their families as nobody knew what to expect from the pretty, yet dangerous looking lady, "What can I do for you, milady?" Kahiko tried to be polite, knowing well that if this woman was here on her own, wearing that armour, then she for sure was someone they couldn't defend against, his only course of action for the moment was to try and settle whatever she and her people had with them peacefully, hoping that if worst comes to shove, Naruto will get back to them quickly.

The woman laughed cynically, stating with a vicious smirk, "Oh please, spare me the niceties…" She walked towards Kahiko and in a swift move, she grabbed him by the neck, smirking while her power oozed off of her, keeping the people from the tribe at bay as they shivered in fear, "I heard your talk, you know well who Temujin is…" She brought him close to her face, adding with narrowed eyes, "Originally, I was here to ensure that the brat finished his mission, but I can see that he either failed or left, so why don't you tell me all you know about the Gelel mineral? Specifically, the vein's location."

"Argh…" Kahiko struggled with the surprisingly strong grip of the woman, cursing at how quickly things were getting out of hand when there was no one around that could fight the woman.

"No!…" Emina screamed, trying to pry the woman's arm off her grandfather's throat but she was quickly backhanded by the armoured woman, dropping to the ground on her butt, whispering helplessly, "P-Please… don't hurt him…"

The woman smirked, looking at the old man before she said with no sympathy whatsoever, "Well, if he answers my questions there will be no problem here, if not…" She motioned towards the people of the tribe, all them shivering, too afraid to fight her, too loyal to leave their leader behind, "I have plenty of leverage to coerce the old man with." The woman smiled with vicious glee as her face started to slowly turn into a strange bat-like form, scaring everyone even more.

But just before she could cause any harm, a sudden flash of red passed behind her, making the woman screech in pain as blood started to drip from a slash on her back.

"Damn…" Naruto muttered while being in a crouched position, his lightning sword firmly gripped on his famous backwards style, leaned towards her, his guard ready for anything as a challenging smirk formed on his face, adding mockingly, "Ya ninja are a bunch of ugly fellas."

The woman, or bat, since her body now completely resembled that of a huge humanoid flying rodent-lookalike, leered towards the jinchūriki while she sneered vehemently, "You." She hissed somehow miraculously, since Naruto could see that whatever made those knights turn into those strange creatures, caused a lot of damage to their reasoning, turning them into authentic animals.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, the two fighters walking in circles, gauging each other in search for any opening. It took them a couple of moments but eventually, it was the knight the one that in an impressive punch, lunged herself at Naruto, almost like a kunai.

"Shit!" Naruto muttered as he barely had the time to sidestep the woman's assault, narrowing his eyes when the woman didn't stopped and instead, headed towards the depths of the forest, obviously luring him into following her.

Not having anything else to do regardless, Naruto knew that he had to take her down, maybe manage to get something out of her that he could use to track or even fight the rest of her comrades.

So the next in line as the Absolute God of End turned to look at the stunned Kahiko, ordering, "Get as far away from here as you can, I'll find you when I'm done with this whole thing." He didn't stop to see the old man nodding at him, focusing on sprinting into the woods, using his draconic nose to catch her scent.

It took the jinchūriki a couple of minutes to finally reach her, leaping from branch to branch as she flew through the trees, seemingly trying to run away from him, _'I ain't no fool tho…'_ He thought as he knew exactly that she was just trying to make him fall into a false sense of security.

Knowing that he had already won the battle, he focused on trying to get as much information from her as he could instead of killing her immediately, thus, he used wind chakra on his feet to launch himself at her with impressive speed, but she amazingly manoeuvred mid-air and avoided his hit.

But just before the silver-haired shinobi landed on the ground, he twisted his body until he could face the woman and after a deep inhale, he exhaled a narrow but fast jet of fire that she was too stunned to completely avoid, a loud screech coming off from her announcing the hit on her right wing, forcing her to land with a resounding thud.

"Uff…" Naruto groaned as he too landed on his back, rolling around the ground a little bit until he recuperated his footing, crouching and quickly going back into position, his lightning sword once again buzzing ominously as he screamed at her, "Oi! Just give up and we can talk it out like two damn civilized fools!"

The woman groaned while she shook her head, looking at her injured wing for a second, hissing when her eyes focused once again on the male some metres away from her.

"Don't do anything stupid, yo! I ha… shit…" Naruto was speaking but was interrupted when the woman jumped at him, a thick black smoke coming out of her mouth while she approached him, Naruto skilfully twisting his body to avoid her powerful kicks.

"GRR!" The knight screeched again once the smoke completely removed Naruto's ability to see, the bat female too lost in her own animalistic side to think coherently anymore, only able to feel the need to feed from the fresh piece of meat trapped into her smoke screen.

Naruto tsked as he realised that he was not going to be able to get a single word out of the woman, she was as lost as the werewolf earlier, it was clear that whatever they used to gain that power was as harmful as it was beneficial, if not even more harmful.

"I can't waste any more time on this shit." Naruto muttered to himself as he rolled around the ground to avoid another lunge of the woman. He might not be able to see, but his draconic senses were too keen to be completely crippled, he still had his ears and nose.

But knowing that Rosalia was in need of him since he could feel the small thin string that attached the two, a connection made when he tempted her all those years ago, Naruto waited until the bat-knight made another assault.

He closed his eyes and stood still, straining his ears and after some moments of silence, he heard a swish, muttering, "There." Just after he spoke, he focused on the thunder god seal he had plastered on her back when he first attacked her back at Kahiko's camp, grateful to see that the woman hadn't even noticed the dangerous seal on her crazed state.

Just as the transformed knight was about to take a bite out of her pray, she was blinded for a second by a bright red flash, confusing her for a moment before she screeched so loudly that the vibrations of her voice dissipated the smoke around them, revealing the image of her being pierced through the chest by a red lightning blade, her screech slowly receding along with her transformation until she could no longer say anything as life had left her body.

Naruto deactivated the sword and quickly caught the falling body of the now dead woman, sighing as he muttered, "Hate this…" He didn't liked to be so ruthless but it was necessary, his godfather had told him that he needed to be more at peace with the idea of killing as their main mission required a heart of steel. Besides, these people had killed so many without remorse and had also kidnapped his Rosalia, he knew it may be wrong of him to think so, but he saw his actions to be justified.

He gently set the body of the knight on the ground, looking at her face, wondering himself what does it feel to be so at peace, no longer worried about anything else other than just sleep the eternal slumber.

His pondering was interrupted however, when he felt a slight pulse that only another dragon could emit, a call from kin to kin, "Junior's with them fools." Naruto muttered while he looked at the east, where Canym was sending his location to him.

The jinchūriki then quickly started making a grave for the deceased woman, preparing himself for the battle that was sure to come. There was something in his gut that told him that the strange feline creature that took Temujin away, was the one person he was searching for.

* * *

"N-No, no, no, nooo…" Rosalia whined as she entered her room, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks when she closed the door behind her and rested on it, allowing her body to slide down to the floor, curling herself into a ball, her face buried in between her knees, letting her walls to crumble down as she muttered helplessly, "Why!?… dammit Naruto… w-why are you here!?…"

She never expected to see him ever again, she had already given up hope but just like that day they met, he came crashing so suddenly into her life that it brought hope along with him, the hope to move on, to be rescued, it broke her heart.

"D-Damn knucklehead…" She whispered lovingly, unable to stop the small fond smile from forming on her face at the memory of her stubborn lovable jinchūriki, that no matter what, he will always do the impossible for those he cared about. It made her heart flutter at knowing that she was so important for him that he had come searching for her, "B-But…" Still, it didn't changed the fact that she had never said anything about her past, about her life, about her cursed power, "What w-would he think of me?… w-will he…" She whispered, shrinking herself even more at the painful outcome her mind came up with, "Would he s-still care?" She knew he would, there was no way that he wouldn't, but she was just too heartbroken and confused to think coherently, she had never expected to see him again.

"A-And I almost attacked him!" She said, balling her fists, reminiscing that horrible moment she had lunged at Naruto without even realizing who he was, only in the very last moment did she recognised him, surprising because even in her animalistic state, her mind still refused to harm him apparently.

Before she could curse her luck even more, there was a knock on her door that demanded her attention, forcing her to quickly wipe the tears away from her eyes and take a deep breath to calm her troubled heart, standing up and fixing her clothes before she answered the knock.

Now fully recovered, Rosalia raised an eyebrow when after opening the door, she saw the figure of Ranke, the woman nodding at her stiffly before she spoke, "Lady Rosalia, Lord Haido has requested our presence immediately."

Rosalia kept her displeasure to herself, choosing to instead nod and follow the woman towards wherever her father was waiting for them.

To her surprise, they arrived a couple of minutes later to the control room of her father's warship, the man himself standing right before a gigantic map of the area, with a frozen Temujin right next to him.

"Milord." Ranke announced their arrival, walking to stand next her leader as Rosalia stood behind them, confused.

Haido remained silent for some moments, looking at the map intently before he finally uttered, "I received a message from Kamira…" He looked at both Temujin and Ranke before he observed his daughter over his shoulder, saying after the pause, "It appears that this… ninja… is coming to us."

Ranke widen her eyes slightly, commenting, "Where is she?"

"Probably dead." The cold tone of Haido surprised them all, shocked to hear the news.

"How d-did she sent you the message then, father?" Rosalia asked, trying to keep the fluttering in her stomach aside. She couldn't show any sort of connection with Naruto in front of her father, it could prove fatal for both.

"Her sonar, she had specific codes for any situation…" Haido pointed at a large strange machinery on the side of the room, adding, "That machine allows me to translate her sounds into messages."

"What are we going to do, milord?" Temujin then asked.

Haido remained silent for some moments, stating after the tense pause, "It may be too late to get anything from those nomads…" He turned towards Temujin, the young blond shivering as his leader smirked, adding, "But thankfully, I have finally been able to decode the last of the Gelel book and you, Temujin…" He put both hands on his shoulders, gulping wen Haido finished eagerly, "Are fundamental to our cause."

Rosalia could only hope that Naruto won't reach them, she recognised the look on her father's face very well, it was the face he had whenever he surprised everyone who thought he was defeated. His father was incredibly resourceful and like a true Prussian, you should never, ever count him out.

* * *

Hanare hated distance.

It was so cruel, so foggy, so painful, it certainly always took her sleep whenever something she loved was so far away from her. It was exactly the distance that had caused so much pain in her life, practically since her childhood.

Distance had kept her away from her home, though she could argue that it was her 'leader' since he ordered her to become a spy and thus, she was forbidden to ever be seen in Lock Village. But it was the distance with her home that hurt, not his orders.

She didn't even knew her parents, never knew what had happen to them, if they loved her or not, if she was taken away from them willingly or by force, if they cared or didn't even batted an eye. She had been trained in the art of espionage ever since she's had cognitive reasoning, away from the village she was supposed to be loyal to, the one she was supposed to consider a home.

But she never felt it as such.

Despite the fact that the men that trained her told her that her parents were there, waiting for her for when she'd grown up, that she only had to do some service to their home for a few years and then she will be free to do as she pleased. She never believed them, not even as a naïve child. She may have been naïve, but never stupid.

But after so long, so many years of loneliness, of deceiving and being deceiving, of hurting and be hurt, in the worst time of her life, when she had been captured and had already given up all hope to ever see the light of day again, she found him, her love, the one person that for the first time in her life, made her feel close, close to someone, not far.

It hadn't been easy at first of course, after Kakashi finally accepted to start a relationship with her. The problem was not their relationship, it was wonderful, everything she had ever dreamed of. No, the problem was much more important, Naruto.

It wasn't that he himself was the problem, he was a wonderful boy and had always been supportive of her and Kakashi. The problem was that he didn't needed a friend, regardless of all the times he denied it, she knew well that look, that longing look whenever he saw a woman with children, a very different one from the common desire-filled glance, it was the look of someone desiring for a mother, just like she desired one in her youth. She had that same look.

So when she and Kakashi became a thing, she was scared shitless by the revelation. She knew nothing of being a mother, she knew nothing of boy's problems, she knew nothing of Naruto at the time, she had no fricking clue of how to guide a young soul through life. So through the first months of their relationship, the only doubt in her heart was how could she be a good mother to her step-son? If there was someone who deserved to have a mother, it was most definitely him.

She never even realised when she had begun to love him, to worry for him, to glance at the gates of the village whenever he or her love went to missions, when that overwhelming sense of shielding her boy from every single pain that exists came crashing down on her heart whenever she had him in her arms.

He was her baby.

Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki was her little boy.

And while distance was now once again causing her pain, keeping her little boy away from her, off to a mission that surely was too dangerous for him, off to saving the day, off to be the knucklehead she loved beyond any reason, off to be the son she was so proud of. While she had no way of knowing for certain where he was, if he was okay, if he had eaten anything other than his beloved ramen, if he had brushed his teeth, so many things she had no idea about, it did hurt.

But it didn't stopped the loving smile from forming on her lips because despite it all, despite having to learn to live with the worry of a mother, she was so thankful to him, immensely, because their relationship, the love she had for him, the worry, every little thing she felt for Naruto, had prepared her for this exact moment, the one she never thought she would have, the one that was about to change her family's life forever, for the better.

"Hanare?" She heard the voice of Kakashi, already feeling him walking into their home.

The beauty breathed in deeply, controlling her emotions, her overwhelming happiness, at least for now, she needed to tell her love, "In here!" She screamed from the backyard, sitting on one of the chairs she had on her patio, a loving smile on her face when Kakashi walked towards her.

Kakashi looked at his partner, raising an eyebrow at the strange demeanour Hanare had. She was overly happy, beaming, it made him happy, but it still confused him, "Hanare…" He said, walking towards her, adding as he reached her, "What's wrong? You said it was urgent?"

Hanare felt jitters, for just a single moment considering that maybe Kakashi was not going to be happy with the news. But she quickly scoffed those horrid thoughts away, she knew he was going to be as happy as she was, "Kakashi…" She whispered, standing up, walking towards him, kissing him over his mask when she was right in front of him, adding with some tears of happiness forming on her eyes, "I h-have important news."

Kakashi felt nervous, there was no ominous feeling accompanying those words, there was nothing that told him that he was not going to like whatever his practically wife had to say to him, but there were still shivers running down his spine. He subconsciously grabbed her by the waist, a feeling on his gut, his heart pounding harshly as he whispered, "W-What…" He struggled, gulping, gathering saliva to add, "W-What is it?"

Hanare allowed her tears to fall, smiling happily while she cupped the silverette's cheeks, whispering, "F-Feel it."

Kakashi had no clue how his hand slowly moved towards her belly, on its own, already knowing what she was trying to say, something so strong filling his heart when he stuttered out, almost afraid to be wrong, "H-Hanare… w-we… y-you…"

Hanare nodded, crying, whispering happily, "I'm p-pregnant…" She lowered his mask, kissing him lovingly before she added, "We're h-having a baby."

It wasn't every day you got to see the feared Copy-Nin of The Village Hidden in the Leaves faint.

* * *

"Fucking hell…" Naruto whined to himself, shaking his feet with a frown, lots of sand falling from his pants while he added annoyed, "I hate the damn sand…" He crouched to pat his pants, saying once again, "It's coarse ad rough… gets fricking everywhere…"

The reason for Naruto's sudden hatred towards the sand, was because after following the call from his dragon partner, he found himself arriving at one of the coasts of the island, knowing that his target was without a doubt hidden in the canyon in front of him. The problem was that there was so much sand that it was even difficult to walk without sinking here and there.

"How in the hell did they fit that huge ass thing in here, tho?" The jinchūriki muttered when his eyes focused on the gigantic canyon in front of him, huge walls of earth that franked the deep river that led to the sea, it was very narrow, not small at all, but definitely not easy to fit a warship in there.

"Aight then…" The Namikaze added while he looked around, opening his arms while he said with a raised eyebrow, annoyed, "Where the hell is that lizard?"

Just as if being summoned, Canym suddenly fell on his shoulder, startling the next Dragon Emperor, forcing the small dragon to clutch the silverette's clothes tightly to not fall as Naruto jumped, **"Hey! Easy there, fool!"** The next King of dragons said aloud once the jinchūriki calmed down, barely managing to stay on his shoulder.

Naruto inhaled, wiping a non-existent drop of sweat, saying with equal loudness, "Well, don't fricking scare me like that, ya fool!"

Canym just shook his head before he jumped down to stand in front of Naruto, focusing his power and after a lightly bright white flash that made Naruto cover his eyes, the figure of the normal sized Canym appeared, shaking his body to get accustomed to his normal size once again, since it has been a while that he was able to be his normal self.

Naruto allowed his butt to fall on the ground, sighing while he petted Canym's snout, the dragon nuzzling on his hand before the jinchūriki spoke, "What ya found, mah lizard?"

Canym laid down, resting his head on his front legs before he replied, **"Not very much, but for what I could hear, they are from the western side."**

Naruto frowned, already knowing that but now having a confirmation to back it up. He looked back at his partner and asked, "What about the warship? Is it that troublesome?"

The white-brown dragon nodded, replying, **"Yup, I wasn't able to see the whole ship, but what I did see, seemed to be very powerful…"** He tilted his head, remembering the strange yellowish liquid that seemed to be powering the machine, **"There was a strange liquid fuelling the whole thing…"** Naruto perked at that, listening intently as the dragon continued, **"I only had to be close to it to know that it definitely had a strange power, the knights in the ship also smelled like that fluid."**

Naruto scratched his chin, deducing, "So that fluid could be the cause of their strange powers then…" Canym just nodded with a mild shrug, not having any other theory himself, "Any weaknesses?"

Canym nodded, **"Two…"** He smirked fiercely then, Naruto raising an eyebrow at the sudden excitement he felt from his partner when the dragon added, **"The fluid is highly volatile, I overheard the one that seemed to be the boss saying as much… aaand…"**

"And?…" Naruto leaned on, urging the dragon to continue.

 **"The thing is made completely out of metal…"** Canym's smirk widened, saying after the pause, **"Easy melting metal."**

Naruto matched the smirk of his partner, now able to understand his excitement, "Oh boi…" He said, adding with his fierce smirk, "Seems we now have a very good plan in mind then… metal we can melt… liquid that causes a big boom… oh yeah…"

Canym nodded at that, commenting, **"That's right…"** He then widened his eyes, remembering an important detail, **"Yo, I also saw your mate!…"** Naruto's eyes widened, leaning on to hear better, **"The female with red hair was there too!"**

Naruto asked impatiently, "How is she? Is she hurt? Is she being treated badly?" He placed both hands on Canym's shoulders.

The dragon shook his partner's hands off, saying quickly, **"Calm down, lizard! Damn…"** Naruto sighed and did as told, taking some seconds to be at peace and once Canym saw him better, he responded the previous questions, **"Physically, she seems fine…"** Naruto breathed out in relief, but he tensed again when the dragon added, **"But mentally, she seemed very distressed."**

Naruto frowned, commenting angrily, "Well, makes sense, she's being held hostage by those fucks."

 **"Naruto…"** Junior said, earning the jinchūriki's attention again to say, **"She called the man that seemed to be the leader 'father'…"** Naruto's eyes widened after that, shocked, the dragon speaking again, **"And he called her 'daughter' too."**

Naruto took some moments to recover from the shock, looking at the side, sighing before he uttered, "Damn… this just got even more difficult…"

There was a long tense silence after that, with Naruto scratching his chin, looking for a feasible plan, struggling for a while until he resigned, saying with a long sigh, "Then I guess we can only do it one way…" he looked at his partner, laying out his idea, "Aight, listen up…" The dragon nodded, leaning on to hear the boy well, "I'm gonna try to sneak into the ship, I'm not risking Rose in any way…" The creature nodded while the silverette kept going, "There's no way I can avoid a confrontation, so if I do fight, I'll try to take them out of the ship so that you can take it out with your flames, it's imperative we destroy that warship."

Junior smirked at the plan, eager to finally have something cool to do. But he tilted his head after a moment, asking, **"What if your mate doesn't want to come with you?"**

Naruto did stopped, frowning at the possibility. It was stupid to deny that it could happen, regardless of what occurred between Rosalia and her parents, he could hear and see whenever she spoke to him about them that she loved them deeply. If the man was indeed her father, then there was a small possibility that she may be on his side.

The second time he has come to a point where he had to choose between his duty as a ninja, or his duty towards his women, mates or not. The first one being with Piña and her brother.

He only struggled for a second though, "If it comes to that…" Naruto started saying, pausing for a moment before he continued, regretful but resolute, "Then I'll make sure she and her father escape the continent…" It hurt, but if that was what Rosalia wanted, he could only do good with his promise, "I can't harm her, in any way, but I won't let her or her father harm anyone else either."

Canym just nodded with a small frown, knowing and feeling how hard the possible scenario was hurting his partner, **"Well, I don't think is gonna go that way…"** The dragon tried to lift his partner's mood again, smirking as he added excitedly, **"She definitely reacted when they mentioned you, so she's clearly in need of her mate."**

Naruto snorted, despite the gloomy situation, knowing that, did bettered his mood. He knew that there was no way that Rosalia would just simply turn against him. If his gut was right, then she had already struggled with fighting him back then when she rescued Temujin from him.

If his gut was right.

"Aight then…" Naruto said, standing up, stretching for a little bit before he added while looking at his partner, "You go up and observe, I'll send ya a signal when it's okay to blow up that thing."

The dragon just nodded while he too stood up on his fours, shaking the sand away from his body as he said, **"Alright, don't do anything stupid though!"** He chuckled before he crouched and jumped, his wings flapping, pushing him even higher and after a couple of seconds, he disappeared above in the clouds.

Naruto remained staring at where his partner disappeared, a thoughtful look on his face before it turned into a decisive one, his eyes now falling to the scene before him, the narrow corridors of the canyon that hid his beloved red-haired European, muttering resolute, "Don't worry Rose, I'm coming for ya…" He smirked fiercely then, finishing, "Just wait a little bit more."

* * *

"Finally…" Haido announced loudly as he and Temujin stood before a large door. It was metallic, rusty and almost half covered in rock, probably due to not being used for decades, "Took a lot of resources and time, but we're finally here."

Temujin eyed the man, raising an eyebrow, muttering after a moment of silence, "Sir, do you think that the vein is here?"

Haido nodded with a smirk, looking at the young knight to reply, "I am certain…" He looked back at the door, his eyes roaming all over it, trying to find a weak point to exploit, "The book talks about the mineral as something sacred to its keepers, the clan in charge of it…" He then placed both hands on the door, smirking widely when they started to glow, an ominous hum while he finished, "This place is the clan's sanctum, their holy place, if the vein is anywhere in this wretched land, it must be here."

Temujin widened his eyes as the door started shaking, jumping a few steps back when after glowing slightly, a large piece of it suddenly exploded, sending shards of metal all over the place, covering his eyes to shield them from the smoke, coughing a little bit.

"S-Sir?" Temujin said after the smoke started to dissipate, unsure if the man was okay or not.

But, after some seconds, a shadowed figure slowly emerged from the smoke, Temujin gulping when he saw the strange new look the man had. He was no longer completely human, instead, he had a strange grey decolouration of his skin, his hair longer and white. Though the humanoid features were still present, there was something foul coming off from the man.

"Let's go Temujin…" Haido urged, slowly turning back to normal, a large smirk on his face when he turned around and made to walk inside the new opening, adding as he walked, "There is no time to waste."

Temujin just numbly nodded, recovering his wits and quickly falling into step with the larger man, widening his eyes when he finally caught glimpse of the inside of the sanctum.

It was enormous, the entry hall was without a doubt once glorious, though now it was nothing more than just a ruin. Rocks and rubble everywhere, decayed paint, signs of wildlife taking refuge in the enclosure, herbs and other brushwood reclaiming the place.

"Such magnificence this place must have been once…" Haido commented as he led Temujin through the ruins, looking around with genuine fascination, "The power these people must have had."

Temujin just nodded in a daze, looking around intently, showers of melancholy taking his heart hostage but quickly managing to restrain his emotions. He knew well what Haido wanted from him, he had explained the truth of his family, his origins, his clan, the very one that was in charge of safekeeping the powerful mineral baptized as Gelel.

He showed Haido shock, he showed him a troubled expression, convincing him of how shocking it was for the blond to find out the truth. Temujin knew well that Haido revelled on that shock, that struggle, because it meant that he had him on his hands, ready to do as he bided.

Too bad Haido was too arrogant to see the whole truth.

The two men remained in silence for quite a while, it almost took an hour and a half to find their treasure, the ruins proved to be way messier than what Haido had expected. But as if luck was on his side, the large European man couldn't stop smirking in excitement when finally, they found another gigantic door, this one being heavier, clearly thicker than the one at the main entrance, fortified, "Protecting a treasure of untold value." Haido muttered, chuckling in victory.

Temujin looked at the door as well, his hands itching, both nervous and eager to find out what was behind that gigantic door. But he was confused when he couldn't see any sort of lock or handle to open the door, not even a mechanism was present.

"You must use your blood, Temujin…" Haido said as if reading the young knight's thoughts, looking at him over his shoulder before his eyes travelled back to the metallic door, his hand delicately tracing the surface, following a set of hollow lines until he finally reached a very small crest. It was degraded, impossible to see what the family emblem showed or its meaning, but that was not important for the Prussian leader, "The book said that the mine was protected by the blood of your clan, here…" He pointed at the very centre of the crest, Temujin able to see a small dent in it, the size of a marble, but with a tiny needle right in the middle, "Use your finger to open it."

Temujin looked dazed for a second, trying to see if he could reconstruct his family's emblem on his mind, but alas, it was fruitless. But, shaking his head to get rid of his melancholy and nervousness, the young blond nodded, stating with a shaky whisper, "R-Right." He moved closer towards the door, the emblem being right in front of his belly.

Haido narrowed his eyes when he saw the boy struggle with something, irritating him with his stillness, "What are you waiting for, Temujin? Time is of the essence."

Temujin shook his head again, remembering where he was and with whom, "M-My apologies, milord…" He muttered, turning to look at the large man with an apologetic bow, before he faced the door when his leader ordered him to, "Here we go…" He whispered to himself as he slowly brought his index finger to the small dent, wincing slightly when he felt the needle penetrating his skin, the light burning sensation of pain numbing his hand for a second before a loud click resounded.

Temujin stepped back while Haido stepped forward, his eyes eagerly watching the door as it slowly opened with a very loud screech, rubble and dust falling all over the place accompanied by a small tremor.

It took the door a couple of seconds to finally settle. Haido, despite his eagerness, still warily waited until the dust had settled so he could step into the chamber, where his precious goal was surely being kept.

Temujin for his part, kept his eyes on the larger man, only focusing them somewhere else when he finally started walking into the chamber and once inside, he found himself marvelled by the room they found themselves in.

"Magnificent…" Haido commented, looking around with the same fascination he had at the beginning of their trek. The room was gigantic, it had a circular shape with a rounded conic ceiling, the walls adorned with old paintings, tiles of fine marble matching with pillars of brownish-coloured marble, the place looking like an empty palace, ready to be furnished by a King, "Such magnificence and luxury for such unworthy people…" It was already clear to Temujin, a long time ago, that Haido was most definitely a gigantic xenophobe, "But now, this, will serve the Empire well." He announced gloriously, stretching his hands as if proclaiming himself a saviour.

Temujin hid his disgust for the man's proclamations, choosing to instead look around until his eyes found something on the very centre of the room, a small lump on the floor, appearing to be some sort of crystal hatch, a faint yellowish glow coming off from whatever was below it.

His boss seemed to have noticed the hatch as well, since he snorted victoriously, smirking widely while he commented, "Ah, and here it is…" He walked towards the hatch, Temujin following him closely behind, the European saying as he crouched once he reached the small rounded window. The man's smirk widened when he saw the magnificent liquid mineral flowing below the floor, its power radiating with such strength that it made Haido lick his lips, "The weapon of the future…" Haido opened the hatch, inhaling the scent coming off from the well of liquid Gelel, ignoring the dangers it may cause him, "With this, the Empire shall reign supreme!" He couldn't stop his victorious laugh from resounding throughout the whole room, his mouth watering at the visions of the future, his future.

While Haido himself was unable to stop his joy from showing, there was a foreign object that did it for him. A medium sized blade going cleanly through his chest, only allowing Haido to have the time to take a long gasp, his eyes wide in shock at the sudden event, unable to come to terms with what was happening.

"N-N-No…" Haido whispered, already feeling his life draining away, unable to use the little he had left of the Gelel power. He couldn't believe it, he was so close, so close to achieve the power to rule the Empire, to put an iron curtain over the whole world and make it, force it into an eternal peace, "T-Temujin…" But he was betrayed, played, and as he slowly felt the blade leaving his body, unable to keep himself afoot and thus, falling to the floor with a loud thud, he could only look at the boy that betrayed him, not capable of saying a thing, recriminating him of anything. The only thing that he could do, as he slowly closed his eyes, regardless of all the evils he committed, of all the pain he's caused to millions, he could only think of his beloved daughter.

Temujin stood above the body of the now deceased Haido, there was no mocking gaze on his eyes, no mad glint present in his visual orbs, only resolution, "This is as far as you get, old man…" He threw away the tantō he had hidden on his armour, bloodied, walking towards the well of liquid Gelel, commenting on the way, "The only thing that's going to happen, is my revenge…" He kneeled before the hatch, his eyes narrowing with hatred as he thought of his target, "Your Empire… your Emperor… your people… they will pay for what they did to mine…" He sunk a hand on the glowing liquid, scooping a little bit of it, bringing it close to his face as he added with dangerously and determined narrowed eyes, "Even if I have to create my own army to achieve it."

His plan, his vengeance, the Empire's slow painful death, has just begun.

* * *

"Damn…" Naruto muttered as he crouched behind a boulder, atop of a small hill that allowed him to have a perfect view of the gigantic warship belonging to the Europeans, "That's one huge ass ship, yo…" He added with an appreciative whistle, genuinely impressed with the astounding piece of machinery.

Once the initial stun of seeing the ship for the first time disappeared, he quickly started scanning his surroundings, ensuring that there were no living signatures or any traps that may hinder his advance, nodding to himself once he was sure he was good to go.

He made a quick dash through the canyon's foliage, ensuring to be as silent as he could, despite the fact that the ship and its surroundings seemed deserted, he couldn't be too careful.

"Shit…" He whispered once he was right in front of the ship, looking at its immense size, finding no suitable entry for him, one that won't alert its crew or whoever was inside, "Surely there's someone inside." Ha added, feeling more and more confused since now that he was right in front of the ship, it was equally deserted.

It took him some moments of looking around to find a perfect entry, right below the ship's hull, a very small vent that seemed to work as relief for the engine's pressure, he couldn't even begin to fathom how much steam this thing produced.

But quickly glancing around him, ensuring that he was good to go, he went into a prone position and crawled beneath the hull, cursing every second until he reached his destination.

"Aight…" He muttered as he turned on his back, placing both index fingers on the vent's corners. His fingers suddenly started to produce a highly concentrated heat beam, smoke starting to come off from the vent's frame, cracking until a click was followed, the upper side of the vent detaching itself from the hull, "Now, you…" He added while he took his fingers to the lower side of the vent and did the same, achieving equal results, "Here we go." He then finished with a pursed lips, not looking forward to his travel through the ventilation system.

 _'Hopefully, there won't be any rats here, boi…'_ Naruto Namikaze thought with a shudder as he made his way through the vent, praying to Great Red that he won't encounter any of them squeaky rodents, cringing at the mere thought.

But, much to his relief, he found none on his rather long travel through the narrow corridors of the ventilation line, finally finding an exit to enter the ship.

He looked through the grids, making sure that he was alone. But he paled when he found himself looking at a large room, filled with tanks and shadowy figures floating in them, "What the hell…" He muttered, unsure if it was a good idea to get in the ship here, or continue searching for a better entry point.

But once he finally managed to focus on one of the tanks, he realised that while indeed they were some sort of humanoid creatures, they're not moving, "Here goes nothing I guess…" Naruto muttered again when he decided to just do it, already preparing himself for a fight if it came to it, keeping his aura down as to not attract any unwanted attention, "Shit." He cursed silently after he managed to destroy the grid, stepping out of the uncomfortably narrow vent, taking a quick moment to stretch himself before he stealthily walked towards one of the tanks to see what they were all about.

"Now, what do we have here?…" He muttered while he walked towards one of the tanks, noticing that the crystal was misty. He used his hand to clean the humidity from the glass, jumping back a little when he finally caught glimpse of the creature inside, "Holy shit!…" Naruto screamed, forgetting about stealth after finding a heavily deformed humanoid creature inside the tank, seemingly asleep, floating in the liquid while a tube connected with its chest, "What the fuck is this!?" He said with a harsh whisper, cleaning the glass more so he could see the creature with greater detail.

 ** _"Hmm, strange…"_** The powerful voice of the Absolute God of End, Ddraig, resounded within his mind, adding after a contemplative pause, **_"They are most definitely dead, but they also aren't."_**

Naruto could only tilt his head in great confusion after the words of his predecessor registered in his mind, only capable of giving a pathetic, "Huh?"

Ddraig sighed, explaining in more detail so the boy could understand, **_"Their bodies, organs and minds, are all dead, unresponsive…"_** The boy's eyes widened after that, listening as his mentor added, **_"But somehow, I can still fill electricity in them, if there is still energy inside the body, then it means that it's not thoroughly dead."_**

Naruto was stunned by the explanation, somehow managing to grasp a little bit of what the dragon was trying to imply, "But how? They're extremely deteriorated…" He muttered as he stared at the body, its skin almost charred, not black, but a sickly greyish instead, some pretty awful cracks all over its naked frame, as if it were made of clay.

Before anything else could be say though, Naruto managed to hear an almost silent hum quickly approaching, the distinctive sound of pointy metallic objects cutting through air. So without even looking back, he concentrated wind chakra on his hands and quickly released a burst of air that pushed him aside, just in time to get out of the trajectory of three kunai that ended up imbedding themselves on the tank, hitting the creature inside like a dead sack of sand.

"Oi!…" Naruto screamed angrily once he turned around to face his attacker, a rather good looking blonde woman wearing a purple coloured armour, similar to that of the other knights he had disposed earlier, "Ya trying to kill me, fool!?"

Ranke could only stare with a raised eyebrow as she eyed the strange young ninja, finding his absolute uncaringness for the situation quite disturbing to be honest. She could feel it wasn't confidence, neither was he trying to get in her head, he was just genuinely annoyed that she was trying to kill him, "Well, that should be quite obvious, don't you think?…" She said while a devilish smirk slowly showed on her face, narrowing her eyes dangerously as she added with a mocking tone, "You are, after all, trespassing private property."

Naruto only smirked back, warily walking around, not taking his eyes off the woman, commenting nonchalantly, "Now, now, there's no need to be so feisty…" He then gestured the tanks all around them, asking, "Why don't we talk about these weird ass tubes instead, huh? Maybe we can go out for a coffee after." He released some of his aura, trying to convince the woman with his draconic charm.

Ranke flinched as she felt something within her, a heat and attraction towards the young man before her, confusing her and putting her into an even more cautious state, "What are you playing at?…" She asked with a sneer, feeling nervous when she realised that he must be doing something to her, so instead of waiting for an answer or wasting more time, she quickly called on her power, screaming as she transformed, "It doesn't matter anyway! You're about to be dead!"

Naruto could only raise his eyebrows as he observed the woman transforming, wincing once she ended her conversion from a beautiful woman to an ogre-looking creature, like two times bigger than him, bulky with bluish skin, her arms almost as wide as her own body, clearly being the focus of her power.

That and the sparks of lightning that started to emanate from her body.

"Damn, you look ugly as fuck…" Naruto commented before he had to jump with a curse as the ogred woman lunged at him with incredible speed, landing a powerful punch where he once stood, bolts of lightning jumping all around her giant fist, "Hoo shit." Naruto added once he landed a little steps away from her, not wasting any time and quickly covering himself in his essence cloak, his whereabouts were already compromised so there was no need to continue hiding his presence.

 **"GRR!"** Ranke, or what was left of her inside that creature, roared heatedly when she felt the threatening presence of Naruto, riling her up even more.

Naruto waited for her to attack, an attack that didn't take long to happen since a second later, she charged her body with lightning and quickly released a powerful shower of bolts on Naruto, the Namikaze being forced throw a three pronged kunai far away from the attack, disappearing in a red flash and successfully avoiding the rain of electricity.

Naruto quickly made a set of hand-seals, filling his stomach with a big bunch of air, using his Uzumaki bloodline to turn the air, water and fire into a thick mist that quickly covered the whole room.

He quickly jumped to the top of a tank, knowing that with the humidity of the mist, the monster knight had the advantage with her lightning, as the mist will act like a conductor for the electricity. But his plan revolved in turning the fight into an old school battle of attrition with electricity, hoping that he had more power in lighting that she had.

The woman frantically turned around, looking for her target, the mist making it difficult for her animalistic mind to take notice of her surroundings. She instead only managed to hear a crackling some metres away from her, a red flash in that direction before the whole mist was charged with red lightning, making her screech loudly as she was being subjected to the intense current.

Ranke could only respond in kind, subconsciously releasing her own lightning in a bid for her survival, the two powerful charges of energy clashing against each other, making Naruto surprised to see that her lightning was managing to push his back a little bit.

"Argh…" Naruto muttered as he sweated, he was inside the mist as well, so he was also being subjected to the electrical charges, "DAMMIT!" He screamed with teeth tightly grinding against each other, using his divine essence to power his red lightning.

The clashing lasted for some minutes even, bolts dancing all over the place, destroying a couple of tanks, some bolts managing to hit Naruto but he didn't moved from his place, only flinching as he smelled the scent of his burnt flesh.

But eventually, Naruto could hear the once loud roar of the woman, slowly deceasing, going from an angry roar to a painful moan as time went by, her blue lightning flashing on and off before it suddenly stopped, a loud thud resounding moments later.

Naruto stopped his charge, panting harshly, surprised to see that it took this much of him to keep the lightning up, "It's not my main affinity after all…" He concluded, as that was the main reason for why he wanted to focus on lightning techniques during this travel.

He knew that Ranke was already dead, he could detect the scent of charred flesh amongst the humidity of the mist. But just before he could go and confirm his assumption, the sound of gentle steps walking towards him put him again on the alert, his blues narrowing at the mist on the direction of the knight, ready for anything.

His eyes widened however, when he heard a low threatening growl. Moments after, the figure of what it seemed to be a very large animal was slowly clearing as it approached Naruto, his mouth opening when he saw the cheetah that took Temujin back then, muttering with a small sad smile, "My Rose…"

* * *

Rosalia had heard a commotion coming from the ship's lower part. She had been in the warship's control room, forlorn, her eyes dull as they locked themselves to an invisible point at the distance, not knowing what to do from here on out.

She had considered escaping now that her father had gone out to search for the mineral, the only that could stop her escape was Ranke and she was guarding the horrendous creatures her father had created. This was her best chance to run away, but something stopped her.

The idea of running away to go and look for Naruto, run to his arms and let him protect her from the world, just as she knew he would, was incredibly tempting. But she felt unworthy, she had lied to him, she had kept her truth away from him when he has been nothing but honest with her and worse, her father and his Empire were considering a full scale invasion on his home. He was surely going to be thrown to the frontlines where she wasn't so sure he'd survive.

But the other truth was that she loved her father as well, she still had that childish hope that maybe, just maybe, with her in his life, he might change his mind and turn into the man that had raised her, not the delusional madman lusting for absolute control.

Her train of thought was then interrupted after she heard a loud crackling along with some sounds that seemed to be screeches. Her heat sank, her eyes tearing up since she knew well who the culprit was, she could feel him, somehow she could feel his warm and intoxicating presence.

"N-No…" She stuttered a whisper, shivering, without having a clue what to do, her heart was screaming at her to go to him, to embrace him and run away, "I w-won't choose…" But she couldn't come up with a decision and knowing that if she went down there to face him, she won't be able to even hurt him.

So here she was, already fully transformed into the creature the liquid Gelel turns her into, a huge cheetah with very, very dangerous claws and fangs, ready to tear any kind of tender flesh it was presented to her, her mind almost fully gone, lost into her animalistic instincts that requested food.

She was right in front of it.

"My Rose." He said as he looked straight at her eyes, a small smile on his face.

Rosalia stopped, shocked, something inside her mind snapping when she heard the voice of the man she longed for, somehow, not minding her animalistic mind, his voice seemed to tore through her clouded brain, reaching her consciousness and heart.

The cheetah could only widen her eyes, no longer threatening, her body leaning back, as if afraid of a bigger predator, a huge war waging within herself. Her animal side was struggling to attack, to tear the puny human before her and have a feast. But her human side, the one drowned in all of that foul power, couldn't bear the thought of laying a hand on Naruto, not him, anyone else but him, so she tried to run away, to leave and escape.

Naruto seemed to sense the struggle, he wanted to avoid a fight with a woman he held dearly to his heart because she was one of his mates, not fully bounded, but he already considered her as much, he loved her, "Rosy…" He uttered sweetly, a small smile on his face as he allowed his divine presence to shower the room, using it to soothe the creature he knew was his beloved redheaded broker, "I know you're there, I know you can hear me."

The smoke was now almost fully gone, allowing Naruto to see her in all her transformed glory, a beautiful deadly feline that had it not been for her teary and afraid eyes, would definitely looked scary.

Rosalia staggered on her four legs, feeling them all weak as her mind struggled. She couldn't help it, she wanted to respond, she wanted to be human again and run towards him, she wanted him. But her animal side wouldn't allow it, it was struggling for control as well, **"Rgh…"** She groaned in pain as she started shaking her head, her tail waving in fright while she used her paws to scratch her skull as if trying to tear something out of it.

Naruto walked tenderly towards her, the cheetah eyeing him with watered eyes, tears cascading out of those purple eyes he loved as she hid her face beneath her paws, afraid, her fur standing while shivers ran down her spine.

Naruto finally reached her, whispering, "It's alright…" He gently placed a palm on her spine, the feline whimpering, scared out of her mind while he started to gently caress her, adding another whisper, "It's alright Rosy, I'm here, your Naruto is here…" The cheetah started relaxing with his touch, Naruto seizing the moment to use his free hand to pry her paws away from her face, Rosalia only able to look at him with her snout on the ground, submissively presenting herself to him, "Come back to me, come back to me so I can tell you how much I love you." He wasn't tricking her, he genuinely loved her, she had been his very first conquest and after so many rendezvous with her, he couldn't deny that his greater goal was the furthest thing away from him when he was with her, just like when he was with his other mates.

Rosalia whimpered, slowly feeling herself more in control, timidly lifting her head until she could bury her snout on his belly, Naruto caressing her, the cheetah slowly transforming back into a human.

Naruto smiled as he held Rosalia close, the woman shivering and sobbing on his chest, desperately burying herself in his embrace, "N-Naruto." She moaned, unable to stop the small smile that despite her sorrow still managed to form. It was so good to be in his arms, to hear him saying those words.

Naruto just tightened his grip on her, kissing her scalp before he rested his chin on her head, whispering lovingly, "I love you, Rosalia."

Rosalia could only sob with a bigger smile, holding him closer, her muffled voice still loud enough for Naruto to hear her say, "I l-love you too."

Naruto and Rosalia just stayed like that for some moments, forgetting about it all, enjoying their reunion and declarations, nothing else mattered right now. Both knew that the fight was far from being over, but the world could surely wait, if just a moment.

* * *

"AARGH!" A loud scream resounded inside the Gelel's vein chamber, a whirlwind of green energy surrounding a lone male figure as he screamed in immense pain, his hand scratching his face as if trying to get rid of something.

"DAMMIT!" Temujin screamed even louder as the vortex of power increased, pain was the only thing he could feel while his body started to deform, muscles bulging out roughly and his bones stretched with sickening crunches, glowing yellowish liquid dripping out from his mouth, nose and lacrimal glands.

It had taken the blond knight quite some time to steel his resolve and drink the liquid mineral. He was afraid of the outcome but his mind reminded him of his goal, his sacrifices, everything he's lost and done, so he had finally forgone all sense of self-preservation and went ahead with it.

So much was his recklessness, or desire of vengeance depending how you look at it, that he had scooped out a whole 500ml jar worth of Gelel liquid, gulping it in one sip. He argued that after seeing what the regular 25ml test tube achieved in terms of power was already great, one worth twenty times over will achieve overpowering results.

And he wasn't wrong.

"O-Oh… p-please… rrgh!…" He pleaded, never expecting the pain he was feeling as his body slowly but steadily continued the abhorrent transformation.

It took almost ten minutes to be over, his body now large, ogre-like with thick black skin. His arms were the size of grown tree trunks, his legs as thick as that of a rhinoceros, the armour that has served him well barely able to keep it together, only the chest and waist area remained in place, the metal bending to its extreme in order to fit the herculean man.

"Uh…" Temujin released a heavy breath after the pain started to recede. It was still there, his muscles were aching as smoke emanated from his whole frame, his heartbeat accelerated enough that it almost worried him for a heart attack.

But, as he opened his eyes to show the frightening visage of two glowing crimson orbs, sharp teeth that could rival that of a shark, a deformed but thick face with an evil smirk slowly showing, Temujin muttered with eagerness, **"I-It's time…"**

His laugh boomed all over the sanctum, shaking it with the resolve and power of a madman.

* * *

Oblivious to the events unfolding inside the Gelel mine, Naruto still held Rosalia close to him, the woman finally stopping her sobs, now trying to recover the strength she had lost when she transformed.

"Hey…" Naruto whispered, pushing the woman's face away slightly so he could cup her cheeks, staring at her beautiful violet eyes, still puffy and red, with her fiery red hair stuck to her skin due to the sweat. She still looked absolutely beautiful in his opinion, "Feel better now, love?" He asked with a teasing smirk.

Rosalia could only lose herself in Naruto's blues before his question registered in her mind, forcing her to snort with a small loving smile, leaning on to steal a kiss form him, deep, needy, sloppy, mind-blowing, "Y-Yes…" She whispered after breaking the lip lock, adding while she rested her cheek on his chest again, "I'm… I'm j-just afraid…" She couldn't find the strength to keep talking, so she buried herself in his embrace instead.

Naruto sighed, kissing her head again before he whispered, "It's not too late, Rose…" She looked at him surprised, her eyes wide as she heard him adding, "We may still have time to save your father, to change his mind and redeem him."

Rosalia was absolutely stunned, she had no idea how the man she had fallen for knew so much about her parentage, her father, hence why she stuttered with wide eyes, "H-How?…"

Naruto sighed, kissing her forehead before he stood up and gently brought her up with him, replying, "There's no time right now to explain, we need to find your father and stop whatever he wants to do."

Rosalia wanted to know how he found out but could only nod at his words, knowing them to be true, "Right…" She just inhaled deeply with eyes closed, regaining her breath and will, "He went to find the Gelel's vein."

Naruto frowned at those words, asking, "You know where it is?"

"No." Was Rosalia's answer, frowning, trying to ignore everything around her, she didn't wanted to acknowledge the horrible creatures her father had created, she didn't wanted to acknowledge Ranke's dead body, she only wanted to take Naruto and get the hell out of her father's warship.

Naruto seemed to sense that, so he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, Rosalia raising an eyebrow while a small blush appeared on her cheeks, making the jinchūriki explain with a cheeky smirk, "You gonna feel a little dizzy."

Rosalia titled her head in confusion, about to ask what the silverette was talking about but she had to close her eyes when a red flash blinded her, her world spinning wildly until it all stopped too suddenly. She would have fell on the ground had it not been for Naruto holding her close, "N-Nhu…" She whined, holding Naruto's coat to steady herself after the transportation, "Warn me next time you t-teleport us, Naruto!" She playfully hit him on the chest, already knowing what he'd done.

Naruto only chuckled, kissing her gently on the lips before he said, "Yeah, yeah…" His eyes then turned to his surroundings, happy to see that he had managed to teleport to the upper side of the canyon, the huge warship stationed on the bottom, a perfect location to get rid of it with Canym's power, "You don't have anything of value inside the ship, do ya?" He asked Rosalia while looking at her over his shoulder.

Rosalia titled her head, confused, answering none the less, "Umm, no, why you ask?"

Naruto only smirked, not answering her inquiry. Instead, he looked back at the ship before he inhaled deeply, Rosalia able to feel a surge of power within the Namikaze before he suddenly exhaled an incredible fireball, a gust of wind accompanying it, enough to push her back a little.

"W-What the!?…" Rosalia asked after she steadied herself, immensely confused.

She was about to repeat her question but a sudden hum won her attention towards the sky, observing a small speck of light forming at the distance, widening her eyes when the speck gradually grew until it settled into a bigger ball. It still seemed small, but she knew that it was only because they were too far from it.

"N-Naruto?" She asked, uncertain, shivering when a huge spike of some sort of power filled the whole canyon, obviously coming from whatever it was producing the ball of energy.

"Let's go!" Naruto said and without announcing, he carried her bridal style, eliciting an eep from her. He ignored her questions in order to get as far as he could from the ship.

Rosalia was about to loudly ask something but her attention was once again stolen when she heard a loud boom coming from above, her eyes travelling towards the sound, widening her violets when she saw that the ball was now a beam falling straight towards her father's warship.

She had to cover her eyes when the beam landed on the ship, an enormous explosion ensuing along with a very strong tremor, Naruto shielding her inside his embrace, his back turned towards the explosion while his divine cloak acted as protection for him against the debris that flew all over the place.

It took a couple of moments for the explosion to dissipate, the boom still echoing throughout the whole canyon while dust made it almost impossible to see what was going on.

Rosalia, a little numb by the sound and the shockwave, finally managed to regain a little bit of coherence, opening her eyes to see her Naruto covered in a red thick mist, the mist covering her as well in a protective manner.

She was about to ask what the hell was going on but before she could open her mouth, there was a loud low menacing scream that clearly stated, **"NO!"**

"What the…" Naruto muttered after the scream seemed to be accompanied by a powerful pulse energy that carried enough strength to clear the smoke, forcing Naruto to once again shrink Rosalia into his embrace while he closed his eyes to protect them from the dust, waiting the blast out.

 **"Who!?…"** Another powerful scream resounded after the environment cleared, the once powerful warship, now completely reduced to nothing, only chunks of metal spread throughout the canyon remained, **"Who did this!?"** The creature that once was Temujin added with eyes full of hot searing hatred, scanning his surroundings.

"W-What… is that?…" Rosalia muttered with wide eyes when she was finally able to see the culprit of the scream, an incredibly scary looking black creature, huge, with red burning eyes searching for them. Even from such distance, she could still feel the intense foul power that oozed off him.

Unfortunately for them, the creature seemed to have heard her, as it turned its monstrous head towards their direction, snarling, showing its pointy teeth while it seethed loudly, **"YOU! YOU'VE INTERFERED WITH MY VENGAENCE!"**

"N-Naruto…" Rosalia whispered, afraid, tightening her grip on the man's coat.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, his divine cloak already on its two-winged state, knowing that the creature was no joke, "Rose, get out of here, go find your father." He pushed her a little away from him.

Rosalia widened her eyes, a dreadful feeling in her gut as she claimed worriedly, "No! I w-won't leave you alone with that…"

She couldn't even finish her sentence though, because Naruto suddenly used a watered down version of Gale Palm to push her even further away, the woman rolling on the ground a little until she stopped, looking quickly towards Naruto with wide eyes as she heard a powerful boom accompanied by an evil proclamation, **"DIE!"**

"GO!" Naruto screamed urgently, barely able to see the ogre leaping towards them with absolutely insane speeds, having enough time to brandish the Thunder God Sword and parry the insane punch the creature greeted him with.

Rosalia stared at her love for some moments before she did as told, knowing that this battle was one that she'll just end up being a nuisance than anything else and besides, she too wanted to find her father. So she stood up and as she ran past the two fighters locked in a stalemate, she screamed with a worried heart, "You better be alive when I come back, Naruto!" Not even his charming smile could ease her worry but she had to do her part, so she found her resolve and headed towards the ruins her father spoke about.

"N-Now…" Naruto started saying, now able to fully focus on whatever the hell was in front of him, "To deal with ya!" He screamed when he crouched in a swift movement, forcing the creature to stumble onwards due to its own momentum and with a another quick action, Naruto used his head to hit the beast's stomach, earning a loud growl from the creature that still managed to swat the silverette away from him.

Naruto went skimming through the ground, his sword still tightly grasped on his right hand while the left one cleaned the blood from his mouth, a hot pain on the right side of his face where the creature hit him, attesting the strength it had, "Damn… this twit's no joke…"

The creature didn't even wasted a second, as it recovered quickly and jumped once again towards Naruto, cocking both arms back and letting them fall as gigantic hammers on Naruto's location.

Naruto cursed under his breath as he rolled aside to avoid the hit, losing his footing for a second since the hit carried enough strength to cause a small tremor, _'Shit… could've squash me like a damn bug…'_ Naruto thought while a drop of sweat ran on his forehead.

Quickly thinking on something, Naruto focused on the creature's flank, smirking as he saw it completely exposed, "HA!" He screamed then, jumping at the beast and in a swift move, he used his lightning sword to deliver a deep and long slash on the side of the creature's body, Naruto's eyes gleaming when he saw blood sprouting from the wound.

 **"ARGH!"** The monsterfied Temujin screeched loudly while he quickly did another move and as fast as lightning, managed to hit Naruto with his gigantic fist, once again sending the silver-haired swordsman rolling all over the ground.

"Shit…" Naruto said under his breath while he shook his head, getting back on his stance, his lightning sword buzzing ominously as he prepared another attack.

But, the boy's blues widened when he saw that the wound he had just made to the creature was rapidly closing, almost as fast as his own wounds did, "Shit… you can heal that fast too, huh?" He asked with a bitter smirk.

Temujin couldn't even think straight anymore, he was genuinely fighting for control but the power that now coursed through his veins was intoxicating him, clouding his humanity and allowing the evil beast that lived within him to flourish. Hence, he could only reply to the boy's question with a loud roar and an onrush, a foul black smoke covering his frame, slowly appearing more as if showing his increasing corruption to the world.

Naruto gritted his teeth while he prepared, feeling the wickedness oozing from the creature that he now could tell was Temujin. It smelled just like the blond knight, so Naruto could deduce that just like the other knights and Rosalia, Temujin was under the effects of the Gelel mineral, albeit on a more powerful dose.

But just before Temujin could land his charge, a ball of energy coming from the sky hit right in front of him, sending the ogre-like monster back after the shockwave reached him.

"Junior!" Naruto screamed with a smile when he looked up, where he could see his dragon partner flying around, nodding at Naruto to continue.

Now knowing that he had aerial support, Naruto looked back at Temujin, confused when he saw him holding his head in pain, smashing it over and over again on the ground, "What the…" Naruto muttered with eyes narrowed when he saw two mounds forming on the knight's skull, the mounds slowly getting bigger and bigger until they started turning into thick bull-like horns.

 **"ROAR!"** Temujin roared after he transformed once again, though this time he no longer resembled a human. He was now a mixture of a rhino and a bull, with thick powerful horns and a body bulky enough to shatter his armour.

"Damn." Naruto muttered when Temujin charged at him, the ground trembling with every step he took.

Thinking quickly, Naruto jumped aside to avoid the charge, inhaling quickly and after a second, he blew the air in his stomach in the form of a dragon fireball, hitting Temujin on his side.

Temujin just growled while he skidded some centimetres, turning to look at Naruto with red eyes full of anger before he jumped, cocking a fist back, the fist being coated with a strange yellowish glow.

Naruto used wind chakra to once again sidestep the attack, barely managing to dodge it. He widened his eyes when the energy on Temujin's fist exploded at the contact, forcing Naruto to jump even further away from him.

Naruto hadn't even noticed that he had subconsciously called on his four-winged cloak, the enemy forcing him to up his level as it proved to be extremely difficult with the sheer force the brute had.

Just as Temujin retracted his fist from the earth, the creature turned to look at Naruto with murderous intent, about to lunge at him again but he was hit right on the back of his head with a powerful blast from above, sending his head crashing down on the ground.

Naruto silently thanked Canym for the help but without wasting a second, he jumped towards Temujin and embedded the lightning sword in the monster's spine, eliciting a loud painful moan from Temujin and just as a bull, he started thrashing around, trying in vain to get rid of Naruto who struggled to keep hold of the sword and stay on his back.

"S-Shit… stay… stay d-dammit…" Naruto muttered under his breath as he tried to tame Temujin, powering even more lightning into the sword to stun the completely animalistic knight, "ARG!…" Naruto screamed while he gather all the divine essence he could and after some moments of pain, he screamed with his body fully covered of red lightning, "I. SAID. STAY!" He unleashed all of his power in the form of electricity.

Temujin could only screech along with Naruto as they were both subjected to the divine fuelled lightning of the silverette, the scent of burnt flesh quickly filling the surroundings as both fighters were slowly turned to crisps, Naruto able to stay alive due to his own divinity and draconic flesh.

That didn't meant it didn't hurt though.

 **"ARGH!"** "ARGH!"

Both Naruto and Temujin proclaimed loudly until the lightning finally faded, both fighters having third degree burns on their bodies, smoke oozing off from them while they slowly fell on the ground with loud thuds, panting and with excruciating shocking pain coursing through every nerve they had.

"O-Ooowww…" Naruto groaned, great pain on every inch of his body, his burns were already healing but the pain still remained as present as it showed itself. But, he managed to slowly recover, shakily rolling on his back to push himself up with his arms, wincing at the effort but still able to get on his knees, his face low while he struggled to ease his insanely beating heart, "E-Easy now… easy…" He said to himself in between long inhales.

A metre or two next to him, the Namikaze heard a faint moan, making him turn his blues to that direction and see how Temujin slowly went back to his human self. But by merely looking at his wounds and how they weren't healing, along with the torn muscles he surely had and the strain on his heart, it was clear that he was moments away from embracing Hela.

Naruto dragged himself towards the downed Temujin, who was looking at sky with dull eyes, now back to his original green, his body swollen from head to toe, blood dripping from his mouth, nose, eyes and ears, his heartbeat being as painful as everything else.

"Why?" Was all Naruto could ask once he kneeled beside Temujin, wanting to understand why would someone throw themselves into such situation.

Temujin, with struggle, rolled his eyes so he could be able to look into Naruto's, a ghost of a smile on his face when he whispered, barely audible, "Revenge…" Naruto could see tears on his eyes, mixing with the blood that still fell from them. The blond slowly rolled his greens back to sky, looking at it longingly, whispering one last time, "T-The Empire… d-des… troy… it…" He couldn't say anything else since life had already left him.

Naruto only hung his head while he clutched his pained body, not understanding what Temujin was talking about, other than revenge that is, "Always causing so much pain…" He commented on the act that could very well bring Sasuke, his beloved brother, to a similar conclusion.

Naruto remained like that for some moments, in a sign of respect towards a fellow warrior. It took him some minutes to gather enough strength to stand up, wanting to give Temujin a proper burial but put that for later when he remembered Rosalia.

Naruto willed himself towards where he could feel her, her emotions were a mess and she was silently screaming for him.

She needed her mate.

* * *

Naruto knew that Rosalia was not in any danger, the emotions he could feel through her bond were not that of despair, fright or pain, physical at least. Her emotions fell more in the category of sadness, since he could feel the redhead's emotional pain and distress, characteristic of utter sorrow.

And just as he had thought, when he entered the ruins that Haido was in, where the Gelel vein was, he found a kneeling Rosalia gently embracing the body of a large man, an awful wound on his back, his clothes all stained by blood, already dry, meaning that Haido had died a while ago.

Correction, killed a while ago.

It wasn't difficult for Naruto to come to that conclusion, Rosalia, clearly not able of coherent thought, had desperately asked Naruto for an explanation, her teary eyes breaking his heart but still telling her the truth. Doing well by your lovers meant that you had to be truthful as well, regardless of the outcome.

He hypothesized that Temujin had either lured Haido into the mine, or had stabbed him on the back once inside, literally. The most likely theory was the latter, as the wound on his back was thin but long, distinctive of a tantō, weapon that he ended up finding later tossed aside, covered in blood.

Naruto would've said more about what he thought Temujin meant with all of this, it was clear that the blond knight had a vendetta against the so called Empire, a front he presumed was one of the main players in Europa, he hadn't much information and he definitely wanted to know about it, but he refrained for now.

The only source where he could get any information on the Empire, Haido, what they were doing here and what the Gelel mineral did to draw their attention, was the redhead currently in his arms. But he had decided back then, after seeing his first tempted woman sobbing and whispering things about her father and mother, to wait, at least until Rosalia had come to terms with what happened.

So the jinchūriki of the Absolute God of End took Haido and carried him bridal style, proceeding to leave the sanctum, closely followed by Rosalia who was tightly gripping Naruto's coat as if trying to draw some sense of stability from him. He had showered her with his divine presence during the way to the hill they were currently on, using it to soothe his future western mate.

And thus, despite the fact that there were still many things he needed to know, things that only Rosalia could answer, as well as their pending talk regarding Naruto's true nature, their bond, his ambition and her place in it, the Namikaze put it all aside in order to just be there with Rosalia, tightly holding her while she sobbed, mourning her father's, and mother's, death, the couple staring right at the altar made of wood where the body of Haido was being cremated.

Naruto could tell that Rosalia never really had the chance to get some closure and this moment, just at the death of her father, was the moment that marked her separation from everything that tied her to the old warring continent. So for today, as for the rest of his life, his priority laid on being there for his woman, the time for continuing his mission would come tomorrow.

* * *

The sounds of screams, explosions and overall destruction reverberated throughout the whole field, tremors following loud noises appearing every minute, the scent of fire and despair filling the air.

There was a rather large town at the distance, engulfed in flames, people desperately trying to run away but sadly, it was to no avail, they were being torn to shreds by a gigantic white creature that smashed everything on its path.

Up close, the creature was gorgeous, reaching the same heights of the mythical Nine-Tailed Fox, a mesmerising white fur covering its entire frame. The feet of the creature resembled that of a horse, in fact, almost all of its body resembled a horse, the difference being on its head that was more similar to a dolphin with four horns on it. But the most distinctive feature of the creature were the huge five tails that were currently thrashing all over the place, destroying everything and everyone on their path.

At the distance, far away from the dying town and its residents, two figures stood above a hill, observing the event with fascination.

"Isn't it dazzling, your highness?" One of the two, a tall man wearing an orange mask with a spiral pattern focusing around his right eye, eye fully locked on the ravishing man next to him. He was also wearing a big black cloak with red clouds as ornaments, the notorious cloak of the infamous group known as Akatsuki.

The man next to the Akatsuki mastermind, was a tall white male with dazzling golden curly short hair, enamouring blue eyes and a face that seemed to be carved by the finest sculptor. His clothes were fit for the Emperor of the Empire, a white royal suit with silver metal plates to protect parts of his body, luscious gold trimmings adding to the already dazzling image of a handsome ruler, his white and red cape flowing along with the breeze caused by the destruction of the town before them.

Emperor Maximilian had his blue eyes locked to the chaos at the distance, no sort of emotions showing on his handsome face, calmly answering the easterner's question, "Indeed it is…" He turned to face the masked man then, speaking once their eyes locked, "I never expected that the creatures you told me about years ago would be this fascinating…" He turned back towards the Five Tails, adding, "And powerful."

Obito nodded, his lone eyes focusing on the Tailed Beast under his spell before he said with an enticing tone, "And there are nine more of these."

Maximilian hummed, massaging his chin as he commented, "Ten of these creatures…" There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he thought of the possibilities, "The Union won't stand a chance against the glorious Imperial Army and its pets."

"Correct…" Obito said, keeping his pleasure to himself, knowing that he hasn't fully convinced the Emperor yet, he was getting there though, "It is a perfect opportunity, your highness."

The Emperor nodded with a hum, whispering, "That, it is…" The man then remained quiet, focusing on the destruction the tailed creature was causing on its own. It was absolutely impressive and terrifying, he had never seen such raw power like this before, he couldn't deny that invading the Elemental Nations to claim these beasts for the Empire was a very tempting dish, "Perhaps…" Haido had failed, Maximilian knew that the Prussian leader had either defected the Empire or died on his mission, since it has been days that he hadn't reported, so the Emperor had no one stationed on the eastern continent, "Is time for me to send some people to your home, Mr Uchiha."

Obito smiled behind his mask, his eye returning to the Five-Tailed Horse that still continued its onslaught on the poor citizens and their home. Plotting a war within the Elemental Nations was no easy task, there were too many connections between the countries on the east that it was very difficult to start a major conflict, more so when the Third Shinobi War was still somewhat recent. But now, he was slowly but steadily convincing one of the two most powerful military forces in the world to stick its nose where it didn't belong. If he manages to convince the Empire to invade the Elemental Nations, his ultimate goal will come about easily and with it, his dream of ultimate peace will be finally reached.

The how, was irrelevant.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's it! Hope you enjoyed it! Keep the reviews coming, otherwise I won't know what you want to see, next chapter will be up depending on whether I end up heartbroken or absolutely lost in bliss by next week, so cheers!**

 **-BOUNDED-**

Rosalia (SAO) (Not fully bounded yet but will be by next chapter)

Ayame (Naruto)

Tsunami (Naruto)

Koyuki (Naruto)

Ino (Naruto)

Hinata (Naruto)

Tsubaki (Naruto)

Grayfia (DXD)

Akeno (DXD)

Yugao (Naruto)

Piña Co Lada (Gate)

Mikoto (Naruto) (She doesn't know, but she's already fully bounded to him)

 **SONG OF THE FUCKING YEAR!:** IT'S COMING HOME, IT'S COMING HOME, IT'S COMING! FOOTBALL'S COMING HOME!(Doesn't matter if we lose tho, we already won the meme cup and I'm happy for that)


	34. Papercut

**A/N: Heyo! Good to be back with more chapters!**

 **Now before you read the chapter, I have something to say, so please listen.**

 **I do not like to bring politics into entertainment, I think that's why we read, play and hear all kinds of entertainment, to escape the fucked up world we live in for at least a moment, but this time, I feel like I have to make use of my platform to talk about politics, because they're starting to affect our entertainment way too much. As most of you probably know, Article 13 has been passed by the EU (It always has to be the goddamn Germans... jk love ya), now, even if you don't live in Europe, you will be affected. It goes way beyond the famous 'Meme Ban', I won't go much into detail as you should research it yourself, but simply put, it'll make things even harder for creators who want to begin a career, the companies will just have more leeway to be tyrants and much of the content you consume, come from Europe. Not to say anything of the changes the websites you use (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Fanfiction, etc) will have to take to not break the law. Trust me, you will notice the changes regardless of were you are. Now, I am kind of a hardline centralist, maybe a little bit leaned towards the right (Used to be a liberal when I was younger, but well, I grew up...) but this goes beyond your political beliefs, this is just a fucked up move towards turning the West into another China, I honestly can't tell anymore if the EU it's turning into the Fourth Reich or the flipping European Soviet Union, whichever way we're fucked. But, the law still needs one more voting to go through, so if you live in Europe and your country belongs to the EU, contact your MEP and tell him/her to fuck off, though it is highly unlikely that the vote will change, those fucking** **гадит** **. Now I don't mind donning the gear and bleed for my country, but I don't want Europe to turn into another giant battlefield, all I want is freedom of speech, nothing more nothing less, and I am sure you too, otherwise, with what fucking balls do we judge China and North Korea, when we're heading the same fucking way. Just give me that hard Brexit and point me where I can buy those Theresa May t-shirts... fucking hell... fuck the EU...**

 **Sigh, with that said, let's go back to the story.**

 **There's some fellas who pointed out that I'm underestimating Akatsuki and the Elemental Nations, and trust me, I'm not. The thing is that I'm making this story global, not just set in Naruto's world. When compared to Europa, the EN have a similar strength in armies, but not in the people, that's were the difference lays. A civilian living under constant war, is way more different than one living in peace, that's why the EN is so wary of Europa, not just for their armies, but the people and the diseases that exist due to harsh conditions of the continent, things are bigger than just the weapons. As for the Akatsuki, it's not that they're weak, the thing is that when I added DXD to the story, the stakes were raised to divinities, there is a group that's way deadlier than Akatsuki, composed by gods, those are the real villains of the story. Out of all the members of Akatuski, only Nagato could fight against one of the real threat. They're still as strong as in the story, but bare in mind that the horizon is deeper now, and there are threats stronger than them.**

 **Also, regarding his mates and why he allows them to have more relationships if they want to. First of all, I've no plans of having one of them with someone else, so rest assured, for now. But the reason for why I don't have Naruto being too restricting, it's because one, I believe a true alpha doesn't need to say he's an alpha, his women know he is their alpha and that's it, they may find someone else attractive but it don't mean that they forget about him, they are as his as he is theirs, simple. And two, I want independent women, this is not a story to sate your lust, nor to treat the females as sex toys, you can find plenty of other stories that fit said needs in this site if you want. This story is about Naruto and his allies, his women are allies, warriors, as competent as him, as assertive as him, the ones that will conquer the world are them, not Naruto, he's the provider, guardian and lover, they are the face of the movement. Having them act as just there for the sake of smut, will just downgrade this story into another lemon-fest. That's how it is and that's how it will be.**

 **Off with the chappie then.**

* * *

 **-FORTITUDE-**

 **Papercut**

 _"Why?…" A crying woman kneeled beside her husband. She was surprised to see that despite it all, the man did seemed to be pained by his decision. It was understandable however, leaders weren't meant to be heroes, they were meant to do what was best for their people, regardless of the path chosen, "Fugaku… p-please…" She pleaded still, knowing that while she could, to an extent, understand the Uchiha Patriarch's plan, it didn't meant that she agreed with it, "Don't you see w-where will we end?" She was a mother and her children came first, always._

 _Fugaku sighed deeply with eyes closed, kneeled, his posture stiff and somewhat shaky, knowing that the time for the Uchiha revolt was just hours away, "Mikoto…" He spoke, not looking at his wife as he continued, "It has to be done…" He opened his eyes, narrowing them at the Uchiha crest that was painted on the wall before him, adding, "For our brethren, our blood, our ancestors, our pride…" While there was a drop of doubt in his heart, he put it at the back of his mind, knowing that he had to do, what he had to do, "It's time we remind the world, the Leaf included, who the Uchiha truly are."_

 _Mikoto could lump in distress, sobbing, a dreadful pang in her heart suddenly attacking her when at the distance, she heard the faint sound of fighting._

 _Both Uchiha leaders looked towards their window, the noises increasing, a feint scent of blood reaching their nostrils, making them focus on the distance, their eyes straining as they tried to figure out what was going on due to the unnatural darkness that currently engulfed their compound._

 _Mikoto's eyes suddenly widened however, when faintly, she caught the figure of a familiar person, her voice weak and whispering, "I-Is that?…"_

 _Fugaku narrowed his eyes, his hand tightly grasping the hilt of his sword as he answered Mikoto's question, his voice cold and unsurprised, "Itachi…"_

"N-N-No…" A very weak moan came out of the mouth of a beautiful black-haired woman currently tucked in a bed. The woman felt a surge of soreness assaulting her when she tried to move, making her slowly open her eyes as she felt the rays of the sun hitting the side of her face, "O-Ow…" Mikoto Uchiha whispered once her eyes were subjected to light for the first time in years, feeling a little blinded by the sun for a couple of seconds.

"Miko!" There was a sudden feminine voice coming from beside her, a voice that Mikoto faintly remembered.

"W-What…" The Uchiha Matriarch whispered as she slowly turned her face towards the voice's direction, her vision blurry still but steadily, the image of a very familiar vibrant red started to form, feeling how the woman in front of her placed her hands on her shoulders, gently pushing her back on the bed while constantly repeating her name, "K-Kushina?…" Mikoto whispered, her eyes now a little wide as she started to see clearer, the face of the woman she once saw as a sister now slowly becoming clearer.

"Oh M-Miko!…" Kushina said with a wide smile and cascading eyes, immense relief flooding her heart as she gently held Mikoto in a hug, being mindful of her still weakened body, whispering lovingly, "Oh Miko… y-you're awake… finally… thank G-God…"

Mikoto only smiled weakly, some small tears falling from her eyes as she tenderly returned a one-armed hug, already knowing that the woman hugging her was without a doubt, the fiery Red Hot Habanero, "K-Kushi… so…" Mikoto tightened her grip, more tears falling from her onyx-coloured eyes as she added, "So I a-am dead…" Kushina was dead, she knew that well, therefore, if she was being hugged by her best friend, it meant that she was dead too.

Kushina widened her eyes, separating herself a little from Mikoto to say hastily, "N-No Miko!… you're not dead…" Seeing Mikoto's eyes widening, Kushina smiled reassuringly, tenderly cleaning some tears from the Uchiha's cheeks as she added, "You are alive, Miko… alive and in the Leaf…"

Mikoto felt extremely confused, her eyes wide, shocked, asking with a whisper, "B-But Kushina… I remember…" She winced, the memory of Itachi piercing her chest flooding her mind, sending a very painful pang in her heart before she somewhat composed herself and continued, "And you… y-you're dead…"

Kushina caressed Mikoto's head before she grabbed a glass of water and gave it to the Uchiha, the raven-haired female sipping it with some trouble but once she finished the drink, the Uzumaki said with a small bitter smile, "Miko… a lot has happened… including me…" Mikoto seemed to want to lift her body up, but Kushina quickly pushed her back onto the bed, whispering with an understanding smile, "But right now, you should rest Miko…" She held the Uchiha's hand, knowing that her next sentence was going to shock her best friend, "You've been asleep for almost eight years now."

Mikoto's eyes widened while her heart momentarily stopped, her breath caught in her throat before she barely managed to gasp out a weak moan, "N-No…" She subconsciously held Kushina's hand tightly, tears falling once again as reality hit her like a ton of bricks, "T-That means…" Her sons, her family, her clan, she knew it, she could feel it.

They were all gone.

"Noooooo!…" Mikoto let out in a despaired moan, her heart breaking into a million pieces, completely lost and incapable to grasp the situation fully.

Kushina's heart also broke at seeing her best friend, one of the greatest kunoichi to have ever lived, turned into a complete broken mess, crying herself as the Uzumaki gently brought Mikoto into her arms, trying to soothe her pain as much as she could, whispering, "Oh Miko… I'm here… I'll a-always be here with you…"

The two best friends remained like that for a good half an hour, Kushina feeling a little relieved when slowly, Mikoto's wails became faint sobs, hoping that the crying session would be enough to send the Matriarch to sleep.

But much to the redhead's surprise, Mikoto calmed down eventually and while still holding Kushina tightly, the Uzumaki heard her best friend whispering, "Kushina?"

Kushina kissed Mikoto's head, whispering back while resting her chin on top of the Uchiha's head, "Yes?"

"Is the Third still alive?" Mikoto's question made Kushina's eyes widen, not so much for the question, but for the intense emotion she could feel accompanied those words.

"Y-Yes…" The Uzumaki replied, albeit a little reluctantly. She was confused about the sudden question, but she argued that it may had to do with the night of the massacre. Though Kushina had no idea what the Third had to do with it, since as far as she knew, Itachi was the one that carried out the deed while everybody, including the Third, slept.

"Then…" Mikoto began saying, gently separating herself form her best friend, Kushina feeling worried when she saw Mikoto's eyes going straight to the window, a lost and dull look on her black eyes as she added with a whisper, "Can you call him? I…" Mikoto balled her fists, gulping before she finished her inquiry, "I need to speak with him."

Kushina didn't know what was going on, but she knew Mikoto well enough to know that there was nothing that could change the woman's mind. So the Uzumaki just nodded, whispering reluctantly, "A-Alright…" She began walking towards the door, looking at the Uchiha over her shoulder before she was to leave, saying with a worried look as she glanced at the Uchiha who remained looking lost at the window, "I'll b-be back soon."

Kushina sighed when Mikoto nodded with an almost dead mood, looking at the front and leaving the Uchiha's room, thinking, _'Miko… it'll be okay…'_ She wished everything was that easy though, but she knew that there was a long way ahead for Mikoto, she still didn't know what has happened over the last eight years and Kushina was sure that Mikoto's distress will only augment as she learns the truth. But at the moment, the only thing that Kushina could do was sigh and hope for the best, she'll be with Mikoto along the way, she had vowed that and will keep her word.

"I wonder what's Naruto doing right now?…" She whispered to herself, looking at the distance and also, wishing her once son well.

* * *

"Whoa…" A wide-eyed Naruto muttered as he looked at the gigantic destroyed gate before him. The almost gold-like metal construction was easily over twenty metres, completely flanked by an equally gigantic wall that seemed to be as thick as it was long, "Damn… the fam took security seriously…"

Walking to stand next to him, a beautiful blue-haired female also observed the construction, her eyes half-lidded as usual, quipping with her emotionless tone, "And even so, they still fell."

Naruto rolled his eyes, crossing his arms while he commented, "You don't have to be so frickin insensitive, ya know?"

Konan just tilted her head before she shrugged her shoulders, looking at the boy for a moment before her ambers went back to the once great Eddy Village, "What are you doing here?…" She looked back at the silverette, still a little confused with how easily she was interacting with the man she was supposed to kill. Even if she had agreed with Itachi and Naruto regarding Nagato, she was still unsure of the jinchūriki himself, mostly because of how different his eyes were. No longer bright, now darker and more realistic, a clear risk of him losing his way now more evident, "These are just ruins, there have been many expeditions and treasure hunters coming here…" She sighed, looking back at the front to add, "No one has found a thing."

Naruto's blood clone puffed his chest, saying with utmost confidence, "Ha! But none of them fools are yours truly!…" He pointed at the destroyed village behind the gate, smirking fiercely as he continued, "Besides! They don't got this!…" He took out what it seemed to be a very old journal from his pocket, red, signs of heavy decay on its cover, Konan raising an eyebrow as the Twelve Wings' jailer looked at her and explained, "'Tis a journal that once belonged to the very last Uzukage!… don't ask how I got it… it's confidential…" He scratched his nape nervously, hoping that Tsunade won't realise that he had stolen the book from the Hokage's private library, "There are some quite interesting things here… specifically…" He smirked at Konan, "An Uzumaki sealing book."

Konan's eyes showed a little bit of the surprise, understanding the high value that a sealing book written by the Uzumaki clan, the greatest practitioners of the art, could have, both monetarily and as a weapon, "You are very stupid, you know?"

Naruto leaned back, pouting while closing his eyes, crossing his arms as he muttered, mildly offended, "Well that's very fucking rude of ya."

Konan felt something so strange within her as she looked at the rather endearing look on the boy's face, a look that was almost identical to that of the old foolish and always a dreamer Yahiko. But she kept it to herself as she shrugged and commented, her eyes moving aside from Naruto, "I simply cannot understand your way of thinking, I am your enemy, I'm part of a group that's after the beast locked inside you…" She gestured towards Eddy, continuing, "And even so, you're extremely amicable towards me, going as far as to even tell me what you're after, something that could also help my group to defeat you…" She crossed her arms, finishing a little exasperated, "That's a really stupid strategy to me."

 _'Preach it, sister…'_ Naruto thought with his still childish posture, knowing that Konan was absolutely right. The truth of the matter was that he didn't really know what to do, he was essentially just winging it, seeing where the kunai landed. He argued that because of him being a blood clone, this was a unique opportunity to approach the Akatsuki member, since if push comes to shove, the worst thing that could happen was just being dispelled, the real Naruto was currently kilometres away, on a completely different island.

He still knew it was risky though, but that's how he rolls.

"You cold as fuck baby… breaking my heart without restraint…" He exaggerated, bringing a hand to his chest to clutch it, feigning a heartache, surprisingly, earning a little movement on Konan's lips, "But to answer your question, I simply want to understand your views…" He then shrugged, his blues aimed at the little book on his hand, continuing, "As for telling ya about the treasure, it really doesn't matter, it's sealed with Uzumaki blood, so unless you're an Uzumaki or have one in your team, you won't be able to use it."

Konan felt herself about to say that her group's leader was indeed an Uzumaki, but quickly shut herself up, she might have already decided that Nagato's path was not the right one, but he was still her best friend, she couldn't just outright betray him, not yet. Therefore, she just sighed and gave up, shrugging while she muttered, "I still don't understand, but we're already here…" She looked at the destroyed village, finishing, "Might as well just go with it."

Naruto grinned, keeping the book back in his pocket before he rubbed his hands and began walking towards the village, saying as he strode, "That's the attitude!…" Konan just sighed but still walked behind him, half amused and half dazed, listening as the boy added cheerfully, "It's adventure time, fam!" Konan just shook her head and with that, the two walked into the village.

Within the forest that surrounded the village however, the two ninja were unaware of a cloaked presence, lurking in the foliage, intently observing them, hidden, whispering with a feminine voice once the two ninja were gone from view, "Who the hell are they?…" She balled her fists, adding determined, "Doesn't matter, no one's desecrating my home… no one…"

* * *

" _Phew…_ " Naruto whistled awed as he looked around, admiring what was left of the village that served as home to his old human clan, "Damn… shit must've been rough…" He added, referring to the destroyed buildings all around him. There was barely any building intact, almost one hundred percent of the village being completely in ruins, undergrowth taking its natural course and tinting the once full of life sanctum into a palace of green.

Konan dumbly nodded, her amber eyes following the sound of water, somehow marvelling at the wide river that passed through the middle of the village, the nature as always, ignoring the decayed remains of human civilisation, following its course without a hitch, "Well, it was destroyed by Lightning and Earth, it is said they brought the best of the best for this."

Naruto nodded, walking towards the large river, humming as he managed to get a glimpse of a couple of whirlpools across the water, surely where the name of the country, village and clan was inspired from, "True…" He scooped up a little bit of the water, soaking his face, moaning as the cold liquid made contact with his skin, adding as his blues once again surfed through the ruins of the village, "A shame really, but it made sense from Lightning and Earth's point of view."

Konan raised an eyebrow at that, genuinely stunned by the silverette's words, her confusion prompting her to inquire, "That's quite surprising coming from you…" Once Naruto looked at her, she shrugged, finishing, "You know, an Uzumaki."

Naruto smirked at the beauty before he snorted, his blues turning back to the village and as he stood up, he explained, "It's difficult to feel attached to someone or something you've never even met, ya know?…" He looked at the bluenette over his shoulder, continuing, "Besides, they were at war, Eddy was an ally to the Leaf and the Leaf's only ally was Eddy, it made sense that the Uzumaki were going to be next on the hit list…" He looked then at a destroyed monument that seemed to be placed at the square of the village, probably were official announcements were given, "They were also a devastating force of sealing masters, heck, they made sealing an art to be feared."

Konan nodded at that, unable to argue the point. The Uzumaki clan's power came exactly from the art of sealing, their intelligence coupled with their longevity, allowed them to come up with astounding techniques and weapons revolving completely on seals. Living in an island also proved to be highly beneficial for them, as it made any invasion or attack a daunting task. Earth and Lightning might have succeeded in destroying the village, but it ended up costing them the war, as the attack had taken the lives of almost fifty percent of their armies, leaving them weak when the Leaf retaliated and thus, they lost the war.

"Then what's our next step?" Konan then asked after the brief pause, crossing her arms below her bust, tilting her head as she waited for a response.

Naruto sighed as he looked above, feeling a couple drops of water bouncing on his head, the sky dark and clouding rapidly, announcing a heavy torrent to come, "I think we should find some shelter for today…" He looked at the bluenette, continuing, "It's already getting dark and about to rain, there's no point in getting wet and dirty, there's no rush…" He looked around, trying to find a building with at least a roof, "We can search tomorrow."

Konan ignored the strangeness in her navel as she realised that they were going to sleep close to each other, it wasn't so much because of the romantic events it may lead to, but for the fact that they were enemies, his incredible easiness with the idea was something that alarmed her somewhat, "Are you implying that we sleep together?…" As Naruto turned to look at her, he gave her an irresistible smirk that sent delicious shivers down her spine, her eyes widening slightly as she understood the undertone of her words, a small tint of pink on her cheeks when she started waving her hands to the sides, saying with a highly uncharacteristic stutter, "D-Do not m-misunderstand! I meant… I w-was trying to sa-say… umm…"

Naruto chuckled, finding the sight quite enchanting. But sighing, he looked at Konan and said, "I know what you're trying to say, Konan…" He looked at the sky, the drops of water getting stronger as time went on, muttering with a small smile, "But you have to stop thinking of me as your enemy…" Looking back at the surprised Konan, the once Uzumaki smirked at her, this time in a charming manner before he added, "At least for this little adventure of ours, think of me as a fellow adventurer, nothing more, nothing less."

Konan stopped, her eyes still a little wide, feeling a sudden flock within her belly, causing her to look down at the ground as she muttered, "A companion?" It felt so strange for her to say that.

Naruto chortled, saying after Konan locked her eyes to him, "Yeah, that's how I think of you, at least for now…" He looked back at her, smiling like any friend would when he added, "So let's just forget about the outside world and let's just enjoy the adventure…" He smiled a little bitterly then though, his eyes turning towards the distance as he finished with almost a whisper, "We can go back to being enemies when we step outside Eddy."

For some reason, those words made Konan frown almost unknowingly, her eyes casting down as a heavy silence fell upon them, no one knowing exactly what to say or do.

Soon however, the rain started to pour down on them, making Naruto curse and quickly grabbed Konan's hand, the woman widening her eyes but surprisingly, allowing him to just lead her to wherever he wanted.

It was in that moment that Konan decided that at least, within Eddy Village's walls, she was not an Akatsuki, she was not a ninja, nor was she after the Tailed Beasts, within those walls, she was simply Naruto's companion.

* * *

 _"Shizuku…" A very tired masculine voice weakly said, the voice belonging to a very old man, resting on a bed as he struggled to breathe, knowing that his time had already come, "C-Come… child…" He whispered, trying to lift his hand with the remaining strength he had._

 _Beside him, a beautiful young lady approached him with teary eyes, sobbing harshly as she saw her beloved grandfather breathing his last moments, tenderly grabbing his hand as she whispered, "Y-Yes, Papa?" The young woman had reddish brown hair, long, tied in a lone ponytail that reached just above her lower back, a green cloth band keeping her hair together. As for her outfit, she had a black gi with some yellow and white adornments, a yellow sash around her waist to keep the gi in place, with a red coat on top of her outfit. She also had some kanji inscriptions on her left cheek, red coloured._

 _The old man looked at his granddaughter for what he knew would be the last time, mustering a smile, conveying all the love he had for his last kin, "I d-don't want you to be sad, Zuku…" He tried to clean her tears from her cheeks but he didn't had the strength anymore, therefore he continued, "I w-want you to go outside… t-to the main land… to meet people… f-friends… c-companions… love…"_

 _Shizuku just pressed her forehead on her grandfather's hand, crying her heart out as she whispered, "But Papa… o-our home… I h-have to protect it…" She looked up, caressing the old man's cheek lovingly as she added, "J-Just like you did before…"_

 _The old man smiled sadly at that, muttering, "And w-where did that lead me?… your grandma went away just before you were born… and your parents…" She winced, a pang in her heart as she remembered her deceased parents, "If you hadn't been born, I would've been all alone here… t-to protect Eddy…"_

 _"But Papa…" Shizuku still argued, tightening her grip on the man's hand as she continued, "T-This is our home… we c-can't…"_

 _She was interrupted however, when the old man said weakly, "It's just rubble now, Zuku… our home is long gone…" With the last of his strength, the old man made a monumental effort to take his hand on top of Shizuku's head, patting it tenderly and with a smile, he whispered, "I just don't want you to be alone… p-please… d-don't… be… l-like…" He couldn't finish his sentence, as his hand fell from her head and his eyes closed for the last time, now finally in the embrace of eternal rest._

 _"P-Papa…" Shizuku whispered helplessly as her face fell on her grandfather's chest, tightly gripping his clothes, for the first time in her life, feeling absolutely alone._

"D-Dammit…" A now older Shizuku cleaned her fresh tears, shaking her head, taking deep breaths to calm herself down as she whispered, "Focus Z-Zuku… you have a home to protect."

The brunette then focused back on her gear, going over it again to ensure she had all she needed to protect the village of her clan, "Seals, check… sword, check…" She murmured until she stopped to grab a very special paper, seemingly a paper bomb but with a black background and golden kanji, sighing and swallowing the nervousness that crept her as she whispered, her golden eyes locked to the seal, "Trump card… check…"

She proceeded to put everything on its place, tightening her clothes and donning her coat, looking at her small home for some moments, not knowing if she was going to make it back since the intruders seemed and felt very powerful, "I know you asked not to protect Eddy, Papa… but…" She tightened her fist, her face looking at a photograph with her grandfather holding her baby self, smiling before she looked at the door and with a determined glance, she declared to herself, "But I am an U-Uzumaki… and this is our home."

* * *

Konan sighed silently as she rested her chin on her knees, her legs pressed against her chest, rubbing herself to create a little bit of warmth in the surprisingly cold night of Eddy. Her amber eyes were currently locked to the silver-haired male acting as her companion, the jinchūriki of the Twelve Wings making a couple of hand-seals and once done, he blew a small fireball at the branches he had collected, igniting a fire, Konan feeling something strange as Naruto smiled in childish male pride.

"Nice!…" The blood clone said with a wide grin, looking at the woman for a moment before he looked down at the two boars they had killed before they were able to find a good spot for camping. The successor of the God of End leaned down and sat down cross-legged, sighing as he fell on the floor, taking out a knife to begin skinning the animals. He muttered as he grabbed the dead animal, "So, how about we get to know each other, huh?" He smiled at Konan a little, his hands beginning to skin the animal.

Konan looked at the jinchūriki for a moment, pondering whether it was a good idea to bond like this or not. She couldn't figure out if she was afraid to get close to someone she was supposed to capture in the future, or if she was afraid to reveal too much, "I guess." She just whispered, not finding any excuse to say no, or the actual want to not do it.

Naruto smirked as he looked at the animal on his hands, carefully separating the furry skin from the meat that laid beneath it, their dinner, "Alright then…" Konan prepared herself for questions she believed would be asked, mostly about her beliefs, beginnings, relationships or goals. She was so focused on those things that she was completely caught off guard when the silverette muttered his question, "Why paper?" He was smiling slightly at her, not mocking, not judging, genuinely intrigued and apparently fascinated.

"Umm…" Konan whispered, her eyes slightly wide, some pressure in her chest suddenly assaulting her before she whispered, taken aback, "I d-don't understand…" She thought she did, but she wasn't so sure. Her paper techniques have mostly always been mocked, most ninja immediately dismissing her attacks as mere child play, they were all dead of course, but that didn't meant their words didn't infuriated her. To hear the jinchūriki asking about that first before anything else and with a genuine curiosity instead of derision, was most definitely a first.

Naruto snorted, his blues going back to the animal as he explained, "Your origami techniques, that's what I'm talking about…" He paused for a second, trying to find a way to deepen his explanation, "When I first read about your abilities, I was intrigued by your ability to turn something as mundane as paper into an S-class weapon… that's some real talent… it's so, umm, mesmerising and unique…" He smiled at her as he looked back, their eyes locked when he continued, "Is it a bloodline or do you manipulate the paper somehow?"

Konan felt so weird when she bit her lip, genuinely surprised that someone was actually praising her ability. True, everybody feared her now and her abilities were already respected, but no one has openly complimented her techniques, not even Yahiko did so. But shaking her head, the rational part of her returned and she slightly narrowed her eyes at the silverette, saying somewhat challenging but still softly, "Why would I reveal to an enemy how my power works?"

Naruto made a blank expression after her response before he just sighed and shrugged, his blues turning back to the boar when he said, "Suit yoself then." He focused on his task after his words, a little disappointed by the silence but still willing to comply, he could understand her reluctance.

Konan bit her lip as she stared at the silverette preparing their dinner, silently observing as he finished skinning and after penetrating the dead animal with a long stick, he placed the boar on top of the fire, the flames beginning their work to cook the meat.

The bluenette didn't know why the silence bothered her so much, the disappointed eyes of the jinchūriki making her bite the interior of her cheek before her mouth, almost on its own, spouted, "I-It's just manipulation…" She looked down as Naruto stared at her with slightly wide eyes, genuinely surprised that she actually answered him. But before he could say anything, she continued, "I use Earth and Water chakra to manipulate the solid paper…" She brought her hand forward, a small sheet of paper suddenly flowing from her body, dancing on her palm while she continued, "I direct it with Wind chakra."

Naruto smiled slightly before he walked towards the other wall and once he slid down the surface, he rested his arm on his lifted knee, sighing before he commented, "That's quite impressive, three chakra natures, no wonder why you're an S-rank ninja…" His eyes were then hypnotised by the fire, the crackling soothing a peaceful atmosphere as he continued, "But why paper? Is it a hobby of yours?"

Konan's ambers also were hypnotised by the flames, sighing before she replied, strangely, now more at ease, "It was, yes…" She inhaled deeply, her eyes suddenly dulling, her words coming out on their own as she remembered the horrible days of her youth, "My… mother… used to teach me origami so that I could have something to occupy my mind during the war…" Her hands balled, the paper that was floating on her palm being decimated to just dust as she continued with a dry tone, "Once I learnt how to channel chakra… I guess it just happened…" There were, of course, things that she wanted to leave out, not in a point where she could feel comfortable with revealing deeper parts of her life and history, not just yet.

Naruto smiled a little, his head nodding ever so slightly as he muttered, his blues looking at her for a moment, "Well, I think it's a pretty cool power…" Konan looked at him, her amber just a tad bit wide, the silverette keeping his slight smile as he looked back at the boar, adding a whisper, "You certainly leave a mark."

Konan stared at the jinchūriki for a couple of more seconds before she sighed and rested her chin on her knees again, the fire hypnotising her gaze as she muttered a question, "What about you?"

Naruto tilted his head, a raised eyebrow that signalled his confusion, asking as he spared her a glance, "What about me?"

Konan remained silent for a moment before she rolled her eyes just enough to look at him as she replied, "Yeah…" Her eyes then travelled to the hilt safely tightened on his waist, her ambers travelling back to his blues to add, "The sword…" She looked back at the boar, "There aren't many kenjutsu practitioners, most ninja believe it to be too complicated for the job…" She eyed him again, saying with a whisper, "We're supposed to be assassins, not warriors."

Naruto snorted, uttering, "Yeah, there is that say that a ninja who can't finish his battles in less than five minutes, is no true ninja…" He sighed then, leaning back on the wall, resting his back and saying after a brief pause, "But I am no ninja…" He looked at her then, smirking slightly when he concluded, "I'm much, much more."

Konan looked at him, biting her lip for a second before she whispered, "Y-Yeah…" She honestly couldn't figure out what attracted her so much to him. He was no longer the shining light that Itachi showed her, but even so, he was still definitely special.

Naruto leaned his head back, his scalp hitting the wall as his eyes wandered towards the starry night, muttering lowly, "There is something special about the sword, ya know?…" He sensed Konan's eyes on him, prompting him to continue, "It makes it more personal…" He looked down to meet the woman's eyes, sighing before he spoke again, "With a kunai or shuriken, all you gotta do is catch the target off guard and boom, dead in a second…" He grabbed the hilt of his sword then, moving the temporary blade the real Naruto gave him in a delicate and enchanting dance, mesmerising Konan, "But with a sword, you gotta get in close, you gotta face your opponent…" He then looked at Konan, the woman feeling somewhat afraid when his blues darkened, a heaviness and coldness within them that seemed to be the complete opposite of those tender bright blues she once yearned for, "You gotta look them in the eye as you take their life away."

Konan remained frozen for some moments, the two ninja staring at each other, a silent attraction that enchanted both. But the bluenette shook her head, her ambers looking back at the fire before she whispered, "Isn't that the purpose of the kunai and shuriken?…" Feeling the boy's eyes on her, she explained, "To not look at the target's eyes as you kill them…" She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, muttering softly, "It's considered a great mistake to look at someone in the eyes as you kill them."

Naruto snorted, the blood clone sheathing the sword back before he commented, "True, they teach ya that in the Academy… 'Don't ever look at their eyes when they die, you won't ever forget it' they say…" He sighed, looking down at the floor when he added, "But that's exactly why I chose the sword…" His blues went to Konan again, the two looking at each other as he finished softly, "So that I don't forget."

"Why would you want that?" His words were so enchanting that she found herself like trapped in a spell, one that she didn't wanted to break. It's been such a long time since she's had a decent conversation, as morbid as it may be, she was friendly, enjoying herself even, no plots to dominate the world, no killings to be done, no people to kidnap, just two ninja sharing stories.

She didn't wanted it to end.

"To not lose my way…" He replied almost instantly, knowing that she was confused, therefore he explained further, "It's easy to lose your feet when you forget about the true value of a life…" He grabbed some rocks form the ground, playing with them as he continued, "When you think of humans as disposable, something to just use to further your goals, you'll end up forgetting about the reason for why you do what you do…" Konan had the feeling that he was telling that to himself rather than her, as if reminding him of an oath he'd made with himself, "When you allow yourself to feel the horror, the pain of killing someone, you're reminded of the immense value a life has, regardless of the reasons for their demise, you won't ever forget how truly painful, horrifying and disgusting…" He stared at Konan with such a gaze that it made her shiver, "Building a word on top of their ashes is."

 _'He's not… h-he's not Yahiko… d-definitely…'_ She didn't know what to think of the Naruto she was seeing now, he was so different to what she remembered, so collected, so wise, so cold. Whether she liked the change or not, was something she, at the moment, couldn't quite answer.

"You're…" She began saying, observing as he stood up and headed towards the boar, to check if it was ready, "Right." She concluded her sentence, her ambers roaming to the ground again, her mind wandering to somewhere else.

Naruto sighed, the burdens of his path suddenly coming crashing down on his shoulders. It was in these sort of moments that he comprehended Ddraig whenever he reminded him that the true enemy of his path, it's the path itself.

Pushing such thoughts to the back of his mind for now, he focused on the boar and sighed when he noticed that it was finally ready to be eaten. He then took a kunai out of his pouch and proceeded to shred the animal into pieces, halving the portions and placing them on two plates.

"Here…" He whispered to Konan, handing her a plate that after she shook her head, nodded and grabbed it, hungry herself, "Let's eat and then we can go to sleep, I can take the first turn to watch, we'll switch in the middle of the night."

Konan just nodded and bit the meat, enjoying the taste of freshly made food and keeping all her thoughts and worries away for now. Their journey had just commenced and she knew that tomorrow, things could only get even more interesting.

* * *

"Aight…" Naruto muttered, looking around, squinting his eyes as they rays of the sun suddenly hit him head on, quickly turning around to face Konan and add, "According to the journal, we need to find a secret passage that leads to an underground chamber."

Konan looked at him, raising an eyebrow, muttering with some quip in her tone, "I guess there won't be a cross painted on a wall, right?"

Naruto tilted his head, looking at the woman with some amusement as he said, "Did Konan, the fearsome 'Paper Angel', just made a quip?…" He chuckled when Konan suddenly looked away, an almost unnoticeable tint of pink on her cheeks, clearly embarrassed, "My, my, good to see you're finally warming up to yours truly."

"D-Don't get the wrong idea…" Konan replied too hastily for her liking, reigning her sudden strange feelings before she added, a little bit more composed, "I'm just eager to find that treasure…" She then locked her ambers to him, trying to get rid of the connection she felt with him by being a little antagonistic, "There might be things in there that could help our cause."

Naruto didn't bought her antagonism, but he decided to joke a little bit as he said, "Damn… so you're gonna betray me once we find the treasure, huh?"

Konan looked at him, her eyes a little wide, for some reason, incapable of looking at him as she replied with a whisper, "O-Of course… that is… umm… how it should be…"

Not wanting to push her further into a territory she wasn't comfortable with, Naruto just snorted and muttered, "You're too damn cold, baby… but I'll take it…" He ignored Konan's slightly surprised visage in order to go back to finding something, his eyes widening before he grinned and muttered as he pointed at the distance, "If you were to hide your clan's greatest treasure, would you choose the Uzukage Manor, the Uzukage Tower or the village's sacred temple?"

Naruto's mood was viciously deflated however, when Konan said, rather unnecessarily harshly in Naruto's honest opinion, "Don't be daft…" Naruto pouted, scrunching his face and listening as the bluenette continued, "Those places are too obvious to hide the secrets of an ancient elite clan like the Uzumaki…" She walked to stand beside him, looking at the three buildings he pointed at before she inquired, "Where did you get that idea from?"

Naruto scratched his nose, replying a little deflated, "The Uzukage's journal…" He took the book out of his pocket, flipping through the pages until he found the right one, reading aloud, "It says… 'You shall find the beginning, right into our pride'…" Naruto looked at the Akatsuki woman, adding, "If I understand his words well, then I believe he means the clan's crest…" He pointed at the three buildings he previously gestured at and explained, "The manor, tower and temple, all three have the biggest swirls around, so I thought that it should be inside one of those buildings."

Konan tilted her head, going over the Uzukage's words in her head, trying to find their real meaning, "I don't think you're wrong…" She began saying, looking at her partner to continue, "But I still think those places are too obvious, even if the door itself was hidden, to have it in one of those seems too naive."

Naruto sighed, keeping the journal back in his pocket before he offered, "Then let's go to the plaza and see what we can find."

Konan nodded at those words and after Naruto began running towards the village's centre, she followed closely behind.

It took them a couple of minutes to surf through the ruins of the once great Eddy Village, both ninja landing on top of the remains of a building, looking around the not so destroyed plaza.

"It's in better shape than I expected." Naruto muttered, his eyes looking the plaza. Besides the rubble of most buildings surrounding the place, the temple, manor and tower were relatively still standing. There were large pieces of concrete missing from the main buildings, but overall, they were still recognisable.

"That's a very big vortex." Konan's comment made Naruto focus right in front of the tower, where there was a huge body of water, almost like a small lake, just with the biggest swirl of water that Naruto has ever seen in his life.

"Yeah, that th…" Naruto was commenting but his eyes and Konan's went wide as their senses alerted them of a large projectile of energy heading their way, the two ninja quickly jumping away from their position, just in time to avoid a very powerful blast that clashed against the building they were on, fully destroying it in the process.

"The fuck!?…" Naruto screamed as he landed on the floor, looking at Konan for a moment, the woman as surprised as him, "What the hell was that? Where did it come from?" He asked, looking around, trying to find the culprit.

"Naruto." Konan's voice drew the silverette's attention, observing as she pointed towards the distance, the boy's eyes following her finger, settling on a strange figure at the other side of the plaza.

"What is that?" Naruto squinted his eyes, struggling to find any real shape to the culprit.

Their eyes went wide again when another blast passed by them just a little above their heads, their eyes rolling to the left to see the origin of the second attack.

"A fricking living statue…" Naruto muttered, baffled, observing as a rather large brown statue of what he guessed was an Uzumaki royal knight walked stiffly towards them, its eyes red, a huge staff on its hands, smoke coming off of the tip, "Are you kidding me?" He finished his earlier sentence as he stood up, unsheathing his sword, _'Damn, I gotta be very careful here… I may be able to withstand some damage, but if I'm hit by something as strong as that beam… I'm gone…'_ He thought. He might have been improved by Naruto's constant training with the Blood Clone, but he was still as strong as a C-rank ninja, meaning that he had to be extremely careful with who he faced and what hits him.

"You deal with that one…" Konan's voice made him look at the woman over his shoulder, seeing as her paper wings sprouted from her back and with a leap, she flew towards the statue at the distance, leaving him alone to face the other one and a few words, "I'll deal with that one."

"Fam…" Naruto complained, his senses alerting him of danger just in time to jump and avoid the dangerous swept the statue made with its staff, the silverette landing on a crouched position some steps away, his signature backwards sword-grip already on full display as the blood clone analysed the threat, "Why can't things be easy just for once."

"Fu." The statue made a strange sound as it raised the staff and without a second to waste, it let it fall on top of Naruto, who cursed under his breath as he rolled aside, knowing that if that staff lands a single hit on him, he was gone.

"Hate to think what will Konan do if she realises I'm a clone." The jinchūriki muttered to himself before he narrowed his eyes and waited for the statue to attack again, an attack that didn't took long to arrive as the concrete construct thrust the staff at him, enough power behind the push to leave a trace of dust in its wake.

Naruto however, used the statue's momentum to his advantage, using his sword to redirect the thrust to his side and with a three hundred and sixty degree turn, he used his left foot to kick the statue's gut, successfully landing a hit.

"Oh shit!" The boy cursed though, as he felt a painful vibration rushing all over his body originating from the kick, the construct being way too strong for a blood clone to beat it with sheer physical strength.

Growling, the statue used its free arm to try and grab a hold of Naruto, but the clone quickly manoeuvred away from the concrete beast, using wind chakra to slid right in between the enemy's legs, quickly turning back around and narrowing his eyes, muttering to himself, "How the fuck do I beat ya without offing maself?… shit's too tricky…"

Naruto was surprised when the statue suddenly turned way too fast for something as heavy as it, but the staff came on Naruto in a second, this time filled with a strange black and white energy on the tip.

Naruto couldn't jump away, thus he ended up taking the whole brunt of the push with his sword, a large chunk of his reserves immediately gone as he tried to push the statue back, "Fuck… you… ya fool!" He released a war-cry and almost by miracle, he managed to push the staff enough for him to substitute himself with a piece of rubble in the distance, the staff crashing down on the ground after Naruto disappeared, a small explosion ensuing.

Out of the smoke, the statue resurfaced, not even a scratch on its stone-skin, its red eyes aimed ominously at the jinchūriki who looked at the beast with gritted teeth, frustrated, muttering to himself, "I'm n-not strong enough to beat ya… Great Red dammit…" He knew he had to come up with a clever way to take the statue down, his reserves were being quickly depleted and he hasn't even reached the beginning of his mission, not to say anything of Konan and what she'll do if she realises the rouse, therefore the only course of action he had left, was in fact, a quite familiar one, "Time to don the old Prankster King's robe." His prank tactics were the only thing he had to beat the concrete beast, it still brought a smile to his face.

Just as the fight with Naruto and the statue began, Konan quickly reached her opponent thanks to her amazing speed, but she widened her eyes when just as she was about to land a solid hit on the concrete creature, the statue aimed its staff at her and after a buzz and an accumulation of energy on the tip, another powerful blast was released towards her, forcing the bluenette to deactivate her wings and let her body fall to the ground, barely avoiding the powerful blast.

"Damn…" Konan cursed as she skidded a little on the ground due to her momentum, quickly recovering and preparing her fighting stance, just some metres away from her opponent, "What a powerful defensive mechanism they have, no wonder why the Uzumaki clan was feared throughout the land."

Not wanting to waste any more time, Konan's body started releasing some sheets of paper, the papery constructs dancing around Konan's outstretched arms and as she inhaled, she leaned her arms back and with a powerful thrust, she released two large paper-chakram at the statue.

The attack landed dead on the creature's torso, but much to the Akatsuki's surprise, her paper, which has more than once penetrated even through thick metal armour, barely managed to leave a thin line on its torso, where the chakram hit, the statue still looking at her with those ominous red eyes.

"Explosives it is, then." Konan mumbled before she jumped aside to avoid the statue's stomp, the woman forced to jump again when in an impressive show of agility, the statue thrust the staff at her with dangerous speed, the woman barely able to avoid a direct contact with her stomach, but the speed behind the thrust was enough to grace her cloak, cutting a good chunk of it on her side.

Quickly making some set of hand-seals, Konan's body turned into thousands of paper sheets, flocking in a whirlwind that soon consumed the statue, more than a half of the sheets sticking to the statue's body while the rest flew away, reforming into Konan a safe distance away.

"Blow." The bluenette muttered with her ambers narrowed at the creature, making a one-hand seal and quickly after, the papers attached to the statue exploded with great force, the shockwave of the explosion being enough to even push Konan a little back from her position.

The bluenette Akatsuki kept her stance and senses ready for anything, her eyes narrowed at the cloud of smoke, some paper projectiles ready in her hand in case the statue survived her onslaught.

It came to great relief for her however, when the smoke finally receded enough to let her see the state of the concrete creature, which was now nothing more than just a collection of rubble and dust, scattered all around the blast-zone.

She sighed in relief when she found the statue's head, half destroyed, but its eyes were no longer glowing, the staff just some centimetres away from the destroyed user, no longer usable.

"One down…" She whispered, looking behind her to focus on Naruto, narrowing her eyes when she saw him struggling with the statue, "It shouldn't be that strong for him… he beat the One-Tailed Raccoon…" She kept her suspicions on hold for now, choosing to instead, deploy her wings again and take flight towards her partner.

Back with Naruto, he jumped back when the statue thrust its staff towards his earlier position, the powerful stone stick easily penetrating the concrete, throwing some rocks around them.

"Come on… just a little bit more…" The silverette muttered, seizing the slow recovery from the statue to quickly draw the last kanji symbol on the floor, smirking as he finished, "Yeah boi!… now… on to the last step…" He looked back at the statue which was now heading towards him with a stiff run, "Come at me, bro!" He taunted the concrete construct and just as the statue was about to try and punch him, the jinchūriki leapt off and used the statue's arm as a platform to propel himself even further, two kunai with strings attached to them on his hands, the silverette using his flight to embed the two weapons on the cemented enemy's shoulders, landing just behind the statue and with a growl, Naruto ran towards the opposite direction and using his strength, he managed to force the statue to fall over its back, a loud thud ensuing the fall.

"Quickly… quickly… quickly…" The once Uzumaki mumbled while he focused on tying the strings to the two kunai that were already embedded on the ground, two kanji symbols below them.

Just as Naruto finished tying the first two strings, he felt the statue struggling to lift its upper body, but its lower body was free, therefore Naruto quickly jumped on top of the statue and stomped it, forcing it to calm for a second, enough for Naruto to sink two more kunai with strings into the statue's legs.

Action followed, was Naruto jumping towards the other two kanji symbols with kunai embedded on them, doing the same and quickly tying the strings, sighing and whispering once done, "Aight… I might not be able to destroy ya, but I can still seal ya, fool…" He smirked, going through a long set of hand-seals and just as he finished, the kanji symbols glowed and with Naruto's declaration, "Sealing Arts: Swirl Prison!" A large gust of air began swirling around the statue, the air getting stronger and stronger by the second until the statue could no longer be seen.

Naruto was forced to cover his eyes due to the dust his technique was lifting, the hum of the small whirlwind being loud enough to drown any environmental sound. But after some moments, the wind began to dwindle until it was no longer there, along with the statue, only a black scroll left in their place.

"Phew…" Naruto whispered, greatly relieved that it was over. He still had a little bit less than half of his tank filled, but it should be enough to finish the mission.

"You struggled…" Konan's voice made the jinchūriki look behind him startled, finding her standing some metres away from him, apparently observing his fight. She remained looking at him with some scrutiny, Naruto feeling some drops of sweat falling on his nape as she added a little tersely, "The statues were strong, but not that strong… you beat Orochimaru and yet, you struggled with the statue…" She narrowed her eyes even more, asking with a soft, yet stern whisper, "Why?"

Naruto sighed and turned back towards the scroll, walking towards it, keeping his huge worry over Konan finding out that he was a mere clone to himself, masking it with an aloof aura, "I wasn't aiming to destroy it…" He grabbed the scroll, hoping that the lie he just came up with would work, "These statues are fascinating, I thought that if I caught one instead of destroying it, I'll have a chance to study it…" He turned to look at Konan then, showing her the scroll, the woman still looking at him without expression, "You should know that it's more difficult to capture an opponent alive, than it is dead." He finished with a small grin, hoping that she believe his half-lie. He did found it enticing to try and figure out the statue.

Konan remained looking at the silverette for some moments, dissecting his words. She couldn't find any trace of deceit though, so she sighed and nodded slightly, saying, "You are correct…" She decided to quickly change the subject of the conversation, since the reason she agreed with that statement, was because she has captured some of his brethren, "What now?" Thus, she asked then, looking back at the three main buildings in front of them.

Naruto sighed, relieved to see that Konan bought his excuse. But he also shook the worry for now, focusing back on the present and as he looked at the three buildings, he replied, "Well, we find the building that leads us to the treasure… the problem is which one, tho?…" He scratched his nape, scrunching his face in deep concentration.

Konan tilted her head at that, staring at the buildings until the sound of swirling water won her attention, her ambers falling down to the huge water swirl that was in the large well in front of the Uzukage Tower, a thought suddenly hitting her, "The Uzumaki crest is inspired by the thousands of swirls in the water that surround the country, right?…" Her question was met with a nod from Naruto, the male looking at her with a raised eyebrow as she continued, "If the journal stated that the entrance was inside their clan's pride, I'd say that this is the swirl he was talking about." She pointed at the well, knowing that it was the biggest swirl in the area.

Naruto's eyes widened when he looked at the water, now also seeing the logic in her theory, stating with a smirk, "I think you're right!…" He looked at her and added, "Only a lunatic would jump into such a huge swirl of death… the perfect spot to hide your greatest treasure."

Konan nodded and with that, both walked towards the edge of the well, looking down at the rather scary whirl of water, with Naruto whispering after a tense sigh, "Shall we?"

Konan just looked at him and nodded, both ninja taking a deep breath and without much more thought, the two jumped into the well, hoping that they were right and that instead of leading them to their death, the swirl of water leads them to the treasure.

* * *

Two figures suddenly came through the large hole in the ceiling of the huge cave below the surface of Eddy village, the hole was surprisingly void of liquid, as if there wasn't a large well of water on top of it. The two humans fell into the lake that was filled with beautiful crystalline water, almost as clear as the wind.

Naruto's head resurfaced after he fell on the lake, taking a deep breath and shaking his head, cleaning the water from his face while he focused his vision on his surroundings, commenting after recuperating his breath, "Damn… that was one heck of a ride…" He looked at his side when he heard Konan resurfacing as well, the woman letting him know that she was alright, prompting Naruto to add, "Wow… this place is gorgeous…"

Konan didn't argued that, as her ambers roamed all over the cave, marvelled by the crystals, walls and water, "It's seems… sacred…" She whispered, tilting her head to move the wet hairs off her face.

Naruto nodded at that, the cavern certainly gave off an aura of a sanctuary, a kind of hidden place that was greedily protected by those who found it before, "Let's get to the land." Naruto muttered at Konan who nodded and then, the two ninja swam to the nearest piece of land, Naruto being the first one out of the water and quickly turning to help Konan up, Konan accepting his hand and using it to propel herself from the water.

Neither of them really knew if it was the beautiful atmosphere or something else, but their hands remained intertwined for more than it was necessary, amber meeting blue in an electrifying dance, shivers running down their spines as they felt each other's warmth. Due to Naruto's position close to the water, when Konan got out, she was standing right in front of the jinchūriki, their chests touching, mouths just millimetres apart from finding one another.

The trance-like moment of the two ninja was broken up however, when a sudden sound made them turn their heads to their right, their eyes narrowing when slowly, a shadowed humanoid figure approached them, an ominous feeling showering the two ninja as they readied their stances, the romantic moment completely forgotten.

"Who are you?" Konan asked with narrowed eyes, her hand outstretched, ready to attack at any moment.

After some seconds, the figure slowly revealed itself to be a cloaked person, the only thing visible from the face, was some strands of long brown hair, the two ninja deducing the gender of the figure to be female, due to the two mounts that could be seen sticking out from her chest.

Their deduction turned out to be asserted, when the cloaked figure snorted, saying with an angry tone, "I should be the one asking that, trespassers…" The voice was definitely feminine, her fists balling as she continued, "I don't know how you found this place, but I am tired of people desecrating my home!"

Naruto's eyes immediately narrowed at that, whispering, "Your home?…" Not wanting to be heard, he continued his thought inside his mind, _'Is she an Uzumaki? Or does she just lives here?…'_ Naruto focused his sensory powers on the woman, trying to find a similar scent to that of his Uzumaki blood. He was greatly shocked when he found a similar aura on the woman, _'She's not fully an Uzumaki, but she's like my human self… half Uzumaki…'_ Not wanting to fight inside a cave since his abilities were very destructive, he tried to calm the woman's anger by saying, "You're an Uzumaki then?"

The woman seemed to grind her teeth, slouching, a tantō in one hand while the other one remained free, "What does it matter to you, thieves!?" It was clear by her anger and words, that there must be many people coming to Eddy for relics, it made her anger understandable.

"Listen…" Naruto still tried to take a peaceful route, it wasn't convenient for him to fight in closed spaces, these kind of grounds were his weakness since he was a brute, Sasuke was the one with the finesse, Naruto was the one with the destruction, "It matters because…" He was about to say that he was an Uzumaki as well, hoping that it may calm her down.

But much to his disappointment, the woman was having none of that, Naruto and Konan feeling the spike of her chakra, meaning that she was about to attack, "Shut up! All you bastards care about is to destroy and steal!…" She suddenly jumped at them with incredible speed, her face being revealed as the air pushed the hood back, her beautiful looks marred by the hateful glint on her features, screaming, "Just die!"

Both Naruto and Konan jumped away, with the bluenette stating with her cold eyes aimed at the brunette, "Surely you realise that you can't take on us both." As far as Konan could tell with her sensory powers, the woman acting as their enemy was not that strong.

Shizuku gritted her teeth as she pushed her sleeves back, shocking Naruto and Konan when they saw that her arms seemed to be tattooed all over, the woman looking at them both as she declared, "We'll see about that…" She then bit her tongue, wincing but still uttering, "Sealing Arts: Juggernaut State One!" The changes in her were immediate, her aura increased so much that it even shocked Naruto and Konan.

"What the hell did you just do, ya fool!?" Naruto asked, worried for her since he could sense that the boost in power was not natural, he could hear her muscles slightly tearing due to the strain the seals had on her body.

"What do you care, you thief!?…" Shizuku screamed, still angry but also genuinely surprised because she could sense the worry on the silverette's voice, it confused her greatly because they were enemies, he shouldn't be worried about her, "I won't let you mar my home anymore, I'm fucking tired of you bastards!…" She inhaled and after a set of hand-seals, she claimed, "Water Style: Water Dragon!" form her side, a gigantic dragon of water rouse from the lake, roaring as it approached the two ninja.

Naruto cursed, using wind chakra to propel himself away from the raging dragon that crashed against their spot, Konan quickly unfolding her paper wings and floating away.

The dragon had enough power though, to shake the whole cavern, pieces of rock falling all over them, with Naruto asking, "Do you wanna kill yourself as well!?"

Shizuku ignored the question, choosing to draw her tantō again instead and with an impressive leap, she jumped at Naruto, the boy barely having the time to draw his sword and parry the strike.

The silver-haired blood clone knew that he had to be extremely careful, his tank was just below the half mark and until he ate something, he won't be able to replenish strength, a good hit from the Uzumaki woman would be enough to dispel him and ruin his mission, "Damn, you're tough…" Naruto muttered as he parried the woman, smirking when he continued, "But I'm clever."

Shizuku's eyes widened when she sensed danger from above, her head shooting up to meet the view of a large piece of rock falling right on her, prompting her to curse and jump away, whispering, "I'll still get you, bastard."

The brunette couldn't attack Naruto again however, because Konan sent a set of paper chakram her way, forcing the Uzumaki to curse and use her heightened agility to either dodge or deflect the attacks, the bluenette stating as she floated, "I'm here as well."

Naruto utilised the distraction to quickly make some hand-seals, taking his hand to his mouth and after an inhale, he blew a set of fireballs, the small bombs of fire heading straight at the Uzumaki.

Shizuku cursed, her left arm glowing and as she screamed, she thrust the arm towards Naruto's fireballs and out of her palm, a powerful jet stream of water shot at the silverette, obliterating his attack and missing him by a millimetre, Naruto somehow able to dodge the incredibly fast attack.

Naruto's eyes then caught movements on Konan's part, widening when he saw her shooting some projectiles with paper bombs attached to them, the jinchūriki quickly jumping at them and with a roll, he used wind chakra to redirect the projectiles to the bottom of the lake, where they went off in a muffled explosion, the cavern shaking somewhat.

"Naruto." Konan spoke with a dangerous low tone, her displeasure clear as the water beside them.

Naruto chuckled a little nervously, saying with a bitter smirk, "We ain't killing her, Konan…" He looked back at the bluenette, adding with a serious tone this time, "Besides, don't use explosives here, remember? We may bring the whole thing on us if we do something big."

Konan was about to say something but Shizuku's voice won their attention back, their eyes widening again when the woman had just finished some hand-seals while they were distracted and with a painful groan, she said, "Sealing Arts: Juggernaut State Two!" Her body bulked slightly, but the veins were protruding now on her neck and arms, her sclera full of red veins, body clearly in pain.

"Idiot! Are you trying to kill yourself, fool!?" Naruto asked again, his worry growing when he saw Shizuku in clear pain.

Shizuku gritted her teeth, some tears falling due to the pain of the Uzumaki's forbidden technique. But the boy's worry was making a mess of her, because it was an honest worry, not a deceitful act, "Stop worrying about me!…" She screamed and with insane speed, she made a set of hand-seals and declared, "Water Style: Tsunami!"

"Mothafucker…" Naruto muttered as he turned behind him when a huge sound reached his ears, both him and Konan cursing when they saw the lake raising, a huge wave that practically covered the whole cavern heading straight at them with merciless speed.

"Naruto!" Konan's scream made the silverette look at the Akatsuki woman weirdly, his eyes widening when she suddenly flew at him and embraced him tightly, her paper wings covering them in a huge ball of solidified paper.

Both ninja remained close to each other as the water hit Konan's paper barrier, the bluenette struggling to keep her barrier up due to the insane strength Shizuku's attack carried, somehow ending up being the little spoon in their embrace, a strange feeling of warmth when Naruto embraced her even tighter, protecting her inside her own barrier.

It took some moments for the tsunami to dwindle, Konan no longer feeling any pressure on her barrier so with a tired breath, she released her technique, the sheets of paper falling to the ground, revealing the pair of hugging ninja.

A very harsh gasping drew their attention towards the other side of the ground, where the Uzumaki was struggling to regain her footing, kneeling, blood falling from her eyes and mouth, whispering huskily, "I c-can't believe… you… s-survived that…" She looked up, noticing how the blue-haired female seemed to have spent a lot of energy, as she was gasping for air as well, her weight being held by the silverette who otherwise seemed okay, "Then… y-you leave me with no choice…"

"Dammit, stop!…" Naruto's blood clone screamed, locking his blues to his fellow Uzumaki's eyes to continue, "I'm an Uzumaki as well!…" Shizuku's eyes widened immediately at those words, listening as Naruto added, "Stop! There's no need to keep fighting, I don't wanna hurt you!"

Shizuku felt something excruciating on her heart, a calling, thinking, _'A-An Uzumaki?… l-like me?…'_ She looked at Naruto almost longingly, but her eyes wandered to his hair, the spell broken as she added after a hateful frown, "L-Liar!… y-you… fucking… deceitful… b-bastard… liar!…" She was crying now, both from physical pain and emotional, "If I can't kill you…" She took out a scroll from her pocket, Naruto and Konan narrowing their eyes when they felt an extreme surge of power from the Uzumaki, Shizuku biting her thumb and declaring with a scream, "Then the Warden will!"

"Summoning: Eternal Warden!" The brunette smashed her hand on the scroll and it immediately began to glow brightly, a power blast of energy coming off of it and after, a flash of light that coated the entirety of the cavern.

As Naruto and Konan covered their eyes from the light, a powerful surge of aura made them look at the Uzumaki's direction, their eyes widening when after the flash and smoke receded, their eyes were met with the frightening sight of a gigantic golem, almost the height of the cavern itself, its eyes glowing green, an aura similar to the statues they faced on the surface, but this one in a much more different scale.

Shizuku gasped as the power of her seals drained out of her, everything she had poured into summoning the ultimate defender of Eddy, "T-This…" She whispered, cleaning the blood from her mouth, her eyes locked to the two opposing ninja, continuing after garnering some air, "Is o-our ultimate warden… a f-forbidden summon that can kill the caster if they're weak." She had to stop because she coughed up some blood, grabbing her stomach in a useless attempt to ease her pain.

"Dammit ya fool, look at you!…" Naruto screamed, wanting to find a peaceful solution, if he was in danger before, with that gigantic golem here he was in even more trouble, "Just stop! We can talk this out!"

Shizuku did stopped for a moment, her heart longing for another Uzumaki. Despite the hair colour, she could tell that he indeed had Uzumaki blood, perhaps a half breed like herself, "J-Just…" She whispered, honestly not knowing what to do anymore, therefore she just added a whispered command, "Kill t-them, Warden…"

The Warden just groaned in response, moving its huge and heavy left arm and aiming it at the two ninja, a recollection of energy being produced on its palm and after a few seconds, he shot a powerful beam of energy towards them.

Naruto held Konan tightly, the woman still reeling from the immense effort she did in covering them from the tsunami. It took a powerful effort with wind chakra for Naruto to avoid the blast zone, the cave shaking roughly after the beam connected with the ground, sending rubble all around the place.

Naruto cursed, his eyes going back to the stone creature, muttering, "How the hell are we taking that damn thing down?" It was in moments like this, that he hated being a clone and not the original, it restrained him so much that it was frustrating for him, used to usually being the one with the more power.

"T-The caster…" Konan spoke, separating herself from the silverette. She took a deep breath then, saying quickly before the golem attacked again, "She still has her hand on the scroll…" Naruto narrowed his eyes at Shizuku, noticing what Konan was observing, "Meaning that she has to continuously pour chakra into the scroll to keep the golem alive."

Another beam came towards them, this time both Naruto and Konan jumping away from each other, the bluenette able to recuperate enough energy to take care of herself, with Naruto stating as he landed and kept his footing after the small tremor in the cavern, "Can you keep its attention?…" Naruto cursed when he saw the golem charging both hands this time, adding quickly, "I'll try to go past him and head for the girl!"

"Understood." Konan muttered, her papers floating around her, choosing to use her remaining strength in more projectile focused techniques than her wings.

Two more beams came towards each of them, Konan and Naruto avoiding them barely, with the bluenette seizing the moment to throw some chakram with paper bombs at the creature, no longer caring too much about the cave's destruction, they were in a kill or be killed situation now.

Naruto for his part slouched and made a dash towards Shizuku, hoping that Konan's attack would be enough to keep the golem's attention away from him. He could tell that his fellow Uzumaki was in no condition to defend herself, relying solely on the golem for protection.

He was shocked however, when the golem somehow redirected one of Konan's chakram towards him, the woman screaming for him to jump, with Naruto having no other choice than to jump into the lake, the chakram exploding just as he entered the water, the shockwave sending him a little bit deeper into the lake.

On the surface, Konan's eyes widened when she saw the golem's right arm being surrounded by lightning, the female catching on the stone being's intention, muttering, "Don't dare!" She conjured all of her remaining strength and in a desperate attempt to stop the golem from shocking the lake, she turned her whole body into a tornado of paper and flew straight at the golem's arm, feeling huge pain as the lightning made contact with her but she kept her wit and managed to separate herself from her paper bombs, Konan ending up flying past the golem and rolling around the ground, barely having the strength to remain awake.

But her efforts were rewarded when the right arm of the golem was completely covered in paper bombs, going off after some seconds and with a painful moan, the golem reeled back, its arm destroyed from the elbow to the hand.

This was enough for Naruto to resurface and without wasting any more time, he made a mad dash towards the now unprotected Shizuku, the golem still trying to stomp on Naruto but the jinchūriki just slid aside, using his momentum to make a leap.

"Sorry!" He screamed when he reached the shocked and unprotected Shizuku, with Naruto rearing his fist back and just as he reached her, he punched her square in the jaw, a painful yell from Shizuku as she was sent flying back by Naruto's strength, bouncing painfully on the ground while she skidded some metres, a lot of blood flowing out of her mouth due to the strain of keeping the golem activated.

Naruto heard the golem behind him, the clone snapping his head back, closing his eyes when he saw the golem's remaining arm already on him, resigning to the worst.

But much to his relief, the golem suddenly disintegrated into millions of dust particles, leaving only a gentle breeze on its wake, making Naruto open one eye, a relieved sigh as he realised that the golem was deactivated just in time.

But his relief was short lasted when he remembered Konan, his head snapping towards her direction, a weight lifted off his shoulders when he saw her kneeling, nodding at him that she was alright.

"Y-You…" The other woman in the room suddenly whispered, Naruto's eyes widening as the boy walked towards her, kneeling beside her, relieved to see that with his blood, she was going to be alright, "A-Are you really… aww… a-an Uzumaki?…" Her voice was now soft, eyes tender, making it clear to Naruto that she must have been incredibly lonely in here.

Thus he smiled, applying some healing techniques on her, one of the perks of being a clone, not having such a massive amount of chakra or essence made it possible for clones to use healing jutsus.

"I am…" He whispered, his blues locking to her browns, the woman smiling painfully, but her eyes still shone, the boy adding, "My mother… is an Uzumaki."

"I-Is?…" She whispered, hopeful, never in her life expecting to find more Uzumaki. Naruto's nod made her incredibly happy, but also very confused, not knowing what to do or what drove her to grab his hand in a desperate manner, whispering with clear fear, "A-Are you… g-going to leave… m-me?…" She has never felt the weight of her loneliness until now that she found another Uzumaki, it was an excruciating pain, even worse than the physical pain she was suffering at the moment.

Naruto caressed her cheek, saying with a reassuring smile, "No…" She smiled, believing him, the silverette adding as a whisper just when she passed out, "I'll be there when you wake up."

Shizuku went idle then, her body forcing her mind to shut down in order to recuperate, Naruto sighing in relief and without a word, he created a regular shadow clone, saying to it, "Take her to the surface…" The clone nodded, grabbing the woman, carrying her bridal style as the blood clone added, "We should be soon to ending this mission." The shadow clone just nodded and with that, he headed towards the surface, leaving the blood clone and Konan behind.

The silverette sighed before he stood up and walked towards Konan, smiling slightly at her when she whispered, "You're soft." She wasn't mocking him nor insulting him, she was simply stating something in a somewhat fascinated manner.

"I am when I have to…" Konan understood his words, there was a reason why he was also known as 'Lucifer' after all, "Can you keep going or you wanna wait here?" He asked, kneeling in front of her, their faces once again dangerously close.

Konan didn't know why, but she definitely blushed, thus she quickly looked down, whispering her answer, "I d-don't want to wait but…" She inhaled, recuperating her demeanour, looking at him as she continued, "I don't have much strength left to walk right now."

The blood clone smiled, saying, "That's no problem…" He then turned around and slouched, looking at the confused woman over his shoulder to say, "Hop on." Gesturing his back.

Konan's eyes widening slightly, her heart pounding in a way she barely even remembered, whispering with a nervous gulp, "O-Okay." She then tenderly pressed her body on his back, her arms snaking around his shoulder, feeling as Naruto placed his hands on her inner thighs, sending a delicious volt through her spine, instinctively locking her legs around his waist.

Once he felt her safely in place, Naruto stood up, fixing her weight on his back and as he looked at her over his shoulder, their faces so close that they could feel each other's breath, he whispered, "Let's finish this adventure, shall we?"

Konan nodded and with that, Naruto began walking towards the other end of the cavern, the entrance to a smaller corridor marked the path to their destination, something that for some reason, made Konan feel sad.

* * *

"Hey… Naruto…" Konan whispered, her face buried on his shoulder, eyes half closed, tired but still finding herself enjoying being carried like this by the man. She and Naruto were currently walking through a large corridor, as far as they've walked, they weren't able to see the end of the road but they could tell that they were on the right track, not too far from their goal now.

"Hm?" Naruto acknowledged the bluenette with a soft hum, a small smile on his face as he piggybacked the woman that was supposed to be his enemy. Though he genuinely found himself attracted to her, not just for her beauty and well-built body, but her strength and determination were quite enchanting for him. As a dragon, he couldn't help but feel attracted to powerful females.

Konan subconsciously tightened her grip on the boy's neck, whispering after being acknowledged, "I have a question… for you." She somewhat hesitated, but she couldn't help herself, the question has been bothering her for a while now, even before she began her observation on the jinchūriki. She needed an answer.

Naruto looked at her over his shoulder, whispering back, "Waddup?" There was a very nice warmth forming between the two, both knowing what was happening but deciding to just ignore it. Perhaps because both new that after this little adventure of theirs, they were going to resume being enemies. It was troubling for both.

Konan sighed, still very tired for all the energy she used. She was highly surprised to see how truly strong the Uzumaki female's ultimate technique was, that tsunami drained Konan almost fully, "Your eyes…" She uttered lowly, her eyes slowly locking to his blues, the blues that once haunted her dreams with their brightness, a light she's never seen before and for what it seems like, won't see again in the future. But now they were dull, deep blue, almost pained, "They used to…" She struggled for a moment, not wanting to reveal too much of how they made her feel, choosing another word instead, "Be very bright… shiny…" The jinchūriki kept his blues on her for a moment before he looked back at the front, a heavy sigh that let Konan know that he understood what she meant, "But now… they're… umm…" She didn't know how to explain it, her face burying itself even deeper when she just mumbled the first adjective that came to her mind, "Cloudy."

Naruto sighed at that, his face locked to the front, slowing down his pace towards their destination.

His silence made Konan look down to the floor and whisper, dejected, "You don't have to answer that… w-we…" She closed her eyes, whispering the last of her sentence, "We aren't friends…"

Naruto sighed again, whispering huskily, "It's not that…" Konan's head lifted after that, her ears standing ready to listen the silverette continue, "Is just that you're not the first one to ask me that…" The boy had some flashbacks of all the times his mates, parents and friends have asked him about that, mainly those that were able to see the divine glow they had when he was a child. But like everything else in life, things accumulate rust as time goes on, "The simple answer is just that…" Konan held her breath, eager to hear him say, "I guess I just saw the world as it truly is."

"What?" Konan asked, as in a trance.

Naruto looked at her for a second, his eyes falling down to the ground as he tried to explain as best he could, "I used to believe, when I was a kid, that humanity as a whole could one day become one… united… all of our differences, languages, cultures, religions… all of them forgotten in the name of unity…" He sighed, looking down as he spoke again, "I thought that all that it took to achieve said unity, was to beat every bad guy in the world, kick their asses and be done with it… but as I began travelling, doing missions and meeting people who have either suffered or succeeded…" He smiled bitter sweetly then, finishing with a husky whisper, "I realised how foolish and ignorant that idea was… I was…"

Konan felt enthralled by his words, her lips mouthing on their own, "Why?"

Naruto inhaled deeply, pondering on his answer for a moment before he replied, "Because I never thought in someone else's perspective…" Looking back at the front, he continued, "In my perfect globalised world, everybody eats ramen with chopsticks, everyone speaks our language, everyone believed in our gods, everyone lived as we do…" His eyes dulled for a moment, as if remembering, "But as I met people and saw how in tune with their own culture and beliefs they are, I started to ask myself… 'why would they give up their way of life for mine?'…" He looked at Konan then, still walking, "Why would they cast aside their culture, language, beliefs, everything they've learnt, just to live in my world?…" He paused, sighing before he continued, "I then wondered, if I myself would be willing to give up all of that, to live in a manner that I may not agree with, for the sake of unity…" There was a long pause there, only Konan's soft breath being heard before the jinchūriki finished with a heavy and tired tone, "I guess I lost the glow on my eyes because I realised that… _sigh_ … that no matter what, there will always be someone suffering under your peace."

Konan didn't even know what to say, his answer was so unlike what she expected, it was as if she was the child and he the old man, years of experience and exhaustion filling his voice. The only thing she could add, was a whispered question, "Then… what is your dream now?" Not even she imagined how much she wanted to know his answer.

Naruto did sighed heavily at that question, his eyes casting down as he whispered, "That… is a good question…" Konan wasn't surprised that he never answered, instead, he looked back at her and asked one of his own, "What about you?"

Konan looked at the jinchūriki uncertainly, not really understanding what the silverette wanted to know about her, "What… what about me?" She whispered her doubt, her ambers losing themselves as she eyed the man's strong jawline.

Naruto tightened his grip on her thighs, making Konan bit her lower lip as the silverette took some moments of silence before he explained, "Your goal… your dream…" He sighed, rolling his eye just enough to look straight at her eyes to add, "Why do you do it? What's driving you?"

Konan stared at him for some seconds before she brought her gaze down, out of words for the moment. She knew that the jinchūriki was not asking why she and her group do the things they do, what's their goal or simply why are they willing to spill so much blood for it. Instead, the male vessel just simply wanted to know why she do it, what's her driving force, the reason for why is she following such path.

"I-I…" She stopped herself before she said one of her automatic lies. He didn't deserved that, the jinchūriki, for some reason, she felt he deserved the truth. She didn't know why there was a dazing flopping in her belly, not knowing if it was nervousness or relief, all she focused on was resting her chin on his strong shoulder and whisper with an honesty she had almost forgotten by now, "I made… a promise…" She felt Naruto's blues on her, the woman avoiding them as she finished with a husky whisper, "That's why…"

Naruto stared at her for some moments, finally stopping his stroll when they reached the end of the corridor, a somewhat big door in front of them, preventing them from reaching the Uzumaki's lost treasure.

But instead of finding a way to open the door, Konan and Naruto remained frozen for some moments, contemplative of their conversation, with the blood clone whispering, "You should be careful…" He felt Konan looking at him, her eyes a little wide in confusion as he finished with something that certainly shook the foundations of her heart, "There are… there are promises that can end up breaking you and everything you've achieved…" He lowered himself until Konan, reluctantly, untangled herself from his back, standing up, not muttering anything, her mouth slightly agape as the jinchūriki finished without looking at her, "Sometimes it's best to… just move on."

There was a heavy silence that fell upon them, the two ninja remaining in their place without a sound uttered for some moments, until Konan just sighed deeply and whispered, "Right."

That made the blood clone shake his head and get back to reality, his blues now focused on the door, trailing its beautiful craft, whispering, "There's gotta be a seal or sometin'…" He roamed the surface of the metal construct until his eyes settled on a thin hollow line, all the trails on the door starting from the tiny linear orifice, "There!" Naruto announced.

Konan also got back to the world once Naruto spoke, shaking her head before she locked her ambers to where the jinchūriki was dusting, tilting her head in confusion, saying, "It seems to only fit a paper there… I would've guess that the door was locked by a blood seal."

Naruto then let his butt fall on the ground, nodding as he commented, "In a way it is, but this orifice is for a seal, a seal in a paper I mean…" He took out a quill and a small sheet of paper, Konan's eyes surprised when the jinchūriki stabbed himself with the tip of the quill, the boy then starting to paint a kanji symbol on the paper using his blood as ink, the silverette's technique being as delicate as it was mesmerising, "But regular blood seals can be fooled, all you gotta do is just get the blood from an Uzumaki and boom, you don't even need them to be here with ya…" He shook the paper a little so that the blood dried, standing up once it did and with a small smirk, he concluded his explanation, "But this seal is special, it contains your genetic code but it only lasts for a couple of seconds, it was created to guard top secrets of the Uzumaki clan, it required a specific code so it was practically impossible to breach."

Konan remained silent as Naruto slid the seal in the orifice, a loud click resounding from within the door's mechanism and as the earth shook around them, the door slowly began to open, the two ninja forced to cover their heads from the dust that kept falling from the tremor.

It took some moments for the door to be fully open, the tremor stopping once the door finished its action, allowing the two ninja to have a good glance at what the door was protecting.

"Huh?…" Konan muttered, unimpressed, stepping into a large chamber along with Naruto, both of them looking around to find absolutely nothing, just a couple of torches that remarkably remained lit. As for a treasure, there didn't seemed to be one, "I expected gold, weapons or at least a library, but this…" She looked at the jinchūriki, who seemed as puzzled as her, and she added, "There's nothing."

Naruto frowned and scratched his nape, saying, "Well, the journal did said that the chamber contained only one treasure… maybe the book?… but…" His blues suddenly caught something at the far side of the room, grinning as he pointed towards the object and claimed, "Aja! There it is!"

Konan looked at where the jinchūriki was pointing at, narrowing her eyes and finally catching a glimpse of a large cube of stone, serving as a table, "What's that?" She then added, walking alongside the jinchūriki, both of them approaching the cube with a careful step.

Surprisingly, there were no traps that kept them from reaching the table, but Naruto was still careful when he approached the sole object resting on the surface, a wide grin on his face as he replied, "A book, but not just any book…" He carefully lifted the object, a book that was being protected with a black piece of cloth, the jinchūriki unfolding it and revealing the book hidden within it, explaining, "This book… contains every single seal the Uzukages considered too powerful to be used…" He looked at Konan, the woman fascinated by the book, the boy adding, "The Uzukage said in his book, that this techniques were left to the Uzumaki by a god… a real god."

Konan's eyes widened, looking at the jinchūriki unbelievingly before her ambers went back to the book, whispering, "Don't you think that's…" She paused, looking back at the silverette to finish, "An exaggeration?"

Naruto did shrugged at that, inspecting the book with a critical eye, opening it and reading a couple of sentences before he said, "Mm… the amount of chakra required for some of these techniques…" Konan looked at the book over his shoulder, her eyes widening as she saw what the jinchūriki was talking about, with the male adding, "They're definitely not humanly possible." He specifically looked at a technique that for what the writing specified, required the combined chakra of at least one hundred people, and it was supposed to be an attack made by just one person.

"This can't be…" Konan said, reading the rest of the technique before she shook her head and added, "The specifications are either wrong or the attack is meant to be made by a large group…" She pointed with her finger at where the energy required was specified, saying to the silverette, "This amount of chakra is insane, even for jinchūriki."

"True, I'm gonna have to get it to an expert to check it out…" Naruto mumbled, covering the book with the cloth again, thinking of Jiraiya and perhaps even Kushina, both being highly knowledgeable in the Uzumaki culture, "That is of course…" He then added, turning to fully face the bluenette, a sad smile on his face as he added, "If you won't fight me for it." The clone knew that if Konan wanted to take the book for her group, he would more than likely be hopeless to stop her, as he barely had any energy left, only the necessary to not burst out.

"I…" Konan whispered, unsure, her eyes travelling towards the ground as she stepped away from the boy. There was a war raging within her, she realised that this was the end of their adventure and it shocked her how much it really saddened her. Throughout her journey with the boy, she has been in a rollercoaster, it might have been painful sometimes, but it was enlightening, both on her perspective of Akatsuki and Naruto, the boy he had sworn to Itachi that she would help protect. She felt as if she understood a little bit more of him and the butterflies their adventures made her feel, were, to her dismay, genuine, "No…" She finally uttered, her ambers going to the surprised jinchūriki, sighing before she replied, "It will raise a lot of questions if I bring that book back to my group… I'm supposed to be observing you… not digging up treasures or having contact with you…" Her shoulders slouched slightly, her ambers going away from him as she concluded, "Let's just… get out of here."

Naruto gave a thankful nod with a bittersweet smile, not happy to realise that their adventure was over and that it was time to part ways.

The way back to the surface was silent, not an awkward nor a comfortable silence, but a melancholic one, both ninja looking at the front and nowhere else, nothing left to be said.

It took them around fifteen minutes to finally go back to the surface, realising that it was just about dusk, with Naruto saying to Konan, "You can stay the night, ya know?…" He sighed, adding while nervously scratching his nape, "I-It's umm… late."

Konan shocked him when she walked up to him and out of nowhere, she kissed him on the cheek, lingering a little bit more than needed.

She smiled a little when she saw his stupefied face, the woman stating as she turned away, "No… I must go back and report."

As her wings unfolded, the jinchūriki said, "Are you going to continue observing me?…" At her nod, he smiled a little and added, "Then, let's do this again… what'cha say?"

Konan gave him one last gift when for the very first time, she looked at him over her shoulder and smiled, it was a genuine smile, her face looking absolutely beautiful with the tint of the dusk and a smile he swore he would see again, "Perhaps." With that word, Konan flew off, leaving only a trace of dust where she once was, disappearing in the night's sky after some moments, gone with the wind.

Naruto stared at the sky, a small smile on his face, sighing as he whispered, "I'll see ya soon, Konan…" He then looked back at the book on his hands, his smirk turning fierce when he unfolded the cloth and without a care, he threw the book to the ground, his eyes gleaming when he spread the cloth to reveal a gorgeous cloak, black as the night, with crimson-coloured trimmings and ornaments, a strange vicious and powerful aura oozing off of it, "This is the real treasure tho…" The jinchūriki muttered smirking viciously as he stared at the cloak with childish glee, "Futsunushi's cloak."

* * *

 _"Zuku?" An old man asked to a young girl who was playing with some sheets of paper, attempting to draw complicated seals, at least to her young mind._

 _The brunette girl turned to look at her grandfather, tilting her head as she said, "Yes Papa?" She knew her real parents, she had a faint memory of her father and mother, but they died when she was very young and her grandfather has been the one taking care of her ever since. He was more her father than anything else at this point._

 _The man smiled, caressing her head as he asked, "Don't you want to meet the mainland? You can meet new people, make a lot of friends." There's nothing more that he wanted than his granddaughter to coexist with other children of her age, he was willing to just forsake his home, there was nothing left there anyway._

 _But as he imagined, the girl shook her head with a determined look, stating with childish pride, "Nope! We're Uzumaki! This is our home and we must protect it!"_

 _It was beautiful in the old man's eyes, her determination and duty towards the last of their clan, but he still found it sad, "But aren't you lonely?" He still tried to persuade her though, hoping that maybe she will change her mind._

 _But like just about every Uzumaki, the girl was stubborn, huffing, saying, "I'm not lonely 'ttebasa!…" she got up, walking towards her grandfather and hugged him tightly, burying her little face on his stomach, whispering, "I got you, Papa."_

 _The old man sighed, patting the girl's back, saying with a melancholic tone, "And when I'm gone?"_

 _The girl did stopped, her eyes roaming to the floor, tightening her hold on her grandfather, taking some moments to shake her head and say, "No! Papa will be with me for ever!"_

 _The old man just sighed, caressing the young girl and only able to whisper, "Oh Zuku…"_

"Ah!…" Shizuku woke up with a gasp, wincing the moment she tried to stand up, her body demanding her to lay back down, "D-Damn…" She whispered, cracking her brain for answers until it slowly came crashing down on her, all the events that transpired.

"You're awake now, good." A masculine voice made the Uzumaki open her eyes and quickly roll her head to the side, her browns widening when she saw the figure of the man that claimed to be an Uzumaki, calmly roasting a boar, the fire lighting up his face, allowing her to have a better glance at him.

"Y-You're… here…" She whispered, surprised, she didn't really expected that the boy would keep his word, she even thought that he was going to kill her. But much to her surprise, here he was, preparing dinner, her eyes roaming to where she was laying, a makeshift bed, two covers on her body to protect her from the cold. She could also feel bandages on her body, remembering the extensive damage her seals made to her.

Naruto smirked, looking at her slightly to say, "'Course… I promised ya, didn't I?" He looked back at the boar then, still smiling slightly.

Shizuku stared at him, mouth slightly agape, until she smiled a little and whispered, "Right…" She then gathered her strength to at least sit down, wincing as she struggled to lean back on the wall, a particular painful sting on her abdomen when her back made contact with the concrete, "Au!" She screamed, holding her stomach, cursing herself for her recklessness.

Naruto was suddenly kneeling before her, her pain forgotten when she stared at his eyes, looking at her with care, stating, "Easy now, you'll open up your wounds again…" He presented a small cup with what it looked like hot tea in it, saying, "It's tea made from a couple of herbs, it'll help you numb the pain until your body heals it naturally."

"T-Thank you…" Shizuku whispered, somehow trusting the guy, tentatively grabbing the cup and after blowing on it slightly, she took a wary sip, her eyes widening when she found the taste to be quite sweet, like cinnamon, "It's very good…" She complimented, the jinchūriki nodding and walking back to the boar, the brunette saying after sipping more of her drink, "How… how were you able to heal my wounds? Juggernaut Two is forbidden for a reason and yet…" She looked at her body, it still looked a little swollen and some muscles were incredibly sore, but beyond that, she was fine, "I feel relatively fine." She added, sipping more of the tea, finding the aroma extremely soothing.

The blood clone chuckled, saying smoothly, "I'm very good at healing jutsus…" He was not going to tell her that he used his dragon blood to heal her fatal wounds, she should be dead by all accounts, _'Oh shit… I used mah blood… d-doesn't that means…'_ The blood clone gulped, swallowing hard, a shiver running down his spine at what he just did.

"O-Oh…" Shizuku's voice made him shake his head, deciding to relieve the problem to the original. The Uzumaki then looked around, finding herself in one of Eddy's old buildings, one of the last standing. But her eyes then settled on a bundle next to the silverette, her eyes widening as she said, "You found it…" She didn't know what to think, even if she wanted to, she couldn't do anything to stop the man from taking the treasure with him, thus she said tentatively, "T-The treasure…"

Naruto titled his head until he understood, looking below and grabbing the clothed book, saying with a smile, "Damn straight I did! Amma killer baby, haven't you heard!?…" He then placed it back on the ground, adding, "You knew what was inside the chamber?"

Shizuku bit her lip, her mistrust returning somewhat. But pushed by her current wounded state, she just sighed, nodding as she replied, "Yeah… the Book of Sacred Seals… supposedly left to the Uzumaki by the goddess Amaterasu."

Naruto chuckled, finding it surprising that she apparently didn't know that the cloak was the real treasure, "I guess you've been around here forever, then?" He then asked, wanting to learn a little bit of her before his time ran out, he was minutes away from bursting, the effort of the mission now taking its toll on his clone body.

"Yes…" She replied, sipping her tea, eyeing the man as she asked, "How did you found it?…" She narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, adding, "I knew the location of the chamber because my family has been protecting the ruins of Eddy ever since it fell… but you… you might be an Uzumaki, but I've never seen you around."

Sighing, the jinchūriki cracked his neck, saying, "Yeah, I guess you can tell I'm from the Leaf, right?…" He asked, earning a nod from the woman, despite not carrying the headband, his style of fighting was widely known to belong to the Leaf, "My mother was the woman chosen to be the vessel of the Nine Tailed Fox…" Shizuku's eyes widened.

"Kushina Uzumaki?" Shizuku interrupted him, her eyes wide and filled with stars, an obvious fan of the woman.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, intrigued, asking, "You've heard of her?"

The woman nodded eagerly, saying like a child describing her hero, "Of course! She's my idol!…" She set the tea aside, saying in more detail, "She was one of the greatest swordsmen there has ever been in this continent! And she was highly respected in the clan for her sacrifice!…" She stopped to take a couple of breaths, adding more softly now, "It was very saddening for me when I heard that she'd died, I was six years old back then…" She then added, with a smile, "But then! I heard that she was actually alive! I-Is that true!?" There was nothing more than meeting her idol that she wanted.

Naruto chuckled at the woman's behaviour, Shizuku herself seemingly growing conscious of her attitude and lowering her face, a heavy blush on her cheeks, embarrassed, "Yeah, she's alive, back in the Leaf." He replied, Minato's feelings suddenly peeping their ugly head as he remembered the feisty redhead.

Shizuku then remembered something the silverette said, her mouth and eyes widening as she whispered a question, "W-Wait…" Naruto looked at her, confused, "You s-said… you said you are… her son?"

Naruto just sighed as he nodded, smiling slightly, saying, "Yeah, something like that…" He couldn't explain that he was no longer connected to her or Minato in any way, by all means, he was Ddraig's son, only with the benefits of Kushina and Minato's respective bloodlines.

"W-What do you mean?" The Uzumaki female felt confused, leaning on, trying to learn more of him and his mother.

But the blood clone winced, his energies now depleted, saying instead of answering, "Listen, I don't have much time left…" The woman's eyes widened, listening as the boy continued, "I'm a blood clone and my energy is out."

"No…" Shizuku whispered, unwilling to part ways just yet, she had just found another Uzumaki, the son of her idol no less, she couldn't just let him walk away, "Y-You ca't leave… I… umm…" But she couldn't come up with any excuse to keep him here, forgetting that he was a clone for a moment.

Naruto just smiled, grabbing the treasure and walking towards her, the woman looking at him with wide eyes when he gave her the book, saying, "The real me will come back for the treasure and you, okay?"

Shizuku stared at him, trying to find any deceit in his words. But she couldn't, he seemed honest. But she still whispered, grabbing his hand almost desperately, "Y-You promise?" She didn't wanted to be lonely anymore, now that the treasure was out, there was nothing left to protect of Eddy. There were at least two other Uzumaki out there and she wanted to be with them.

Naruto smiled, caressing her cheek and whispering, "I promise…" He then kissed her cheek, separating from her and saying, "You'll see me again soon." He smiled reassuringly before he suddenly burst out in a mess of water and blood.

Shizuku just stared at where the man once was, tightening her grip on the treasure, the sound of the fire cracking being the only thing heard in the entirety of the village.

She just hugged her knees then, covering her face with her arms, the cold night of the lonely Hidden Eddy Village now hitting her full force, her whisper being carried by the wind like a wail, "P-Please… keep your word…"

* * *

Konan glided through the darkened skies, her eyes narrowed, sorting the strange feelings and emotions that eroded in herself, closing her eyes for a moment to simply enjoy the breeze and let it blow away every burden she was carrying, if just for the moment.

But, as a cold bucket of water, there was a pulse of energy from below, calling to her.

She just sighed deeply, changing her trajectory towards the ground, masking every single emotion and feeling she may have, even though she knew well that it was fruitless as the man could still read her like a book, she was already dancing on the palm of his hand.

"Just remember why, Konan…" She whispered to herself, gathering courage and in the blink of an eye, she landed, folding her wings back and taking a deep breath, preparing herself.

"My, my…" There was a sudden masculine voice that made every hair in her body raise, a nervous shiver running down her back, always feeling so minuscule whenever she was in his presence, practically a god, "There is no need to be so tense, little Konan." The man added with a mockingly childish tone, revealing himself from within the bushes, his two guards, as always, by his side, looking at her without emotion.

"I-I apologise." She bowed, not wanting to antagonise the man in any way.

The man giggled, exaggerating his features as he said, "Ah… it's alright, little one…" He walked towards her, passing by her and stopping right behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, the woman trembling as he whispered right next to her ear, "Now, how is your mission going, hmm?"

Konan bit her lip, looking down to the ground, feeling so absolutely helpless as she replied with a whisper, "We-Well…" She swallowed, recuperating her wits when the man stepped before her, locking those piercing blue eyes on her, reminding her so much of a certain young man, "I think he believes that I'm vulnerable… I've played the part."

The man applauded with glee, saying with a smile, "Excellent! Most excellent!…" His demeanour then had a complete turn when he closed in on the Akatsuki and said with a low dangerous tone, "You remember what you have to do, right?"

Konan just lowered her head, whispering, "M-Make him fall in love with me… fall in love with him… have his child…" She bit her lip, not knowing whether she disliked the idea or not anymore, "B-Be his woman…" She finished with another husky whisper, resigned to whatever he asked of her.

The man smirked, satisfied, patting her shoulder as he said, "Yes, yes, that's exactly it…" He turned around, crossing his arms behind his back and aiming his head up at the night sky, adding somewhat mockingly, "You do that, and dear Yahiko will be back."

Konan bit her lip, not knowing whether she believed that or not. But, she had made a deal with the man, sire Naruto's child and in exchange, he will bring Yahiko back to life. Though she won't be able to be with him, since part of the deal included that she becomes Naruto's woman for good, birthing as many children as possible. She still felt responsible for Yahiko's death and even if their love could never be resumed, even if she didn't know whether the man was lying or not, if there was even a possibility to give Yahiko a second chance to live, she will take it, without caring for the consequences on her.

"You may go now, I'm sure your little playgroup is eager to hear from you." The man suddenly dismissed her, practically ordering the woman to leave.

"As you wish, milord." Konan bowed and once her wings unfolded again, she flew off, some genuine tears falling from her eyes.

The three people looked at the sky, observing as Konan disappeared, with the man stating without a drop of sympathy, "Such a pity that little Yahiko is already in an unreachable place." He chuckled, shaking his head, not caring.

One of his guards, the woman, commented as she tilted her head, "Sir, are you planning to take their baby away?" She highly doubted that Konan would allow it, even if she disliked Naruto, there was no way in hell that she won't love her child, not even for the man she loved would she sacrifice her offspring.

The man shook his head, saying, "Of course not, just like Naruto, I won't even interfere…" Sighing, he looked back at the beautiful night, adding, "It's merely a Plan B in case something horrible happens to my beloved grandson…" He began walking, his hands still behind his back, adding as he walked past his guards, "Thanks to my son, we were able to discover that our bloodline strengthens with each generation, it's just about being patient until the right child of the dawn arrives."

"But what if he doesn't falls for her?" The male guard suddenly asked, there was a possibility that Naruto didn't found himself attracted to the bluenette.

The man stopped, humming for a moment before he looked at his two guards over his shoulder and with a smirk, he replied without hesitation, "Then we'll make him fall for her."

With that, the three people disappeared from sight, leaving a quiet forest to drawn in the cold of the night. As always, Mother Nature uncaring of the plots her pests were carrying out.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya lads have it! Hope you liked it! Shizuku is from 'Beyond the Boundary'. Remember to stand against the fucking EU! Jesus fucking Christ, this is what it has come to, reduced to a fucking Theresa May supporter, just fuck off already...**


	35. Shilouette

**A/N: Yo! New chappie! Sorry for taking so long but well, life goes by.**

 **Many of you pointed out the hasty way in which Naruto's relationships are coming along, as in how fast things seem to go. The truth about that, is that I just do not have the time to write a super detailed story, I can barely do it as it is now, you can probably tell by how long it takes me lately to update the stories. I do want to write a good Harem story, I think is incredibly fun challenge to take and perhaps in the future, I'll be able to write one with great detail in every relationship, but at the moment I have to take some liberties and do what I can to move the story along. I will try to at least have two chapters for each girl to show how their relationship progress, but the best I can ask of you is to just believe that most of their relationship happens backstage. I know that's sloppy of me and practically cheap, but do to my time and that, I am really, really choked. I ask you to forgive me with that and hope that you can understand.**

 **I've been thinking on perhaps asking some of you to help me out write that, their relationship as it happens in a sort of spinoff. So if you can write and like the story, do message me so we can discuss the possibility. Do please have something I can read that you've written, just to ensure you do know what you're doing. As well as having a good grasp on this particular story.**

 **Off with the chapter then!**

* * *

 **-FORTITUDE-**

 **Silhouette**

Naruto stared at Rosalia who remained frozen, her posture stiff, her violet orbs locked to the flames of their bonfire, the crackling of the fire being the only sound providing with an atmosphere in their camp.

It has been a day since the events with Rosalia's father happened, a day since his cremation and funeral. The woman was understandably vulnerable and spent all of yesterday sobbing, Naruto holding her close and providing her with as much comfort as he could.

But eventually, a new day arrived and with it, many questions from the European female. Specifically about why he had a dragon companion, who currently laid next to Naruto. Rosalia knew well that there was no summoning contracts for dragons, she was also a westerner, and since dragons were deeply engraved in western culture, she knew more of them than easterners, therefore she could tell that something was off.

Naruto also knew that in order for her to be honest with him and to take the next step in their relationship, he needed to tell her truth. He had already told her that he loved her, she reciprocated the feeling, but she knew nothing of his secret, it was only fair that he was truthful to her as soon as possible.

That was tonight.

And as he expected, Rosalia went through a roller coaster of emotions as his tale went on, ranging from confusion, shock, anger and lastly, deep thought.

"So…" Naruto uttered, unsure, his hand gently petting the head of Canym, who silently remained on his spot, his eyes closed, enjoying the petting of his companion, not wanting to butt into the situation.

Rosalia for her part remained silent for some moments more, until finally, after what it seemed like an eternity for Naruto, she took a deep breath and brought her eyes to meet his, collected, not letting the hurricane of emotions flowing within her to show just yet, "So…" She had thought of many things to say, but they were all swallowed when she looked at him again, the man she loved, the one that just revealed a secret so big that her sorrow was completely washed away, replaced by a wave of uncertainty, "I…" She struggled, not trusting herself right now, "I know you truly… l-love… me…" She looked down, not daring to look at him as she continued, "B-But… how… how do I know I… truly love you?…" She looked up then, unaware of the tears falling from her eyes, continuing with a whisper, "All this time… I've been… 'tempted' by you, through all these years…" She tightly grasped her pants, not wanting this love she felt to be a complete lie, made up to serve a bigger purpose, "How do I know these feelings are real?… how?…" She gathered her strength and focused solely on him, despite the pain, she needed to hear his answer.

Naruto stared at the woman for some moments before he sighed deeply, cracking his neck, his eyes closed as he massaged his sore neck. He too stared at the fire for some moments, finding the right words to say, "The 'Tempting' doesn't create feelings, Rose…" His blues travelled to her, conveying his honesty as he continued, "The only thing my essence does is to make you susceptible to me…" He stood up then, Rosalia looking at him like a hawk. The boy stood before her then, kneeling once he reached her, taking her hands on his to add with eyes locked to each other, "I can't control how you feel, I can't make you feel things you just don't, if your heart beats for me, than it's because you want it to beat for me."

Rosalia wanted to believe him, she truly did, but everything was just too much to just accept it. Hence why she stared at him with glassy eyes, her fingers interlocking with his, doubtful but still unwilling to let him go, "How… how can I trust you're not lying?" One couldn't blame the woman for doubting, it has been such a long and exhausting journey that confusion was the only normal thing she found at the moment.

Naruto titled his head, his draconic nature slipping a little in his voice as he stated with just a touch of challenge, "Why else would I, a dragon, be kneeling at your feet?…" Rosalia's eyes widened, understanding the deeper meaning of his reasoning. Dragons were known to be the proudest of creatures, Naruto was a dragon so he kneeling for her, was a massive show of respect towards her, "I have no interest in unwilling partners, Rose, I can only trust in people who think for themselves, not just for your sake, but for my own as well…" He looked down, tightening his hold on her hand as he added, "I need to know that there are people who know how to stop me… in case I ever lose my way."

Rosalia just stared at him, mouth slightly agape, heart beating harshly. There were no doubts on him, the fear she felt was not of him or what it would mean for her to become his mate, it stemmed on the future really, on the path she was about to take. Because she knew that no matter what, her place was with him now, the first person that was nice to her when she arrived to this continent, the one constant she's had ever since, there was no other place she wanted to be anyway.

Thus, the redheaded female smiled slightly and brought her free hand to caress his cheek, making Naruto look at her a little confused as she stated, "Then… I'll be there… with the rest…" She leaned on, eyes half-lidded, Naruto catching on and leaning on her lips as well, the woman whispering, "To make sure you remain true to us…"

With that declaration, Naruto and Rosalia closed the deal with a loving kiss, the woman happily throwing herself on him as he stood up and carried them to their tent. While this was no moment to completely mate with her, as she was still in a delicate emotional state, the two settled for falling asleep in each other's arms, Rosalia having a blissful sleep for the first time since who knows when.

"Atta, partner." Canym muttered, a smile appearing on his face, shaking his body and walking towards the entrance of the tent, turning into the small lizard form of his and settling beside his partner, eager for the adventures to come.

* * *

 _"Even after all this time… not much has changed…" A raven-haired woman muttered to herself as she stared aimlessly through her room's window, to the place she called home, however bitter that may be for her right now._

 _Even after eight years of absence, of supposed death, the Village Hidden in the Leaves still remained largely the same, buzzing, people here and there, going about their business._

 _For a moment, she wondered if the people missed them, her family, the 'all-mighty' Uchiha. But she doubted that, the people that actually cherished any Uchiha, barring Uchiha themselves, could be counted with two or three hands. Not that she could blame them, her family had made great efforts in keeping themselves apart, become outsiders in the village they helped built. Regardless of how much they liked to blame Tobirama Senju for their reclusion, she knew well that the Uchiha made little to nothing to reach an agreement._

 _"At the end, we never really stopped hating each other…" She added a whisper, thinking of her ancient rivals, the Senju._

 _Funny that now, only one Senju and three Uchiha remained._

 _"Mikoto." A tired old voice made the woman stop her pondering to look at the newcomer, feeling a surge of anger that she barely managed to suppress as she saw the wrinkled face of the Third Hokage, the newly appointed Fifth standing beside him, eyeing her warily._

 _"Sarutobi…" Mikoto greeted with a harsh cold voice that made the old man flinch ever so slightly. The Uchiha then turned her charcoal eyes on the Senju, nodding at her, stating with a warmer tone, "Tsunade." The Senju was someone she greatly respected and admired, as well as cared for, since Tsunade, when acting as Kushina's surrogate mother, would treat her as a friend as well, despite their families' ancient rivalry. To Tsunade, Mikoto was just Mikoto, not the Uchiha Princess._

 _Tsunade smiled slightly, walking towards the woman, placing a hand atop of Mikoto's forehead, checking over her to see if there was anything amiss, whispering with a warm smile, "How are you feeling, Mikoto?"_

 _The blackette smiled back at the blonde, stating with a somewhat strained whisper, "Alive… that's what matters… I guess…" For a moment, she managed to put the pain of knowing that her baby boy Sasuke was gone, off to find his brother and have revenge. She knew that by now, the news of her return must have reached the farthest parts of the continent, so there was no way that Sasuke didn't know about her, or Itachi. She held a small hope that her two boys will come back to her, but she wasn't so sure, "Tsunade, I want to talk to Lord Third a…"_

 _"I know, Mikoto…" Tsunade interrupted the Uchiha, making the bedridden woman look at the blonde surprised, listening as the Senju continued with a tired sigh, "About the massacre… about Itachi…"_

 _Mikoto stared at the Senju, frozen, wishing she hadn't told Kushina to wait outside. The mention of the massacre seemed to have an immediate effect on her, as she felt her heart beating like crazy with painful pangs in between beats. But as the strong kunoichi she was, she took a deep long breath and somehow controlled her inner hurricane._

 _"Go on, Mikoto…" Sarutobi said, tired, sitting on a chair, Mikoto surprised to hear the cracking bones of the old man, clearly on his sunset years, "Tsunade needs to be here for this, so just ask what you want to ask, say what you want to say…" The old man locked his eyes on her, taking Mikoto aback as she saw the immense difference in experience and wisdom the two had, "I won't hold anything back from you anymore."_

 _There were many things she wanted to say, to ask, to berate him for, to Amaterasu the shit out of him. But she was no child, she was not just any mother, she was a veteran warrior herself and thus, after a sigh, only one question came out, "Was it Itachi?…" Seeing the confused visages on the two Hokage, the Uchiha explained, "The one that came up with the… massacre…" She gripped her sheets tightly, biting her lips in an effort to keep composure, "It was his plan… wasn't it?"_

 _Sarutobi was surprised by the question, he had prepared himself to become the focus of Mikoto's hate, to tell her that he ordered the massacre and that Itachi was a victim, instead of a perpetrator. But Mikoto was a smart woman, and she knew her sons better than anyone, Itachi's love for the village, must have been a pretty big giveaway._

 _"Itachi loved the Leaf more than anything else, perhaps just Sasuke and Naruto ranked above for him…" Mikoto began uttering, her eyes casted down, continuing with some extra effort, "I knew… from the very start… that Itachi was not going to go along with Fugaku's idea… and when he… when he was told of what was to happen to… Naruto…" She felt a tear falling at the mention of the man who saved her, the same that she was willing to sacrifice in the name of her children, "To Sasuke… I knew he… I know him…"_

 _Hiruzen looked at Tsunade who just closed her eyes, the Sarutobi taking a deep inhale before he replied honestly, "Yes Mikoto…" The woman didn't looked at him, but her grip on the sheets tightened, meaning that she was listening, "He came up with it and eventually requested for the mission to happen, when things with Fugaku went to shit…" Hiruzen sighed again, feeling his age so heavily on his shoulders right now, "But the responsibility of the event, lies with me as much as him, if not more…"_

 _"I want to hate you…" Mikoto said, her eyes now locked to the old man's who refused to look away from her, matching her intensity as she continued, "I want to despise you and this village… but…" She looked down again, uncaring of the tears flowing from her eyes, adding, "I would be a hypocrite… the fault lies with many… as you say… you're manning up to your mistakes… I…" She looked at the window, "I should do the same…"_

 _There was a tense silence after that, no one speaking again for some moments, Tsunade resorting for just staying there as a Hokage, mediating the meeting in hopes that nothing serious occurs._

 _"Do you regret it?" Mikoto then asked after the silence, her face now focused on the old man's, wanting to hear his answer as clearly as possible._

 _Tsunade was shocked when Hiruzen locked his eyes to Mikoto's and replied with a confident, yet pained tone, "No…" Mikoto was a little taken aback as well, but remained silent as the Sarutobi continued, "If I did, I'd be disrespecting you, Sasuke, Itachi and the Uchiha as a whole…" The Third massaged his temples, adding after a moment of silence, "Remorseful, yes… but I do not regret my actions because there was no other way… with Fugaku in power… with the Uchiha Elders in power… I was put against the corner…" He focused back on Mikoto to conclude his thought, "It was not the first time this country has committed an atrocity in the name of its people… and I assure you…" He was now focusing on Tsunade, warning her of the decisions she'll have to take in the future, "It won't be the last."_

Back in the now, Mikoto sitting on the bed inside her house in the Uchiha district, the once matriarch felt somewhat strangely okay with Hiruzen's answer. She would've been angry if he regretted what he did, because in a way, it meant that he didn't realised the true horror he allowed to happen in the moment. But with remorse is different, as Hiruzen fully acknowledged his mistake and sins, but still owned up to them and was willing to face them when the time of his death arrives. She disliked him of course, but hating him would mean hating Itachi as well, and she couldn't do that even if her life depended on it.

Taking a deep breath, Mikoto focused back on the room she was in, the room where Naruto had his place. It made her happy to hear from everyone during the past week, of how close Sasuke and Naruto were after what happened. Being also immensely grateful to Kakashi and Hanare for providing Sasuke with the comfort of a family. But it made the pain greater as she realised that Sasuke had no intentions of coming back, not until he found Itachi himself.

Standing up, her eyes caught sight of a sword resting beside a cabinet. Walking towards it, she took it in her hands and unsheathed the blade, her eyes widening when she caught glimpse of her faithful companion, "My blade…" She whispered, her eyes trailing the delicate craft of the sword. Another shining object brought her attention to the top of the cabinet, her eyes widening again when she found a black Leaf headband, one she could tell, belonged to Naruto.

She took the headband then, grasping it tightly, memories of the boy that meant so much to her flashing over and over again in her brain. There was also great shame for the things she considered doing in the name of her sons, a shame that made her think that perhaps, it was best to give the headband to Kushina, "B-But…" She wanted to see him, if at least, to apologise and thank him for all that he's done for her, "I'll keep it… until you come back for it…" That's what she did, taking the headband into her pocket and keep it to herself, at least as an excuse to see him again.

"Naruto had that after he fought… Sasuke…" Kushina's voice made the Uchiha turn behind to see the Uzumaki standing in the door, a gentle smile on her face as she eyed the sword in Mikoto's left hand, "He left it here for you… saying something about you knowing what to do with it best…"

Mikoto's eyes showed extreme confusion, that is until she somehow understood what Naruto meant, her eyes widening as she whispered, "Strength…" Kushina tilted her head, greatly confused, prompting Mikoto to elaborate, "Sasuke… Itachi… they're Uchiha… they value strength above all…" She grabbed the sword and eyed it again, this time with a fire in her eyes and a small smile as she whispered, "If I want them back… if I want my boys back… strength is what I need…"

Kushina smiled at those words, surprised that her once son had so much insight on the Uchiha. She understood that Naruto knew that Mikoto will try her best to bring her boys back, but to do that, she needed her strength back, the strength that once made her one of the most feared ninja in the land.

"There's no need to rush though…" Kushina then said, Mikoto had barely a week awoke, she still needed a lot of treatment to recover from her eight year sleep. They were in the Uchiha household to pick up her stuff and move in with Kushina, thus the redhead said as she walked towards her best friend and placing a hand on her shoulder, she added, "When you're back to full health, I promise you, Miko, we'll get strong again, together!"

Mikoto stared at Kushina for a moment before she smiled, hugging her sister figure tightly, whispering with a smile on her face, "Thank y-you, Kushi… thank you…"

The two women remained like that for a while, enjoying each other's company until Kushina broke the embrace to say, "Now, let's finish packing your stuff… I'll need your help for something so we need to settle you up soon."

Mikoto sighed and nodded, sheathing the sword again and placing it on her back, a symbol of her return to action. Just before she left the room though, she looked back at it and brought a hand to her pocket, to caress Naruto's headband, a small smile on her face as she muttered truly grateful, "Thank you, Naruto… thank you…"

* * *

"Uff…" Naruto uttered a relieved sigh as he stood to observe the nice lake in front of him. Rosalia was standing right next to him, looking around, trying to find a good spot to camp and recover their energies as they made their way back to Kahiko's caravan, "Such a lovely place tho." He commented as he eyed the dazzling scenery before them, the gloomy destruction of Haido's warship long left behind.

Rosalia smiled a little as she nodded, looking down at Naruto's hand and with a somewhat timid action, she held it, interlocking her fingers with him, eyeing the other way with a small blush on her cheeks, "T-This umm…" She coughed, knowing that Naruto was carrying a teasing smirk right now, "This seems like a good place to camp…"

Naruto chuckled and startling the young woman, he twirled her around and lifted her up, catching the yelping female on his arms, settling her in a bridal position as Rosalia instinctively wrapped her arms around the man, pouting as Naruto said, "If the lady likes it, then it shall be chosen." He smirked charmingly, chuckling as Rosalia turned away with a blush, cursing him under her breath.

The silver-haired Namikaze then made his way towards the lake, both him and Rosalia looking for a good spot to camp, finding it just below a huge tree some metres away from the lake, "This good?" Naruto asked the woman on his arms, Rosalia nodding with a small smile.

Right after Naruto put Rosalia down, the two began setting camp, letting some moments of silence go by as they concentrated in their respective tasks. It took them almost thirty minutes to finish setting up their camp, mostly the fire, both were hungry and decided to get dinner early so they could rest as soon as possible and set off first thing in the morning towards their destination.

"So…" Rosalia spoke as Naruto placed some fish atop the fire, the silverette looking at her and walking towards the female, a small shiver running down his spine as he sensed the displeasure coming from the woman, who said once he sat next to her, "You're going to leave me as soon as we reach the caravan, right?" Rosalia pouted, looking at him again, half joking, half honest. It wasn't that she didn't understood why he had to go, but she still wished he could stay with her for a few more days, to enjoy their blooming relationship for a little longer.

Naruto sighed, throwing an arm around Rosalia's shoulder and forcing her to get close, the woman's face ending up resting on his chest, listening as he uttered, "Rose, you know that I have to deal with the mess my clone did…" Just yesterday, Naruto received the memories from the clone he sent to Eddy Village and apparently, the irresponsible clone utilised his blood on a woman, thus, tempting her, "The girl's an Uzumaki and she did seemed distressed by being alone…" Naruto looked down at her then, kissing her head as he whispered, "You should know how that feels."

Rosalia did closed her eyes at that, knowing said desperation all too well. She tightened her hold on her soon to be mate's body, burying her face deeper on his chest, muttering defeated, "I know… I know…" She opened her eyes then, the flames of their fire attracting her violets, mesmerised by the dance as she continued, "I just wanted… to be with you more…"

Naruto cupped her by the cheeks, lifting her face so that they could stare at each other. Their eyes locked, staring into one another until Naruto leaned on and claimed her lips with a passionate kiss, Rosalia moaning as she rubbed herself on him, eager, needy.

The next Absolute God of End broke the kiss first, caressing her cheeks tenderly as he whispered, "I wish that too, Rose, but I told you…" He chastely kissed her again, finishing with a disappointed tone, "We won't be able to live as a family until…"

"We achieve our goal…" Rosalia concluded the thought for him, sighing, resting her cheek on his chest again, disappointed but still understanding, "I know…"

Naruto mimicked her sigh, understanding that not just Rosalia, but the rest of his mates also felt the same. He really wish he could provide them with a normal relationship to each one of them, but for the moment, he couldn't. And even after achieving their goal, they would have to wait until their age is enough to fake their deaths and find a place where they could live free and away from prejudice.

Keeping such depressing things aside for the moment, Naruto shook his head and gently nudged the woman, prompting Rosalia to hum as she stared up at him, listening as the jinchūriki inquired, "Now, tell me about this invasion you spoke of earlier."

Rosalia's eyes widened slightly, the redhead inhaling before she nodded, stating, "Right…" She sighed and separated herself slightly form the man, still keeping his arm around her shoulders as she rested her head on his shoulder and replied, "Well, my… father… received a letter from Emperor Maximilian, things are getting messy back in Europa, so for the moment, we're safe…" She rolled her eyes to meet him, continuing with clear worry, "But the Empire has their sights on the Elemental Nations, Naruto, the Emperor is a determined man and when he has something he wants, he won't stop until he gets it."

Naruto stared at Rosalia for a moment before his blues travelled to the fire, inhaling, commenting after a pause, "But why now? What got his attention?"

"The Gelel mineral for one." Rosalia replied, biting her lip.

Naruto clicked his tongue, uttering, "Right… you think we should've destroyed the vein?"

Rosalia did stopped to ponder for a moment, not knowing for sure, but eventually she rubbed her cheek on his shoulder as she replied, not one hundred percent sure, "Perhaps… but it wouldn't have made much difference…" Turning to face her love, she found him staring at her with a raised eyebrow, prompting the female to explain, "The mineral is not the only thing the Emperor is after."

Naruto tilted his head, a small idea of what the answer was, but still asking, "What else?"

Rosalia sighed, leaning on to kiss his cheek before she replied, "The Tailed Beasts."

"Called it…" Naruto whispered, frowning, overprotectiveness over Kurama and her siblings sprouting in his heart, "Do we have a chance?" He asked after a brief pause, his blues locked to her violets, knowing that there was no one in the continent who knew the might of the Empire better than a soldier of the same.

Rosalia did not hesitated, answering certain, "To fight? Yes…" She buried her face on the nook of his neck, whispering with obvious worry, "To win?… no…"

"Is the difference between us that big?" Naruto's voice was accompanied by a sense of challenge, not knowing if Rosalia was heavily underestimating him and his people, or if westerners were really that powerful.

"Depends on what you're looking at…" Rosalia whispering, sighing and turning to face the fire, continuing after drinking a little bit of her canteen, "When it comes to the warriors, this continent certainly has more outstanding individuals…" She paused, adding, "Europa has only five candidates that I believe could match up the strongest of your legends…" She turned to face her love, saying, "Maximilian, he's not just a pretty face, he has some very strange but horrifying powers, some even say he stroke a deal with the Devil himself for them… wouldn't doubt it if it was the truth…" She licked her lips, "Then there's King Arthur, the leader of the Union, he might be soon to retire, but, no offense love, but he is the greatest swordsman I have ever seen…" Naruto's eyes immediately sparkled at that, already eager to meet said King, "Then there's Arthur's daughter, Cornelia li Britannia, she's supposed to succeed Arthur as Queen and she's as powerful as her father, people call her 'Goddess of Victory' for a reason…" She sighed, continuing after another pause, "The 'Rebel' is there as well, the leader of the Resistance, a side opposed to both the Union and the Empire, nobody knows a thing about the Rebel though, not even if it's a she or a he, but Arthur and Maximilian respect the Rebel, so it's assumed that whoever it is, it's as powerful as those two…" She stretched a little, pausing before finishing, "And lastly, there is 'Alicia the Black', Maximilian's personal guard, she's feared throughout the continent and some considered her even more powerful than Maximilian himself."

Naruto massaged his chin, pensive, whispering a comment, "I trust your word… so I assume the ones we should look out for, are Maximilian and his guard then?"

Rosalia nodded, explaining, "Yes, the Empire is the one with their eye set on this land, though, I wouldn't doubt that the Union might feel enticed as well…" She sighed, pausing before adding, "But I don't know, the Union has been colonising the Novus Mundus for the past ten years, so I'd say for the moment, they have no plans to launch another gigantic invasion…" She looked at the boy, complementing, "Besides, the Empire stands between the Union and the Elemental Nations, they could do it from Novus Mundus, but the journey would be even longer and exhausting."

Naruto nodded, uttering, "True, true…" He stood up to check on the fish, finding them ready. Once he pierced them with some sticks, he walked back to the redhead and gave her one, sitting next to her and after a bite, he asked, "If our military strength is practically equal, then why do you say we won't win?"

Rosalia gulped down the piece of fish in her mouth, cleaning her lips and replying her love's question after, "The biggest difference between your people and mine, it's simply our definitions of morality…" Turning to face the confused teen, she explained, "You and your people still hold a more… umm… how to say it… pure… I guess… a purer sense of morality… westerners on the other hand, only know survival."

"So they're fiercer?" Naruto said, understanding why Europeans would be less inclined to be kind and moral when everyday they could die in an instant.

Rosalia nodded, adding, "Yeah, men are thrown in the army when they reach the age of twelve while women who aren't married or pregnant are thrown in the army by the age of eighteen…" She sipped water, saying after, "I know that ninja here also start pretty early, but someone like you is a rarity…" Naruto nodded at that, knowing that most ninja get their first kill around the age of sixteen, him and his team were definitely a rarity, "In Europa that's the norm…" She sighed, somewhat melancholic of her homeland, "I'll put it like this, for a European warrior, there is no time for torture, rape or mind games…" She locked her eyes to him, finishing with a grave tone, "There's only time to survive."

"Damn…" Naruto commented, eating, understanding what his newest mate was saying, "How has Europa survived such a long war? There have been countries here in the Elemental Nations that have vanished with just a one year war."

Rosalia did stopped for a moment, trying to figure it out herself, but not having an answer, she just sighed and replied, "I really don't know… I guess the people's will to live…" She shivered however, when something came to her mind, "Though, there is a zone in Europa that's considered by everyone a dead zone."

Naruto felt intrigued by that, tilting his head as he inquired, "What do you mean?"

Rosalia sighed, still shivering, the memory of the one time she saw the town with her own eyes, still haunting her to this day, "There is a town, right in between my homeland Prussia and Gaul, Strasbourg is its name…" She hugged Naruto, resting her cheek on his shoulder as she continued, "The border that separates Gaul and Prussia, is the line that divides the continent in two, Gaul belongs to the Union, while Prussia belongs to the Empire, long story short, Strasbourg has been the centre of the fight for centuries, as it is the largest and most important strategic point in centre Europa, but…" She paused, "Something happened, like fifty years or so ago… something that made Strasbourg and its citizens… hell on earth…"

Noticing the shivering in the woman, Naruto raised an eyebrow, asking, "What do you mean?" He caressed her, soothing her.

Rosalia sighed, enjoying the moment with Naruto, but answering after a moment, "I don't know how to explain it, nobody knows as far as I know, but…" She opened her eyes, once again locking them to the fire, continuing, "Some say that due to the amount of deaths and horrors that have happened in the border, the city was claimed by demons…" She looked at Naruto, adding, "Naruto, it's like straight out of a horror novel, no one is allowed to go near Strasbourg, the moment you walk near it, the sun is blocked by scary black clouds, it's always raining, it's smells like sulphur, moans and screeches can be heard coming from the town and those who venture into the city, never come back."

Naruto noticed the genuine fear the woman had of said city, prompting the silverette to ask, "Are ya sure you're not… ya know… exaggerating?"

Rosalia however, shook her head, saying once she settled on his chest again, "No dear, I… I've been there…" Naruto's eyes widened, listening as the woman continued, "Not inside the city of course, but me and my… mother… were sent there to investigate the rumours and by God, I don't know what's in there but whatever it is, it's not human."

Naruto remained quiet, keeping the knowledge for a letter date, where he could ask Ddraig. As the being that controls darkness, only he could have any idea of what might've happened to said city.

"I see…" Naruto whispered, holding her tightly before he asked, "How much time do you think we have until the Empire comes?"

Rosalia pondered on the question for several moments, her silence broken when she said, "The last thing I knew the Emperor was after, was the Holy Grail…" Knowing that her love was confused, she explained, "The Holy Grail is a relic, though it's debated whether it exists or not, the Emperor has spent all of his life searching for it, it is supposed to provide the holder with holy power…" She sighed, pausing for a second before she continued, "Depending on how he feels about the Holy Grail and how tempting the Tailed Beasts turn out to be, I'd say we have between four and six years… if we're really unlucky… even less…"

"Damn…" Naruto muttered, eyes narrowed at the fire. What Rosalia just told him was not a minor thing. Left alone, the Empire could prove to be the destruction of the Elemental Nations as he knew it, to say nothing of the dangers Kurama and her siblings were facing from it.

The two spent the next couple of minutes in complete silence, neither wanting to talk about the depressing subject anymore. Instead, they wanted to be close and enjoy each other's warmth.

"Naruto…" The way Rosalia suddenly spoke his name, made the silverette's draconic senses kick in, feeling the longing of the woman as she timidly looked up to him, a blush on her cheeks as she whispered, "This will be the last night we spend together for a while…" She leaned on, to place her mouth right next to his ear, her hot breath serving to turn Naruto on even more, "Please… make the heat fade until our next…"

Naruto just growled, picking the woman up in a bridal style, Rosalia yelping and shivering as she saw how Naruto's eyes became more animalistic, the low growls of her soon to be mate serving to tickle her more sensitive places, eager for him to get her to their tent.

* * *

 **Lemon Start**

Rosalia has always been a one guy girl. Her first love, Luka, was the only man that had seen all of her, her quirks, her demons, her soft spots, her naked body, the only man she has ever allowed to touch her in a lewd way, to let him have his way with her, the man she gave her virginity and heart to, amongst the darkness, death and chaos of a warring continent, she found a soul she thought of as the one.

Sadly, it turned out to be the one that got away.

It wasn't that she hadn't found someone else, even before Naruto. During her travels as a broker, she found one or two men that caught her attention, even went on a sort of date with one, but she never could even hold hands, let alone casual sex. It was just that every time she tried to get her itch scratched, Luka's face would pop up. And worse was that she knew that Luka would not be happy with her attitude towards moving on, he wanted her to move on, to find someone else, but something, perhaps guilt, just wouldn't let her do so.

Enter Naruto.

She had no idea really, how the young boy that saved her all those years ago from being sold into slavery, the teenager that was currently unclothing her, tracing his fingers over her skin with delicious delicacy, making her moan and try as hard as she could to melt her body to his. She had no idea how he broke through her.

Sure, he injected her with a divine essence that made her susceptible to him and at the moment, she did believed that perhaps her feelings were just a rouse. But she knew better than that.

As she unbuttoned his pants and marvelled at the organ that Naruto possessed, while she stroke it both tenderly and eagerly, allowing him to claim her lips in a lusty kiss, she recalled all the times she found other men attractive, the one that almost made it further than anyone else other than Luka. She knew that if her feelings were being manipulated, there was no way in hell that Naruto, who was currently busy eating her left breast while his hand reached her panties and took them off, would risk losing her to other man just to give her a sense of freedom.

He genuinely loved her and she wanted him to prove it to her once and for all, "Do it, tiger…" Rosalia whispered, poising his member right at her entrance, rubbing it, moaning, her hot breath on his ear encouraging him to give out those incredible animalistic growls that she loved so much, whispering huskily, "Love me."

That was it for Naruto, and love her did he.

"Ah!" Rosalia screamed as he pierced her with one deadly thrust, reaching the farthest depths of herself, shocked to feel her first orgasm of the night hitting her like a rhino on a charge, a sensation that she has never experienced in her life rushing through her veins.

Naruto allowed her to get accustomed to him, feeling her vagina tightening around his member with a vice grip, a testament of how long has it been since she indulged herself in sex.

"I-It's… uuu…" Rosalia whispered, holding Naruto tight, her legs interlocked on his back, the pain and orgasm slowly receding back, allowing her to whisper right before she kissed him, "Y-You can move… love…"

And move he did.

At first with slow and precise thrusts, on top of her, the woman leaving painful scratches on his back as he drilled her over and over again.

Soon her pants became moans, his speed increasing, the boy sitting and bringing the woman up with him, impaling her even more as she sat on his lap, her moans becoming screams as her hips gathered a rhythm on their own, crashing themselves on his lap, loving the pleasure stick currently within her, the pleasure driving her to bite his shoulders in a bid to quell the raging heat within her navel.

It was a futile attempt.

The heat within her just became hotter and hotter as he turned her around and placed her head on their makeshift bed, lifting her hips and piercing her again with a ferocious thrust. She didn't realise that the hotness in her body was not her being horny, it was her body becoming immortal, evolving into demi-godhood. As Naruto's fluids entered her body over and over again, she was consuming the attributes given to a dragon's mate, becoming a semi-dragoness herself.

Naruto pressed his body on top of hers, both locked in a doggy style position, keeping his penis deep within her cove, the woman barely able to think coherently, somehow capable to understand as he whispered, "I'll make you happy, Rose… forever…"

Even in her lusty state, she could understand well what he was saying, she could feel his heart on her back, beating like crazy, the raging of his member within her telling her all she needed to now to smile and kiss him lovingly, whispering, "I know… and so will I…"

With that promise, Naruto smiled and with one last thrust, he growled and came within her, filling her up with his sperm, the woman releasing a hiss-like sound as she twitched, the pleasure becoming too much for her, driving her to unconsciousness.

Naruto let his body fall on top of hers, gathering his breath, smiling as he kissed her shoulder blade, the woman now deep in a blissful sleep.

"Rest, Rose… you've earned it." With those words, Naruto positioned himself below her and the woman immediately hugged him, her body on top of his, cheek resting on his naked chest, a content smile on her face that Naruto vowed to do his best to keep it there for as long as he lived.

 **End Lemon**

* * *

"Mom, are you absolutely sure about this?" A very worried purple-haired female asked the redheaded Uzumaki who adopted her as her own. Yūgao was currently inside the Namikaze manor, looking at Kushina who was reading over some notes that she herself wrote throughout her years before the Twelve Wings' attack.

Kushina stopped reading for a moment, looking at her daughter and best friend Mikoto who was sitting on a table not far from them, worried as well.

Mikoto has been living with her and Yūgao for the past few days and while the woman was understandably sad and worried for her children, she has been surprisingly collected, determined even, throwing herself into her rigorous training.

Kushina was of course worried for the Uchiha, as it has only been two weeks since she woke up, one since she left the hospital, but even so she was training like crazy, trying to recuperate her strength. Mikoto worried her when she told her about some strange changes in her body, since according to the Uchiha, she felt stronger and younger than ever, her senses were keener than in her golden years and she felt no soreness or pain from recently waking up at all. She didn't know why, but Kushina was certain that Naruto had something to do with that.

Right now though, the one causing worry was herself, as she was finally ready to keep a promise she'd made two decades ago, "Darling…" Kushina whispered, sighing and setting her book down on the couch, focusing on her daughter as she replied her question, "I know you're worried, but I am sure that it's time."

Yūgao was not appeased with that answer, neither was Mikoto as she said, "Kushina, I'm with Yū on this one…" The Uchiha stood up, crossing her arms below her bust when she added, "A procedure like this has never been done before."

Kushina sighed, scratching her nape, countering, "There's always a first, Miko."

"Not when your life is at stake, Mom!" Yūgao berated, standing, worried sick for the plan her mother was about to carry out.

"Baby…" Kushina whispered, frowning, understanding Yūgao's fear but still determined to go through with her plan.

 ** _"K…"_** The feminine voice of one Tailed Fox inside of her suddenly resounded within her mind, her reluctance as clear as day as Kurama continued, **_"Maybe they're right… I could wait until Na…"_**

 _"No Ku…"_ Kushina understood the risks, better than anyone else even, she was the one that created the procedure after all. But she had promised Kurama that one day she'll set her free, and with Naruto leaving her a body for that specific reason, Kushina felt that there was no other better time than this, now that Akatsuki was laying low as well, _"My mind is set… you will be free like I promised."_

It was in times like this, that Kurama remembered why she loved Kushina so much, not to say anything of her likeness with Naruto, both being almost impossible to change their minds once they set themselves on something.

Before anything else could be said, there was a knock on the door that won their attention, prompting Kushina to sigh and whisper, "They're here…" She walked towards the door, stopping right in front of Yūgao, caressing her cheek as she whispered with a reassuring smile, "Please darling, believe in me."

Yūgao had nothing left to say other than just a weak and reluctant, "Okay…" She could only trust her mother on this. Still wishing that Naruto was here with them to ensure that nothing happens to Kushina, though she doubted that Kurama will let any harm reach the Uzumaki either.

Kushina smiled and resumed her trek towards the door, reaching it and after a brief pause, she opened it, smiling as she saw Tsunade along with Shizune, the Third, Kakashi and an ANBU she vaguely recognised as her mother's most trusted guard.

"Hello Mom…" Kushina hugged Tsunade, the blonde returning it in kind, with the redhead adding to the rest, "Shizu, Kakashi, Old Man and Tenzō, thank you for coming." The aforementioned people returned the welcome, walking inside the house after.

"Alright Kushina…" Tsunade began once everyone was inside. She had heard a gist of it, something she shared with those that accompanied her tonight, but Kushina has yet to tell her the full extent of what the Uzumaki wanted to do, "Can you explain us now exactly what it is that you want to do?"

Kushina did gulped by the harsh tone of her mother, knowing that just like Yūgao and Mikoto, Tsunade was most definitely not on board with her plan, and apparently no one else for what she could see, "Alright…" She took a deep breath, preparing herself to explain her plan, "As you probably already know, I am going to release the Nine Tails tonight…" She saw the frowns on everyone's faces, understanding their objection but still, the only ones that knew the true Kurama was her and Naruto, she knew that Kurama had no intention of causing harm, she just wanted to be free and live her life outside her cage, and much to her jealousy, apparently to be close to Naruto as well, "I am doing it whether you agree to help me or not, so we can do this together and show you how much you have misjudged the Tailed Beasts, or I do it on my own somewhere else."

Tsunade was not happy, but she would be dead before she let her daughter go on her own to do something like this. She trusted Kushina and her judgment, thus she believed in her assessment of Kurama, therefore she preferred to be with her daughter on this to ensure that nothing goes amiss in this procedure, "Alright Kushina, I'll allow it…" Kushina smiled gratefully at the Senju, the blonde crossing her arms below her bust and adding, "Now then, continue your explanation."

Kushina cleared her throat, saying, "Right…" She inhaled and continued, "The procedure is simple…" She took out a small sheet with a kanji symbol written on it from her pocket, showing it to those present in the room as she spoke again, "This is a seal I've been working on for years, even before Naruto was conceived…" She eyed the paper, "Basically what this seal allows me to do, is connect my chakra network to an outside object, in this case…" She pointed towards a scroll on the tea table beside the couch, adding, "The preserved body that Naruto left me for this…" She looked back at them, saying, "Once connected, Kurama will pass her chakra and soul through the connection and essentially will take over the body."

"Right…" Mikoto spoke, raising a challenging eyebrow as she inquired, "And where is the part where you don't die from ripping the Nine Tails from you?"

Kushina ignored the flare in her stomach to instead, answer her sister's question, "Kurama is going to leave three tails worth of her power with me…" Everyone's eyes widened at that, shocked, having some trouble believing that such a legendary being would be willing to part with so much power just like that, "She will also leave a small part of her soul, that way, I won't be tearing my soul for this, instead, I will be just parting with a part of it."

There was a silence after that, only broken when Tsunade narrowed her eyes and asked, "Where's the catch?" It was foolish to believe that everything will be just fine and dandy, she knew there must be something dangerous to this procedure, otherwise Kushina wouldn't have requested for the most powerful and trusted people in the village for this.

Kushina inhaled deeply, knowing that the next detail would be the one that increases their doubts on this plan, "Simply put, a new Kurama will be born…" Their eyes widened again, with the Uzumaki adding, "The risk is that I have to take over the new Kurama as soon as it's born, if I don't, the new Kurama will act as any new-born and prioritize its survival, it won't have a conscious or attachment to me…" She eyed them all, adding to conclude, "I need you all to help stopping me in case I fail."

There was an even terser silence after that, with Tsunade replying after she got her bearings back, "Absolutely not, no Kushina, I'm not allowing it then." The mere thought of losing the woman she saw as a daughter, made the Senju act like a hysteric mother. Not that anyone blamed her anyway.

"Mom! You failed to comment that earlier!" Yūgao added, enraged, her worry even bigger than before.

Kushina sighed as she saw the expressions she expected from everybody in the room, stating after an uncomfortable pause, "Do you people seriously have such low standards on me?…" Their faces changed from that of doubt, to shock, listening as the Uzumaki continued with burning determination in her eyes, that legendary fire that ran through the veins of every Uzumaki in history, "I am the Red Hot Habanero, one of the greatest swordsman and kunoichi that has ever lived…" Her aura flared, showing that despite still not back at her fullest, her power was certainly one to be acknowledged, "I already tamed Kurama once…" She narrowed her eyes, adding with a deadly tone, "I can do it again."

Mikoto bit her lip, worried, saying to her friend with a tender tone, "Please Kushina, just…"

Despite understanding their fears quite well, Kushina was as stubborn as a certain knucklehead of the Leaf. Once she made a promise, she'd do her best to keep her word. Kurama deserved to be free, to be out of her cage, there was no amount of care and friendship that could replace real freedom, and it was time for Kushina to deliver on her word.

"Again…" Kushina said, this time calmer and lower, a little dejected but still determined, "I will go through this no matter what, with or without your aid."

There was another long silence after that, with Kakashi being the one saying, "Alright then, I'm in."

Kushina smiled at the foster father of Naruto, immensely grateful, observing as eventually, everyone else gave in and nodded their approval, with Tsunade saying, "You're still that stubborn brat that used to run around the house screaming about becoming Hokage…" Kushina blushed, embarrassed, but still smiling when her mother finished with a small smile, "Fine then, let us do this."

"Thank you…" Kushina bowed, grateful and happy to have their support, "Follow me." She then added, leading the people deeper into the manor.

It took them some moments to finally reach the basement of the manor, everyone looking around the large room they found themselves in, finding the emptiness of the room somewhat strange.

"This is where you practice your sealing arts, right Kushina?" The old Third asked as he looked around, remembering the room from the time he helped Minato perfect the Thunder God Jutsu.

Kushina nodded, walking towards the centre of the room, placing the scroll in her hand on the floor as she responded, "Yes Old Man, this is the room that Minato built me specifically for sealing sessions…" She smiled at the memory of her husband, still having some trouble getting used to life without him, "Let me lay out the plan for you." She said then, the people nodding and watching as a body materialized from within the scroll, the body of one of Danzō's Root guards, killed by Naruto himself.

Once everyone gathered around her, Kushina sat on the floor, stretching her legs, looking up at the people present to explain, "First, Mikoto and Kakashi, please keep your sharingan ready, it can help us keep me calm in case things go wrong…" The two mentioned nodded their heads, prompting Kushina to continue as she eyed the Third, "Old Man, besides me, you're currently the only one in the village knowledgeable enough with sealing, so please ensure that while I'm out, nothing goes awry…" The old man nodded, worried but still ready, "Tenzō, you should be our last resort in case things go to shit, okay?…" The ANBU nodded, reluctant but still trusting his Commander in Chief, "Shizu, please keep an eye on Kurama, she will be very weak and may need some kind of medical intervention…" Shizune nodded, with the redhead saying to Tsunade, "You should do the same but with me, Mom…" Tsunade nodded, already beside the Uzumaki, "As for Yū…" The purplette was also next to Kushina, biting her lip, the fiery Habanero caressing her cheek and finishing with a small smile, "Just be here for me, okay?"

Yūgao just nodded, holding her mother's hand tenderly, preparing for anything that may occur.

"Alright then…" Kushina then whispered, looking at everyone for a second before she laid down and lifted her shirt up, enough to let her seal show, saying once she was next to the dead body, grabbing its hand and adding to the people around, "Everyone ready?"

While not entirely enthused, everyone nodded, getting ready.

Kushina took a deep breath and with a silent prayer, she grabbed the seal and placed it on top of her belly, whispering a little joke, "See ya soon then…" She smiled and bit her index finger, redrawing the seal on the paper with her blood, declaring once done, "Sealing Arts: Transfer."

The result was immediate, since for Kushina, everything went dark.

* * *

"Ow!…" Kushina whined, her head spinning like crazy, feeling very dizzy and lost until she felt a pair of warm and comfortable hands holding her, stabilising her, the redhead opening her eyes slowly as the pain in her head began to recede, "D-Damn… the connection started faster than anticipated…" She uttered as she steadied herself.

"Kushina…" Kurama began saying, helping her friend sit down to get her bearings back, "I'm telling you… I can…"

"Stop Kurama…" Kushina said while she massaged her temples, taking a deep breath and slowly focusing back on her mindscape, shaking her head a little before she continued, "It's already happening, so let's not mess this up 'tebanne!"

 _'As stubborn as ever…'_ Kurama thought a little irritated, but still carrying a smile on her face. Kushina may be infuriating once and while, but she was one of the only two people, beside her siblings, that truly cared and understand her. Fiery as Kushina might be, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Can you feel the connection?" Kushina asked then after the brief pause, now more composed. She could feel her chakra flowing to an external outlet, but she wasn't sure if Kurama's chakra was flowing through the connection as well.

Thankfully, Kurama could feel her chakra reaching a foreign place, meaning that the connection to the body was working on both ends, "I do…" Kurama took a deep breath then, preparing herself for the next painful step, "I wish I could leave a tail's worth of power with you so that you can subdue the new Kurama easily but…"

Kushina smiled, tightening her grasp on the fox's hands as she said, "It's alright Ku, I can do this…" She then showed her friend a teasing smirk, quipping, "I already dealt with your arrogant ass once, I can do it again."

Kurama shook her head while she chuckled, whispering with no real venom, "Bitch…" Looking back at the Uzumaki, Kurama smiled one of her incredibly rare emotional ones, hugging Kushina tightly, the Uzumaki returning the embrace, listening as Kurama whispered, "Thank you f-for this, K… you… you d-don't know how much this means for me…"

Kushina patted the humanoid's back, smiling too, whispering back, "I do…" She then leaned back, both females locking eyes as the Uzumaki said to her fellow redhead, "You ready?"

Kurama nodded, both women standing and then, the Tailed Beast sprouted her nine tails, with the legendary being turning to see her behind, biting her lip, gathering courage while see grabbed three tails, whispering to herself, "The things I do for you, Naruto…" Thinking on the man that stole her heart, filled her with the strength and courage necessary to growl and with a harsh and painful pull, she tore off the three tails, screaming as excruciating pain coursed through her, dropping to her knees.

"Kurama!" Kushina screamed, immediately crouching to check on her friend, worried for her, unable to imagine the pain the Nine Tails was going through right now.

"I-I'll… _oww_ …" Kurama was saying before she felt a pang, gulping and eyeing her friend with one half opened eye, "I'll b-be fine…" Kurama grabbed Kushina's hand then, a glow suddenly surrounding the fox, feeling her power transferring to the other body, using Kushina as conduit, "More importantly, y-you have to subdue it quick before it fully forms…" Both women looked at the three tails which already joined into a large ball of fur, growing as the moments went by, "You won't be alone for this, I c-called for help…" Kushina was greatly confused, but Kurama didn't gave her time to ask what the fox meant, as she said right before she disappeared, "I'll see you on the outside, sister."

Kushina felt a huge surge of power course through her then, Kurama's very being phasing through her until Kushina could no longer feel her or the connection with the other body, meaning that the seal worked its wonders.

It wasn't time for celebrations yet though, as Kushina had a short window to fully consume the new Kurama that was starting to take shape. Thus, despite already feeling exhausted, she called on all of her strength and grunted, multiple chains sprouting from the ground, surrounding the new Kurama as the beast struggled.

"C-Come on now…" Kushina growled, feeling the beast denying her access to her power, despite the chains working, the beast refused to give, "P-Please…" She focused even more but her muscles were already sore, she could feel some of the new Kurama's power entering herself, but the creature had a will to live that seemed to be gaining the upper hand as the struggle went on.

"N-No…" Kushina whispered, now almost on her knees, the creature was nearly done forming, struggling and thrashing as it tried to pry off Kushina's chains, said woman not giving up, but still not feeling so sure about the outcome.

"Together." Kushina's eyes shot open when she heard a masculine voice saying that right next to her, an incredibly comfortable warmth enveloping her as she felt something holding her, lifting her up and grabbing her arms.

"W-What…" She whispered, not believing her eyes when she thought that none other than Minato was right behind her, giving her strength and that goofy smile of his. But she was even more shocked when she noticed the grey hair, her eyes now showing her the real picture, as the man behind her came to her brain, "N-Naruto…"

A transparent Naruto just winked and smirked at her, nodding, filling Kushina with a strength and determination never in her life had she felt before.

Kushina felt the tears rolling over her cheek, but they were tears of happiness, of knowing that Naruto was right here, right now with her, aiding her and giving her the strength she needed to pull through.

"That's right!…" The Uzumaki woman screamed and with renewed strength, she poured all of her power, as well as one that she didn't recognised, yet felt so familiar, into her chains, adding with a victorious cry, "Pay your rent, bitch!"

The new Kurama screeched painfully as the chains around it tightened, the beast glowing brightly, its power being syphoned through the golden chakra constructed chains towards the Uzumaki that with equal fierceness, roared as she ate all the power the beast had to give.

Kushina collapsed to her knees when finally, the beast was fully absorbed, her body feeling hot, the new Kurama's chakra settling and combining with her own, a little painful but still bearable.

She struggled for breath, whispering with a victorious painful smile, "I d-did it!…" She gasped though, quickly turning around, wanting to see Naruto and hug the life out of him. But as she suspected, she pouted when there was no Naruto anymore, not sure what happened, "Well… K-Kurama did said that she called for help…" She murmured, allowing her body to fall on the grass she created in her mindscape, her chest pumping as she recuperated her strength. She had a blinding smile then, a couple of tears of happiness falling from her closed eyes and with a loving whisper, she said right before she lost consciousness, "Thank you… Naruto…"

* * *

"I cannot thank you enough, Mr Namikaze…" Kahiko bowed to the silverette in question, his daughter and people behind him, bowing their respects to the young man as well, with the leader of the caravan adding with a genuine and grateful smile, "I shudder at the thought of what those monsters would've done to us, hadn't you intervened when you did… no wonder you're the talk of the people."

Naruto blushed, scratching his nape, embarrassed by the praise, being famous was still something he wasn't quite yet accustomed to, "C-Come one now… don't worry about it fam…" He chuckled nervously when the travelling tribe laughed at his bashful expression.

Rosalia was next to him, chuckling, happy to see that despite all the power and fame he was garnering, Naruto was still the same goofy kid at heart. The redhead was happy that Naruto was able to explain her presence with a quick but believable lie. He had told Kahiko and the rest that she was a hostage he found on Haido's ship and now, he was just accompanying her to her home, the Land of Moon. Though now that she thought about it, the lie wasn't really that much of a lie, she was kidnapped by her father after all.

"Are you sure you do not need any compensation?" Kahiko expressed. It wasn't that they had riches to spare, but the tribe had gathered what they could to give it to the ninja that saved them, but Naruto had politely refused.

Naruto smiled but shook his head, refusing again as he said, "Nah Old Man, I really appreciate the offer, but you people need it more than I do…" He then smirked a little lecherously, thinking on a certain Queen of his, "Besides, the Land of Moon will be… umm… paying me, so there's no need." He chuckled at Rosalia's exasperated sigh, the redhead understanding Naruto's hidden message.

Kahiko smiled, saying in the name of his people, "Thank you very much, you can think of this as your home as well, don't hesitate to ask something of us in the future!"

Naruto smiled and shook the hand of the old man, nodding as he said, "Aight fam, I gotcha…" He and Rosalia waved at them all then, beginning their trek towards the coast, where one of Grey's squads was waiting to take them back to the Land of Moon, "Bye!" He said as the people behind cheered for him and bided him farewell, hoping to see him again someday soon.

"Sooo…" Naruto said once they were out of sight, throwing his arm around Rosalia's shoulder, the redhead looking at her mate with a raised eyebrow as he continued with a small smirk, "Wanna do it again?"

Despite being a quite tempting offer, Rosalia sighed with a small smile, replying with a shake of her head, "Naruto, if it weren't for the fact that we can't have children anymore, you would've already knocked me up at least five times by now…" Naruto laughed goofily, they have been going at it like rabbits for the past two days, "Besides, you're already late for your promise…" Naruto frowned at that, it has been three days since his clone burst, meaning that Shizuku was probably wondering if he'll even come for her, "You told me that the girl seemed quite lonely and sad, you shouldn't keep her waiting any longer." While Rosalia would love to spend more time with her new lover, Naruto and she had things to do. He had to go for the Uzumaki waiting for him in the lonely ruins of Eddy Village, and she had to return to the mainland to get her network of brokers back in business. She had a new mission now and she was going to need her people to accomplish it. There'll be time for love making later on.

"Yeah, you're right…" He said, a little dejected but knowing that she had a point. He then just turned her to face him and planted a big kiss that she returned in kind, smiling as he said, "Won't be able to do that in front of Moon's people."

"Yeah…" Rosalia said with a giggle, already missing him when he took his arm off of her, they were close to the coast, so they couldn't risk being seeing like this for now, "I love you Naruto." She whispered, feeling so good with those words.

Naruto smiled, "Me too…" Saying, his eyes travelling back at the front, able to see the four soldiers with a boat waiting for them, "You said you wanted to meet Piña, right?" He asked the redhead.

Rosalia nodded, replying, "Yes… I want to get to know the family, I…" She smiled, looking at the ground as she continued, "I've never had girlfriends or sisters that I could talk to… it's… it's nice to know that that's changed…"

Naruto smiled, it always filled him with a sense of pride and happiness to know that the women of his family didn't needed him to coexist. They all had developed their own bonds towards each other, caring for one another as any real sister would.

"When you see her, can you tell her about Shizuku?…" Rosalia nodded at that, listening as the Uzumaki added, "She'll spread the word to the Family, I don't expect it to take me long, but I don't know how Shizuku will react to the news…" He gulped at that, he already had a similar experience with Piña, as in an accidental binding, but he hoped that he'll be able to resolve it with a favourable outcome, "Besides, I gotta meet the Pervy Sage." He added, it has already been over a month since he left the Leaf, he needed to report back to Jiraiya and to see what was next for him.

Rosalia nodded, but both realised that they were already in front of the squadron sent for them, a quite funny looking gruff man saluting, saying tensely, "Captain Yaku at your service, sire, it is a-an honour to meet you, oh Hero of the Moon!"

Naruto once again felt embarrassed as the rest of his squad, two men and two women, saluted and had sparkles in their eyes as they observed him, no doubt his part in Moon's liberation being the culprit of sudden nickname, "Y-Yeah… thanks…"

The man named Yaku then turned his eyes to the female accompanying his hero, the Captain looking back at Naruto to ask, "We were told that there was only you, milord."

Naruto looked at Rosalia, eyeing back at Yaku to reply, "Ah yes, she was kidnapped by those Europeans, I just happened to find her and rescued her, she'll be going with you."

Yaku and his squad all nodded, making Naruto and Rosalia raise their eyebrow at their strange behaviour, with the Captain saying with a somewhat enlightened tone, "Ah yes, yes, I've heard about you and your honeyed words, milord."

"Say what now?…" Naruto was asking, a little scandalised.

But the captain paid him no mind, instead, he turned back to the boat and boarded it, stating, "There is no time to waste, milord! The night is nigh! We must set sail as soon as possible!"

Trying to ignore the rather comical situation, Rosalia just giggled as she boarded the boat, the Captain feeling confused when Naruto remained on the ground, saying once he noticed the man's confusion, "There is still something I gotta do, Captain, so please, make sure to take Rosalia back to Moon and please inform Grey that I'll be back soon."

Yaku was still confused but nodded none the less, saluting his hero and adding as his men began pushing the boat away from the shore, "As you command! Good luck and be safe! We will protect the Lady with our lives!"

Naruto just chuckled as he shook his head, smiling lovingly at Rosalia who smiled back, waving at him, a pain in both of their hearts, the same he felt whenever he had to leave one of his mates, "Soon Naruto, soon…" He reminded himself once he was alone, that one day, he'll be able to give them the lives they deserved, with him by their side always, "Now then, time to see my former clan's home."

After those words, he made a dash across the shore and once he had enough momentum, he used wind chakra to impulse his body towards the sky, a set of essence constructed wings sprouting from his back and like a bird on a windy day, Naruto flew towards Eddy Village, eager to meet the woman he had accidentally bonded.

* * *

This was the second time that Koyuki Kazahana found herself in a sea of Feudal Lords and diplomats, talking and discussing multiple subjects amongst themselves, some of the most boisterous Lords already having tints of pink on their cheeks, a sign of their excessive consuming of alcoholic beverages served to the attendants.

"Isn't this supposed to be a serious meeting between us small countries' leaders?" She asked her right-hand woman, a beautiful but commanding blonde woman named Olivier Armstrong.

Koyuki recalled how she met the strong-willed European just three months after her coronation. The blonde was a refugee from the eternally warring western continent, coming to Koyuki's land along with her family. It wasn't much surprise for Koyuki to see Europeans since her country, along with Frost Country and Ōkami, are after all bordering with Europa, only an unforgiving and terrifying desert of glaciers and ice divided the two continents. Said cold tundra was the reason for why most of the westerners, migrated to the Elemental Nations through Night Country, the lone island that sits right in the middle of the Black Sea, the body of water that divides most of the two continents.

According to Olivier, she and her family were nobles on the western continent, but they apparently had a fallout with the side they worked for, a side they had refused to name since the Armstrong family wanted to begin a new life, away from their past in the warring land. Koyuki accepted that, mostly because the Armstrong family were part of the rebellion against her uncle, and Olivier along her little brother showed a love for the Land of Snow that she had only seen in her father and herself. Therefore, it took Olivier little to rouse through the ranks and settle herself as Koyuki's main advisor and leader of her army, the woman's younger brother being another important part of Spring's army as well.

"You know how these people are, milady…" Olivier replied, crossing her arms below her bust, cocking her wide hips to the side as she sighed and observed the multitude with disdain, adding, "Most of them are here to just waste time and find themselves some wives and husbands."

Koyuki couldn't help but look at her Commander in Chief's butt. Olivier had what Koyuki believed to be the greatest butt there was, thanks to her rigorous training as a soldier. The Queen had many times considered putting Olivier in Naruto's orbit, but the woman was quite unapproachable and for what she's heard, really prude, therefore she chose to instead take another approach.

Claim Olivier to herself first.

The Queen of Spring was in fact quite attracted to women, and Olivier knew that. The Queen has made subtle, yet easy to understand moves on the woman, and since Olivier has not made any reproach to her advances, Koyuki took it as a sign that perhaps, the attraction was mutual.

 _'Once she's comfortably with me… she will be comfortable with my love…'_ Koyuki thought to herself. Shaking her head, the Queen returned to the now, adding after a sigh, "True, perhaps it will be better if we just g…"

Before she could turn to leave however, there was a voice that caused a tremendous annoyance in her, a voice belonging to a man that has been relentlessly bothering her to no end, "There you are, my dear Koyuki…" A rather handsome man said as he came into Koyuki's view, the woman sighing heavily when the young man continued with a charming smirk, "I've been looking for you, darling."

The man before Koyuki, a black-haired tall good looking man, was a noble named Tōma Endo, son of the leader of Iron Country, Mifune. Despite being the son of a great warrior such as Mifune, Tōma was absolutely nothing like his father. Instead, he turned out to be a pompous little brat, looking for fame, power and women, going as far as to getting involved with the Earth Lord, a closeness that has unsettled Mifune and many more quite a lot.

And unfortunately for Koyuki, the guy was obsessed with her, he had sent her five marriage proposals in the last year and a half alone, "Mr Endo, how unpleasant to find you here."

Koyuki's harsh words did not deterred the man, chuckling haughtily, stating, "A yes, how I love your fierceness…" He tried to hold Koyuki's hand, but the blackette immediately retracted her hand with a heavy frown, prompting the man to state, "Come on love, how long do you plan to keep playing this game?"

Koyuki narrowed her eyes at him. Beside her, Olivier feeling already fed up with this dude, but remained calm as her Queen crossed her arms and coldly stated, "Whatever do you mean, Mr Endo?"

"You know… the hard to get…" Tōma replied, smirking, not believing that the beauty before him had no interest in him whatsoever, it has never happened to him before, "Soon, my father will retire and I will take his place as the ruler of Iron…" He leaned on her, whispering, "We can create a beautiful bond between our countries… and us…" Koyuki's gag did not stopped him, "And you can get rid of Fire's hold on you, my dear."

Koyuki's head tilted, a challenging raised eyebrow on her lovely face as she asked with a certain venom in her tone, "Pardon me?"

Tōma did reacted at the tone, but didn't backed down as he stated with utmost certainty, "There is no need to hide it from me, Koyuki…" He smiled, adding, "I have it from a good source that the only reason the Leaf helped in your rebellion, was to have you as a puppet state…" This time he did held Koyuki's hand, saying with a husky whisper, "But do not worry love, with my help, I can ensure that Fire releases you from your prison."

The man had to retract his hand when Olivier suddenly pushed him back a little, the man about to complain but was stopped when the blonde said with a commanding tone, "Hands off your highness, fool."

Before the guy could speak, Koyuki said with a heavy frown, "I will only say this once, Mr Endo…" The man focused on her as she continued, "The Leaf had no part in Snow's rebellion, it was in fact the act of kindness from four of their ninja…" She smiled at the memory of Team Seven and her lover, adding, "There is no one oppressing me or my country, I assure you."

Tōma frowned, rubbing his hand as he stated a little petulantly, "Oh please, you can't be serious? Why else would they send that stupid poster brat of theirs, huh?"

Immediately recognising who the guy was talking about, Koyuki felt a rage within her navel at the sight of this fool speaking about her love like this. But, she calmed down, now knowing how to mess with his head. Delivering him a teasing smile, she crossed her arms and purposefully lifted her breasts, commenting with a sexy tone, "Poster brat? Oh… do you mean _my hero_ , Naruto Namikaze?" She made it clear to imply something with her words.

And just as she expected, the man took the bait, since he pouted and crossed his arms in a defensive manner, huffing haughtily as he stated with great disdain, "Hero?… _pfft…_ please…" His words only served to slightly awaken Koyuki's draconic nature, for just a moment, almost losing control of her chakra and the henge she had applied to her eyes, hiding her slitted pupils, "He's nothing but an overhyped brat…" He smirked then, finishing certain, "I'm sure he's either just too lucky, or living off of someone else's glories."

The man had to stop however, as he suddenly felt a shiver running down his spine, his eyes widening slightly as he turned to face Koyuki, the Queen having a clam front, but something about her made him incredibly uneasy, "I would advise you to keep your thoughts to yourself, Mr Endo…" Koyuki managed to calm herself to smile, though it ended up being a rather unsettling one, stating with finality, "Mr Namikaze IS a hero to me and my people, bad mouthing him in my presence is not something I appreciate."

"B-But…" It took Tōma some seconds to recover his wits, but just as he was about to argue, there was a feminine voice that said behind him.

"Lord Tōma…" Koyuki's, Olivier's and Tōma's eyes turned to face the newcomer. An extraordinarily beautiful tall woman with long black hair tied in a lone ponytail, her eyes being a mesmerising pink, the glasses she wore on top of them along with the beautiful but classy red dress-suit she was wearing, made up for a look fit for a diplomat, "Your father has requested your presence." The woman added. While beautiful, she still had an aura around her that demanded respect.

"Faye…" The man said with a frown, displeased with her presence or her words, Koyuki did not know, "I'm busy, can't you se…"

The woman named Faye interrupted him however, when she added with a more terse tone, "I'm afraid it is urgent, milord, Lord Mifune insisted for you."

Tōma gritted his teeth but closed his eyes and took a deep sigh, fixing his clothes with petulant movement, stating with a dignified tone, "Fine…" He looked at Koyuki then, smiling charmingly at her, stating huskily, "We shall continue our discussion at a later time, my dear."

"Fuck off." Even Tōma was shocked when he heard Koyuki saying those words, the man being so shocked that he just walked away, leaving a set of two amused women and one heavily annoyed Queen.

"I apologise for Lord Tōma's behaviour, your highness…" Faye said, bowing, adding once Koyuki focused on her, "Lord Mifune had noticed that the young Lord was being unpleasant with you, so he ordered me to get him away from you."

Koyuki shook her head, a deep inhale to quell her annoyance and anger, stating once done, "Oh, then please, extend my thanks to Lord Mifune…" She smiled, adding, "And thank you as well, Ms…"

"Litchi Faye Ling, your highness…" The woman introduced herself, widening Koyuki's eyes as the black-haired beauty continued, "I am part of Lord Mifune's councillors, Medical Chief to be precise."

 _'This is the woman that Tsubaki told us about!…'_ Koyuki thought as she shook hands with the woman, recognising her name as one of the targets that Tsubaki gave Naruto, the woman that could open up a free path for a closer relationship between Fire and Spring Country, _'I have to seize this chance…'_ The Queen added, putting a plan in motion.

"I've heard of you!…" Koyuki said as she smiled, drawing a confused look on Faye's face, "You are one of the continent's greatest medics, correct?"

Faye rewarded Koyuki with a beautiful elegant smile, nodding, stating a little abashed, "Yes milady… many regard me in such high esteem."

Koyuki waved her, saying with a smile, "Oh please, don't sell yourself short…" She patted Faye's shoulder, continuing, "Anyone capable to match someone as Tsunade Senju, should be allowed to be praised."

"You are too kind, Lady Koyuki…" Faye said with a respectful bow, still a blush on her cheeks due to the praise, "But if I may be allowed to seize this opportunity…" She then added, straightening herself and looking at Koyuki who nodded at her to proceed, "I would like to ask you something, milady."

Koyuki smiled, finding the opportunity and immediately grabbing it, "Oh please, feel free to ask me anything." Koyuki then walked towards a more secluded part of the hall, finding a perfect spot just outside on a balcony.

"Thank you…" Faye spoke, clearing her throat before she inquired, "The thing is, I want to find new ways to apply medical jutsus, more specifically, create portable objects filled with healing attributes…" Koyuki and Olivier widened their eyes at that, listening as the woman continued, "I have a theory, but unfortunately, we do not have the technology in Iron Country to begin tests… so I wanted to ask if it would be possible to…"

"Do it in Spring?…" Koyuki deduced, earning a nod from Faye. It wasn't a surprise for her, Koyuki knew well that her country was the most advanced in the continent when it came to technology. This opened a perfect door for her though, a door she readily stepped through, "I'll tell you what…" She smiled, Faye listening intently as the Queen continued, "As a thanks for getting rid of that nuance you call 'Tōma'…" Faye did sniggered, "You have an open invitation to Spring…" The Doctor's eyes widened at that, "Whenever you want, all you need to do is inform me and I shall personally introduce you to my top scientists."

Faye was without a question taken aback, gulping right before she said, "M-Milady… that is a too generous offer… I could never t-take such advantage of you…"

Koyuki waved the worry off however, as she stated with an aloof tone, "It's no such thing, Faye… may I call you Faye?…" The woman readily nodded, "I think you and I can get along well, so just take it as an invitation to have fun… perhaps…" She tilted her head, asking a crucial part, "You may think of it as a vacation with your partner."

Faye tilted her head, confused, until her brain understood what the Queen meant, thus she said, "Oh no! I have no romantic partner if that's what you mean… I… umm… I tend to… intimidate them… I guess…"

 _'Bingo…'_ Koyuki cheered inwardly, knowing that had she been in a relationship with someone, Naruto would not intervene, he had a strong sense of morality in that regard, "Then just think of it as a fun learning vacation." Koyuki added, smiling, hoping to sweeten the woman for her lover. She did seemed to need someone by her side and Koyuki knew exactly the man for the job.

Faye smiled widely at that, bowing, saying earnestly, "Thank you so much for the opportunity, Lady Koyuki…" She looked back at her fellow blackette, adding, "I shall take your invitation as soon as I have free time, then."

Koyuki smiled and once again the two women shook hands, with the Kazahana stating, "Wonderful, I look forward to your visit then."

Faye reciprocated the feeling and with one last bow, she bided farewell and walked back into the hall, returning to her leader.

"You seem excited, Lady Koyuki." Olivier said, eyeing her Queen with a raised eyebrow, not knowing exactly what had Koyuki smiling like that.

Koyuki just turned to her second in command and smiled even brighter, stating with a giggle, "Just the thrill of expanding our frontiers, Olivier…" She looked back at the balcony, drinking the scenery of the night, thinking of her love as she whispered to herself almost, "Just the thrill."

Sadly, Koyuki had to go back inside as it appeared that finally, political discussion was about to begin. So with a heavy sigh, she fixed her dress and looking at Olivier, she stated with no enthusiasm whatsoever, "Let's go back Olivier, sadly, this shit-show's still not over."

Olivier complied but still, she couldn't help but think that there was definitely something going on with her Queen. What? She did not know, but she was sure that soon, she'll find out.

* * *

As the sky above Eddy Village slowly began to darken, there was a projectile-like object falling through the clouds at outrageous speeds, with the only sound coming from the object being a loud and clear, "Shiiiiiiiiit…"

The object, now revealed to be one Naruto Namikaze, crashed right into an already destroyed building, a large boom echoing across the demolished village.

"Aw…" Naruto whined, lifting himself up from the rubble, massaging his back, a tick forming on his forehead as he heard a growly chuckle coming from above, "What'cha laughing at, fool!?" Naruto demanded as he stood up, a mistake since his butt was still quite sore from the impact.

"Bro…" Canym said while he hovered above Naruto, growling some chuckles, adding, "You really suck at high speed gliding."

"Shut the fuck up, Junior…" The dragon just chuckled as he turned himself back into a little lizard, Naruto instinctively opening his jacket for his partner to crawl and settle, saying as he dusted himself up, "I'm a newbie at this shit yo! You gotta have patience, fool!"

 ** _"The one that needs patience is you, hatchling…"_** The voice of the third most powerful being there is resounded inside his head, Naruto pouting as the red beast added, _"I **n your haste to master your flight, you're completely forgetting about your momentum… if you can't control your momentum…"**_

Naruto sighed, finishing his paternal draconic figure's words, "You can't control your flight… I know… I know…" He sighed, ignoring Ddraig's amused chuckles. Instead, the jinchūriki of the Twelve-Winged Red Dragon chose to marvel at the ruins that once were a village full of life and Uzumaki, whistling appreciatively before he commented, "Damn… I know mah clone was here some days ago… but seeing it first hand, this place looks legit…"

He stepped out of the mess of concrete he'd created, squinting his eyes, observing his surroundings to try and get a hold of his position, "Hmmm… where is it?…" He muttered, trying to find the building that served as the Uzukage's tower, "There you are!" He said once he found the familiar silhouette, smiling, jumping towards the nearest roof and preparing to head straight towards the building.

But just as he landed on the first roof, there was a jet stream of water that forced him to roll aside to avoid it, the jinchūriki wasting no time at all and immediately branding his Thunder God Sword, the red lightning blade of the sword humming dangerously as it glowed with rage.

"Show ya self, fool!" Naruto declared, preparing for whoever was that attacked him.

He heard a feminine gasp then, Naruto focusing his blues to make out the shadowed figure that slowly approached him, revealing it to be none other than the woman he was there for, her eyes wide, almost unbelieving of seeing him right there as she whispered tenderly, "Y-You… you a-actually… came…" Shizuku was now fully revealed to Naruto, the man basking his eyes on her beauty, the orange tint of the sky providing a lovely glow around her.

Naruto smiled widely once he confirmed her identity, shutting off his sword and once he placed the hilt back on his belt, Naruto gave her a thumbs up and replied cheerfully, "But of course, ya fool! I ain't no liar!"

Shizuku needed some moments to get back in the real world, finally favouring Naruto with a small smile, still unsure of what was happening but happy to see him again, keeping his promise, "Y-Yes… I can see that…"

There was an awkward silence after that, neither knowing well what to say or do, with Naruto scratching the tip of his nose as he muttered somewhat awkwardly, "Sooo…"

"So… umm…" Shizuku said as well, rubbing her forearm, biting her lip before she looked back at the silverette and said, "You're here for…" She trailed off, not knowing how to complete her sentence. A part of her wished to hear that he came for her, to take her away from this loneliness, but she was sure that he was here for the treasure, not her.

But shocking her greatly, the very first thing Naruto said, was a confident, "For ya, of course!…" Smiling at her, the silver-haired teenager continued, "You said you didn't wanted to be alone no more, aight?"

Shizuku looked at the ground then, a small smile as she nodded, happy yet confused. There was something tremendous going on within her, in her belly to be more precise, she felt such a strong attraction towards the man before her that it confused her greatly. Though, at the moment, she chalked it up on her lack of social interaction, since basically the only people she's ever interacted with, has been her grandfather and bandits.

"It's late tho…" Naruto's voice made the woman look back at him, listening as the boy added, "Should be best if we find some place to crash and talk about what's going on, I can tell you're confused and I…" He took a deep breath, once again angry at himself, or his clone, for unknowingly bonding someone to him, "I have something very important to tell you."

Shizuku felt something strange in her navel, gulping, confused by his words but still, she nodded, saying, "Alright…" She looked back, adding as she pointed to their east, "My house is over there, follow me."

Naruto nodded and with that, Shizuku lead him through the ruins of Eddy Village, with Naruto marvelling at the place that once was the home of his human clan, commenting as they walked, "Damn, I didn't expected the village to be this massive… is easily at least bigger than the Leaf."

The brunette looked back at Naruto, smiling a little, nodding as she said, "Yeah, I guess the difference is that Eddy Village served as the home to everyone in this country, Whirlpool…" She looked at her ancestral home, sighing wistfully as she added, "There were some settlements in the other surrounding islands, but they all depended on Eddy, hence why it's so big."

"Oh…" Naruto said, looking around, asking as he did, "Was the country really comprised in its entirety of Uzumaki?" He had a rare opportunity to know more about the Uzumaki, he might no longer be a human with ties to them, but he still felt a connection with them.

Shizuku shook her head, explaining, "No, the thing is, the term 'Uzumaki' is actually not even tied to us originally…" Seeing Naruto's surprised expression, she elaborated, "You see, the term Uzumaki has always been used as a demonym for the tribes that lived in these islands even before our ancestors arrived…" She looked back at Naruto, continuing her lesson, "For what my grandfather told me, the Senju had a division in ideologies, having a difference in opinions regarding fighting…" She sighed, "A Senju requested to be released from the clan to begin new one, following his views, that being the arts of sealing…" She paused, continuing after a moment, "He was granted the request and took a few Senju who wanted to follow him with him, they renounced the name 'Senju' and looked for a new home, eventually reaching this island."

"Hooo…" Naruto was fascinated, deducing on his own, "Then I guess that as time went on, they took on the term 'Uzumaki' as their clan name?"

Shizuku nodded, smiling a little, it might be a little painful to talk about her ancestors and home, but the fact that Naruto was an Uzumaki like herself, made it so comforting for her to open up, "Exactly, but not everyone in the country inherited the variation of the Senju blood, only a few did and those are the ones the world recognises as the 'Uzumaki Clan', but the rest of the population were also called like that because as I said, Uzumaki is also a term for the people that inhabited these islands."

"So cool…" Naruto nodded as he muttered, fascinated. After finding out from Ddraig himself that the Uzumaki, Senju, Hyūga, Uchiha, Phenex and Lucifuge clans were descendants of the legendary Ōtsutsuki blood, Naruto had a fixation with finding out about their origins and how they came to be. He knew that the Senju and Uzumaki were descendants of the middle child of the Sage of Six Paths, the Uchiha being descendants of the oldest son. And according to Ddraig, the Hyūga came from the brother of the Sage. As for the Phenex and Lucifuge, their origins were a complete mystery, but mostly because Ddraig refused to talk about who they came from. The only one that Naruto could deduce, was the youngest child of the Sage, the one that enslaved and weaponised the Tailed Beasts.

Focusing back on the now, Naruto realised that they were exiting the village, already crossing through the destroyed gates of Eddy, the boy looking at Shizuku with a raised eyebrow as he asked, "You live outside Eddy?"

Shizuku nodded with a somewhat melancholic expression, rubbing her forearm as she explained, "Yeah… it's kinda… umm… sad… to live inside Eddy…" Naruto could understand her well. He had no real attachment to the Uzumaki, so he felt nothing walking through those ruins, but Shizuku was another thing, as Naruto could tell, she was really attached to the legendary seal master clan, "I have a hut on the shores of the island, it's cosy and provides me with every need, so it's alright."

Naruto just smiled at her, feeling her melancholy, it seemed to Naruto that the island as a whole, provided a huge weight of sadness on the beauty, _'Not for much more…'_ He promised to himself. While he had no idea how was he going to approach the subject of her tempting, Naruto was certain that he'll try his best to provide Shizuku with a new home, she definitely deserved it.

The rest of the way was spent silently, Naruto contemplating how to tell the woman about the mess he had accidentally put her in. As for Shizuku, she was just trying to figure out what to do, she knew he had come for her, she knew she wanted to leave with him, but she still felt that everything was happening a little too quickly.

It took them a couple of minutes to reach the woman's home, a rather cosy yet small hut right at the foot of the shore.

"Well… umm…" Shizuku said, reaching her door, opening it and as she timidly eyed the man behind her, she added, "Welcome t-to my home…" For some reason, she felt so embarrassed right now. It was perhaps because Naruto was such a famous ninja, that Shizuku thought that he was accustomed to luxuries.

Naruto though, smiled, walking inside the hut and looking around, finding it absolutely lovely, "This place is so cool…" He focused back on her, the woman closing the door and turning to face him with a blush, with Naruto continuing, "You shouldn't be embarrassed about it."

"Thank y-you…" Shizuku said, bowing, looking around as she added, "Would you like something to drink?"

"The strongest alcohol you have, please." That came out way faster than what Naruto intended to, but one could forgive him, he had a massive thing to discuss right now with her.

"O-Okay…" Shizuku was a little taken aback by his eagerness, but still did as asked, looking for her strongest sake, serving him a cup and taking one herself, cheering as they drank it, "Cheers." Both said, sipping the dizzying beverage in one gulp, both feeling the hotness of the liquid as it travelled through their throats.

Shizuku then sat on her bed, Naruto taking a chair and once he placed his butt on it, the brunette bit her lip, ants revolting in her belly as she murmured, "S-So… umm…" Once Naruto focused on her, she asked, "You said you had something to… umm… talk about?"

Naruto nodded, sighing heavily as he did. To be frank, he had no clue how to tactfully board the conversation, therefore he just trusted himself and said, "Yeah… it's about my clone and when he… healed you."

Shizuku's eyes widened a little, feeling nervous, commenting, "Oh… I… I have been f-feeling strange ever since…" She gripped her pants tightly, a little afraid of the answer to her question, "D-Did… did you do something… t-to me?"

Naruto clicked his tongue, angry at himself, he really hoped that this was the last time he commits such a stupid mistake, he needed to be more conscious about it, he was playing with people's lives after all.

But keeping his self-loathing for later, Naruto sighed and as he massaged his temples, he whispered, "Yeah…" He faced Shizuku who had her brown eyes wide, the boy wincing at her fear as he added, "I did…"

Shizuku gulped, a frightened shiver running down her body after his words. She considered what to do now, if continue listening to him, assess the threat, attack him or what else. But she calmed down, arguing that if he was right now confessing that he did something to her and having trouble doing so as well, since she could easily see how truly nervous he was, then it meant that he probably did it by mistake or that it wasn't a bad thing.

He also seemed to be quite worried for her, so she took a deep breath and asked, still somewhat wary, "Okay then… what… what did you do to me?" She still prepared for every scenario she could think of.

Naruto sighed once again, muttering, "Aight… you might wanna hold yourself for this…" But Shizuku's mind could never in a lifetime think of the outrageous tale that Naruto began laying out for her.

Every word, every meaning, every goal, it all seemed so ridiculous that she found herself struggling to keep up. Little by little, Naruto told her every excruciating detail of his path, who he was, what he wanted to accomplish and what he did to her, all the while, Shizuku couldn't close her mouth or eyes, staring at him blankly as her brain barely managed to register what he was saying.

"And t-that's about the gist of it…" Naruto finished with a loud gulp, not liking Shizuku's face at all. He completely understood her shock of course, it wasn't every day that you were made privy of such fantastical information, and despite the fact that he had hid crucial things from her, things he couldn't reveal until she had decided to fully mate with him, the things he revealed were still quite spectacular.

"T-Tell me…" Finally, after what it seemed like forever for Naruto, the woman spoke, albeit stuttering, winking one, two, three, four times in a row as she finished her thought with an unbelieving whisper, "T-Tell me you're shitting me…"

"Umm… I…" Naruto internally panicked, trying to find the right words to calm her down, "I'm not… I… I am being completely honest with you, Shizuku."

Shizuku stared at the boy, her face white, completely silent, shocked, confused, angry, attracted, out of this world, only able to whisper weakly, "T-Then I… y-you… m-me…"

"Listen!…" Naruto said as he rushed to her, grasping her hands, feeling relieved when she didn't took them away from him, saying as he locked his eyes to hers so that she could see and feel his honesty, "I am incredibly sorry for messing up so badly with you, Shizuku, I am an idiot for messing your life like that without regard, but you're still free of being fully bonded to me."

Shizuku calmed down, finding utmost honesty in those mesmerising blues of his, whispering confused, "W-What do you mean?… I… I thought you said I was… bonded… to you."

Naruto sighed, focusing back on her after a moment, explaining, "To put it simply, the blood my clone injected you with is a very watered down version of my divine blood, thus a complete binding didn't happened…" He paused, standing up again and continuing, "It only did what I call a 'Tempting'… basically, it just made you more susceptible to me, created a strong attraction to me in other words."

Shizuku stared at the man before her eyes travelled to the floor, pensive, taking in every word the man has said. She could tell that he was being honest and despite the initial scare, now that she searched her emotions well, she could definitely tell that while really, really attracted to Naruto, she didn't felt anything deeper than just physical attraction.

"Listen, I am really sorry about this…" Naruto's voice made the Uzumaki female look up, listening as he continued, "The effects of my blood will fade out eventually, all you gotta do is stay away from me and that'll be it."

For some reason, Shizuku widened her eyes, alarmed, stating hastily, "No!…" Feeling surprised herself as well, the woman inhaled a couple of times before she added, this time more collected, "W-What I mean is… I… I can tell you're being honest and while it sounds so… outlandish… to me, your dream that is…" She bit her lip, rubbing her forearm before she added, "It's a dream I… I can see myself behind."

Naruto's eyes widened, saying surprised, "Wait… you're telling me…"

Shizuku shook her head though, interrupting the silverette as she explained, "No… I…" She stopped for a second to think the right words, "I'm yet to know you… I don't even know if you're being really honest, or if you're just a really good deceiver."

Naruto sighed, nodding, understanding her completely, "Then, what is it that you're saying?"

Shizuku sighed, biting her lip before she replied, "I just want to know if I can trust you."

Naruto and Shizuku remained silent after that, with the silverette widening his eyes as he came up with something, "Wait! The treasure, do you still have it?"

His question made her wary, but still replied truthfully, "Yes?"

Naruto smiled, saying, "Then to show you that I am a dragon of my word, I'll tell ya the truth about the treasure!"

Shizuku tilted her head, greatly confused, whispering, "What are you talking about?"

"Can you show me the treasure?" Naruto asked.

The woman thought for a moment whether to go with it or not, but being greatly intrigued by his words, she sighed and nodded, standing up and walking towards a corner of her home, kicking the ground and after a click, a piece of the floor came out, revealing a small hole where the book was being kept.

Shizuku took out the book and its cloth, walking back to Naruto but stopped, hesitating.

"Please." Naruto said softly, smiling at her.

His smile made her belly twist, prompting Shizuku to bite her lip and nod with her head down, handing the book to him, hoping for the best.

"Thank you…" Naruto said, smiling, gingerly unrolling the book from the cloth and surprising Shizuku, he threw the book to the bed, uncaring of it as he extended the cloth, revealing a slightly tattered, yet absolutely mesmerising black cloak with red trimmings, something so foreign yet intimidating radiating off of it, "This… this is the real treasure." Naruto said with a smirk. He originally wanted the cloak for himself, but if he needed to give it to Shizuku as a sign of trust, then he would swallow the bullet, he owe it to her.

Shizuku was so confused, she just stretched her hands and grabbed the cloak when Naruto handed it to her, inspecting it intently, there was such a weird aura around it, it felt somewhat familiar but foreign at the same time.

"What is this?" She asked, eyes glued to the cloth.

"Futsunushi's cloak." Naruto replied with a fierce smirk.

Confused, Shizuku tilted her head, making said confusion known with a question, "What?"

Naruto sighed, sitting back on the chair before he explained, "Futsunushi is an ancient God, mostly known as the God of Swords or God of Warriors…" Shizuku's eyes widened, listening as the jinchūriki continued, "That cloak has his blessing, the strange aura you feel? Feels strange because that's divine essence, something impossible for you to fully feel."

Shizuku was agape, her eyes going back to the cloak, whispering a question, "But what does i-it do?"

Naruto smiled, replying, "With the blessing of the God of Swords, the cloak simply makes you an even better swordsman, it's kinda like a sharingan in clothing version, since it gives you the ability to see beyond normal capabilities, it's one of the ultimate treasures for any swordsman."

"And you're a swordsman…" Shizuku whispered, understanding why the boy wanted the cloak.

"And I'm a swordsman." He nodded. He might be a dragon god, but Naruto could still be so much more with that cloak, it could bring his swordsmanship up to a divine level.

There was a silence after that, Naruto remaining quiet as he observed the woman seemingly pondering on her options.

It took Shizuku some time, but her brain finally came up with a good plan of action, "Then I'll make a deal with you…" Intrigued, Naruto nodded at her to continue, "I'll go with you, be your companion and that…" Naruto's eyebrow raised, surprised but still silent as she added, "I want to observe you, how you handle yourself, treat others and most importantly… how you seduce other women." She narrowed her eyes at that to make her point clear.

Naruto was a little unsure, saying, "Are ya sure about that?"

Shizuku though, nodded, determined, saying, "Yes, it is imperative for me to see if you truly value the women you seduce… if I… if I am to be yours… I want to know completely that you'll…" She looked down, blushing, her inexperience showing as she added, "You'll treat me w-well and love me really…"

Naruto smiled tenderly at that, loving her reaction, "That's fair." He said, agreeing completely.

Shizuku then held the cloak tightly, to her chest, adding, "If eventually I… I see that you're really what you tell me… if I see that you're worthy of… m-me…" She locked her eyes to his then, shivering but still determined, concluding, "Then I will give you the cloak and…"

"And?…" Naruto teased her, loving the moment right now.

"A-A-And…" Shizuku felt so overwhelmed at the moment, but still, by almost sheer magic, managed to say, "M-Me…"

Naruto this time smiled honestly at her, bowing in a show of gratefulness, surprising Shizuku, knowing very well that a dragon bowing was a huge rarity to witness, "Then I promise to do my best to be worthy of you, Shizuku…" He looked up, locking his blues to hers, finishing with an earnest smile, "You have my word."

Shizuku couldn't help but smile. Despite it all, the boy provided her with a warmth she didn't wanted to lose, "Thank you…" She whispered, returning the reverence. She wasn't dumb though, she knew very well that Naruto was way stronger than her, she could feel it. She knew that if he wanted to, he could simply take the cloak and her by force and there'll be little to nothing that she could do. But the fact that he was going along with her, just to prove his worth to her as any man would, made her really happy and hopeful that soon, she could open herself to him and his dream.

With that settled, Naruto stretched and yawned, saying after, "Then what'cha say we hit the hay?…" Shizuku shook her head, the silverette adding, "If you're really coming with me, we gotta be back on the mainland by the end of the week, need to report about my mission."

Shizuku nodded, pointing towards a couch on the far side of the room, saying, "I wish I could provide you with more, but I only have that couch and my bed… and umm… w-well…" She once again felt embarrassed.

Naruto though, just chuckled, waving her embarrassment off as he stated, "Don't worry about it, Zuku…" His words made her widened her eyes at the incredible warmth she felt in her body when he called her that, utterly confused at her openness with him using her grandfather's nickname for her, "I can sleep practically anywhere! Perks of being a dragon."

"R-Right…" Not knowing what else to say, Shizuku kept her feelings to herself and instead, threw herself on her bed, listening as the rain began to fall outside. It might be confusing, it might be utterly strange, but even so, the smile on her face would simply not go away. Perhaps, in her mind, because by mere chance, she was on the right path, a path her grandfather would hopefully be proud of.

* * *

 _"It's so peaceful out here…" Kushina whispered as she leaned back on the chest of the man embracing her, eyes closed, a gentle and lovely breeze washing over her, the soft grass on her butt and legs tickling her ever so slightly, making the experience even better for her._

 _The masculine arms around her tightened their hold on her waist, a strong chin resting on top of her head, humming his agreement._

 _Kushina smiled, snuggling, eyes still closed as she looked up and kissed the man's chin, whispering lovingly, "I could get used to this, ya know?"_

 _She could feel his smile when he chuckled, stating with a familiar voice, "Really now?"_

 _Kushina's eyes opened slowly as she faced the man embracing her, eyes shooting up wide when she realised that it wasn't Minato holding her, instead, it was both a similar yet so completely different man, "N-Naruto…"_

The redhead shot up from the bed, wincing as she felt a sore pain all over her body, forcing her to lay down on the bed again.

"Easy now, K…" A familiar feminine voice was heard coming from beside her, a gentle hand gingerly pushing her back on the bed by her shoulder, adding, "You're still going to be a little sore from the sealing, so take it easy."

Kushina couldn't really point out the owner of the voice, thus, she struggled to open her eyes for a moment, fighting the sudden hit of light off and once able to focus on her surroundings, she realised she was right back in her room inside the Namikaze manor, her eyes travelling to the woman beside her, a stunning crimson-haired woman of average height. The female had a beautiful ruby-coloured set of eyes, wearing a red dress with golden trimmings that left out a good view on her, in Kushina's honest opinion, unnecessarily large breasts.

Almost by aura alone, Kushina could guess who the strange woman was, whispering a little unsure as she tilted her head, "K-Kurama?… is that you?" Her confusion stemmed from the fact that Kurama had a different human transformation back inside her mind, but while her new human-self still shared some similarities with the one she was familiar with, they were indeed different appearances.

The woman that was in secret Kurama smiled, nodding slightly, handing Kushina a glass of water and as the Uzumaki drank it, she explained, "Yeah Kushina, it's me, but as you can see…" She eyed her new body, trying to ignore the breasts she was unable to put down, it appears that her power was too much for a simple human body, thus it concentrated itself in different areas. Sadly for Kurama, one of them was her breasts, "I am slightly different."

Kushina nodded, sipping the last of the water, taking a deep breath before she widened her eyes and with a wide smile, she asked, "Then it worked, 'tebanne!?" She grasped Kurama's shoulders excited.

Kurama smiled, placating the overexcited woman before she injured herself, replying, "Yes K, it worked just as you planned it…" She brought her hand up and after some focusing, a black mass of energy appeared, her signature power of destruction, "I can use most of my strength, but I still need to get this body used to it, it's kinda painful as it is right now."

Kushina sighed relieved, letting her body to fall back on the bed, happy for the outcome. She had freed herself from a great burden now, she has kept her promise to both Kurama and Naruto, and now she could feel the new Kurama's power mixed with her own, meaning that she'll be able to stand beside her son whenever a threat dared to show up. It was all she desired.

"Oh, by the way…" Kurama's voice made the Uzumaki focus on her friend again as she added, "It's 'Maō' now… I… I want to start anew…" The now named Maō looked down at the floor, adding with a tint of melancholy, regret and hope, "I want to be someone new… worthy of your friendship and… Naruto's…"

Speaking of which, Kushina felt a rush of blood going to her cheeks, blushing at the mention of her once son, the vivid memory of her utterly strange dream assaulting her brain again. Thankfully, she managed to control herself in time to hide her feelings, saying with still an honest smile, "Ku… I m-mean, Mao… you already are…" She caressed her friend's cheek, adding lovingly, "But I understand and I will support you till the end."

Maō smiled, grasping Kushina's hand tightly, saying immensely grateful, "T-Thank you Kushina… you… you don't know how much you've done for me, and mean to me…" Smiling, the Nine Tailed Fox stood up and after a sigh, she fixed Kushina's sheets, patting her tenderly as she said with a whisper, "There'll be time to talk after you take a nap, K, you need it."

Kushina smiled, nodding tiredly, whispering back, "Yeah… I definitely do…" Watching as Maō kissed her forehead and soon after left, Kushina laid on her side, her face half buried on her pillow, biting her lip as the memory of her dream replayed over and over again in her head, "W-What is going on?…" She whispered, confused, the fact that she knew she liked it, increasing her frustration even more.

* * *

 **A/N: As I'm sure some of you figured out, Kurama was originally intended to be Rias in the story, but as it progressed, I changed my mind and decided to make her Maou from Maoyu Archenemy & Hero. Mostly because I want to have Kurama as sort of like a scholar, and that's what Maou is. As for Rias, I am honestly a little lost with her. I've considering perhaps not use the same characters for both of my stories and since Rias is part of my other story, I'm thinking on perhaps cut her off this one. But do please tell me if you have a good idea of where you might see her in here. With that said, thank you for reading and see ya on the next chapter! Cheers! **


	36. Devil Got My Woman (Part 1)

**A/N: Ahem... yo... waddup?**

 **Amma just leave this chapter here and slowly back away...**

* * *

 **-FORTITUDE-**

 **Devil Got My Woman (Part 1)**

Training was something he has always been fond of. The excitement of learning something new, a powerful set of deadly moves, some outstanding new sword techniques, some flashy and extremely powerful jutsus, it never really mattered to him as long as it was something that could help him grow even stronger.

Some used to call him just a really hyperactive kid back in the day, and while to some extent they were indeed right, he always thought that it didn't cut it, that there was another reason for his incessant hunger for knowledge and power.

Turns out it was his nature as a dragon.

"Come on…" His whisper was barely audible to the only other soul accompanying him in this beautiful lake they were in, his blues solely focused on the kunai laying on the ground right before him, both of his hands wide open, palms aimed at the killing object.

There was also a downside to his dragon nature however, not everything can be wholly good he'd guess. The drawback was quite simple.

Lack of patience.

Dragons were not patient creatures, like at all. They were inheritably active, full of energy, which makes sense as most of the original dragons are literally a condensation of interstellar energy. It was extremely rare to find a dragon that was patient.

Ddraig was most definitely one of those rare patient dragons, as he spends most of his days just lying on the beach within his own mindscape, just occasionally requesting Naruto to let him use his body to 'stretch' his legs. But the silver-haired Namikaze could easily counter that the god's patience was more a testament of how old he was than anything else.

Naruto on the other hand, has never truly been a tranquil child. Add to that the fact that he was still essentially a 'hatchling', or baby dragon in human tongue, it was safe to say that patience was not something he could count on.

"You've been doing… whatever it is you're doing… for the past hour…" The feminine voice of his newly acquired companion, Shizuku, sounded from some distance away from his spot, earning a tired sigh from the jinchūriki as she tilted her head, sitting on the grass, adding, "I don't see how this is training." The brunette pouted slightly, confused.

Naruto blinked a couple of times, surprisingly feeling slightly drained after his effort, "I have a bloodline that allows me to manipulate the minerals of the earth…" Shizuku's eyes widened a little bit, listening as the male continued while he rubbed his chin, "But apparently, there are different levels of my bloodline…" He rolled his eyes to look at her, "You can call them something like upgrades, I guess." He massaged his temples, a little headache present at the moment.

"And?" Shizuku asked, still somewhat confused.

"And…" He replied, smiling slightly at her as he continued, "One of those upgrades, supposedly allows me to manipulate metal…" Now she was impressed, as she gaped when he continued, "I'm trying to get it right but…" He looked back at the kunai, frowning, frustrated at his impasse, "The difference with this ability and most other jutsus, is that this one's more about the mind than anything else…" He then looked back at the brunette and smiled sheepishly, saying with an aloof tone, "That part has never really been mah thing, ya know?"

Shizuku couldn't help but smile at the man's childishness, slowly coming to accept those strange sensations he made her feel in her belly.

She has been with Naruto for a whole week now, leaving Eddy behind to head towards Moon where they spent three days resting. She also had the chance to meet two of Naruto's women, the Queen of Moon herself and an information broker known as Rosalia. She was most definitely surprised to find out that Naruto was the lover of someone as important as Piña Co Lada, the leader of one of the wealthiest countries in the continent. But she was more surprised about Piña's and Rosalia's genuine happiness, as the sparkling in their eyes when they saw Naruto was simply something impossible to fake. Even someone as inept in social interaction as her, could see the genuine love he had for them and vice versa.

It certainly put her more at ease.

She was also glad to have the chance to talk to them in private, hear their stories and opinions. The fact that none of them pressured her to give in to Naruto's charms was something that told her she was okay to trust them for now. And much to her happiness, she was able to get herself her very first friends. Going as far as to admit that she wanted to stay longer in Moon to know the two women better.

Naruto had sensed that and he actually told her to stay in Moon if she so wished, Piña also offering her own home for her to stay in. Shizuku was most definitely tempted but Naruto still needed to go and while Shizuku wanted to stay with her new friends a little while longer, she wanted to see if Naruto was honest with her even more.

Thus, here they were, waiting for Naruto's godfather to appear in order to report on Naruto's mission and to listen what's next on his journey.

"You're focusing on the wrong thing, brat…" Another masculine voice suddenly sounded and earned their attention, Shizuku deducing him to be Naruto's master and godfather by the fact that the silverette didn't even flinched at his surprise appearance, the tall large white-haired man adding with a confused look as he observed her, "Don't focus on the kunai itself, focus on its surroundings."

Naruto tilted his head, face scrunched, confused, looking at Jiraiya as he questioned, "What'cha mean, Pervy Sage?"

Annoyed by the stranger's giggle, Jiraiya ignored her for the moment in order to explain, "For what I read in the scroll, you're not exactly manipulating the metal itself, you are supposed to manipulate the surroundings of the metal by creating an electrical field around it…" He crossed his hands, looking at the boy as he added, "Think of the process of making a rasengan but instead of condensing energy in a ball, create a magnetic field around the kunai."

Naruto's eyes widened after he understood the elder's words, immediately focusing on the kunai again and once he put both hands on top of the weapon, he shut down all of the environment and focused solely on the surroundings of the kunai, feeling the air passing between his hands and the ground.

He narrowed his eyes, his breath beginning to rag slightly as he felt his chakra surrounding the kunai.

It then happened, like a cold object suddenly reaching his senses, he could feel the metal beneath his palms, faintly, but it was there.

And just like that, he got to work. Slowly focusing on the natural magnetic field that the earth emitted and as if in a moment of enlightenment, he finally grasped the way to go.

Shizuku leaned on to have a better look at Naruto, there was a calming silence as a gentle breeze passed by them, but then a faint pulse of energy made her eyes widen as she saw how, if just for a single second, the kunai below Naruto's hand began to levitate.

Jiraiya was astonished as well, as his eyes locked themselves to his godson. He could feel a shift in the energy around them, his Sage senses allowing him to feel a deeper connection with earth and thus, he could feel how Naruto was faintly manipulating the magnetic field of the area.

"Damn…" Naruto muttered as he stopped, shocked to feel himself sweating. He was so into his trance that he couldn't really see anything he was doing, but even if it was just a millimetre, he could tell that he had in fact moved the weapon.

"Whoa…" Shizuku whispered, really impressed. She has never seen that kind of power in her life. His exhaustion was easy to see, but she could feel his chakra reserves practically filled, meaning that the jutsu was more mentally exhausting than chakra draining.

"Did it worked then?" Naruto asked, panting slightly, leaning back on the ground until his back laid against the grass, a small pang in his head but besides the mental exhaustion, he actually felt okay with everything else.

Jiraiya smirked, crouching to grab the kunai and as he observed it, he stated, "For a second it did…" He then looked at the boy, who seemed genuinely tired, Jiraiya putting said exhaustion in the back of his mind, reminding himself to take a look at the technique again when he gets free, "But I guess it's still too early for you to use it effectively." He kicked the boy lightly, chuckling as Naruto whined.

"No shit…" Naruto murmured, opening his eyes and slowly sitting up, taking a deep sigh before he looked at the white-haired pervert and added, "My head hurts like a modofaka… never used it this much in mah life, fam…" He chuckled as he scratched his scruff sheepishly.

Jiraiya chuckled along with the boy, shaking his head until he heard the chuckle of the third person present with them, his eyes going towards the beautiful young lady.

Shizuku felt nervous as Jiraiya eyed her up. She had heard from Naruto about his godfather's infamous perverted ways, but what made her nervous was not that lecherousness, it was that Jiraiya was most definitely not looking at her with lecherous eyes, those narrowed eyes were filled with scrutiny and mistrust. Even she had heard of the legendary Toad Hermit, the man was a walking legend that few dared to trifle with.

Naruto sensed the look and just as he was about to say something about Shizuku, Jiraiya looked at him and spoke, "Now Naruto, I doubt this beautiful lady here is an illusion…" He crossed his arms, looking at the jinchūriki and with stern eyes, added, "I take it you have a good explanation here?"

Naruto knew that the Toad Summoner was not joking around right now, it was still somewhat weird for him to hear Jiraiya in his serious-mode, as it was too scarce, but when it came out, he knew the Sannin meant business.

"Right…" The host of the Absolute God of End whispered followed by a sigh, looking at Shizuku with a reassuring smile before he focused on the older man again and said with equal seriousness, "You better sit down Pervy Sage, we got a lot to talk about, my fam."

Jiraiya felt equally surprised by hearing the seriousness in the usually aloof boy, but heeding Naruto's word, he sat down and prepared himself to hear Naruto's tale about his journey.

* * *

"Mmm…" She hummed, eyes narrowed at the offending objects before her, laid on the table, an almost mocking silence as she struggled to use them properly.

Her fingers twitched before she approached the metallic objects with reluctance, an urge to completely forgo the utensils and just go back to her natural habit of burying her face in and devour the foods with animalistic glee.

But she refrained herself from doing so.

"You are Maō now…" She whispered to herself, slightly frustrated as she gingerly grasped the fork and knife, grabbing them with an unnecessary strength, adding with a deep breath, "Not Kurama, no longer a fox, no longer a Tailed Beast, but a human…" The new version of the recently released Nine-Tailed Fox focused on getting accustomed to live as a regular human, but fighting off her animal instincts was turning out to be harder than she originally thought, "I wonder how Naruto does it…" She thought of the young man she had, reluctantly, fallen in love with, wondering how Naruto, a dragon by all means, could fight off such strong habits common to an even fiercer creature such as a dragon.

"I was under the impression you were already accustomed to human behaviour…" Another feminine voice sounded from behind Maō, forcing a sigh out of the redheaded Tailed-Beast as she recognised the tone of the Village Hidden in the Leaf's leader, Tsunade Senju, "You know, with you being inside Kushina and all" The Senju female added once she sat on the chair opposite to the redhead, the blonde's demeanour seemed reserved, but not hostile, even slightly open.

The woman once named Kurama sighed, leaning back on her seat as she gently put the utensils down, cracking her neck a little bit before her blues focused on Tsunade, saying a little bit frustrated, "I know the actions and how to perform them…" She massaged her temples, "But taking it to the practice is turning out to be quite the endeavour."

Tsunade nodded at that, understanding the difference between knowing the moves and actually doing them, "I have to admit, it leaves me somewhat pleased to hear that."

Maō narrowed her eyes, there was no real hostility coming from neither of them, but she still said with a dry tone, "Really now… and why is that?"

The Fifth Hokage didn't even flinched as she shrugged nonchalantly, replying honestly, "Because, you still are the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox…" The redhead closed her eyes, "I trust Kushina's judgment and so far you have kept your word…" Tsunade rested her elbows on the table, her chin on her fist as she added, "And I can see that you genuinely care for my daughter… and Naruto…" Maō caught the intrigue in that specific name, an intrigue the redhead was sure Tsunade will inquire about in a moment, "But still, you can't fault me for being cautious."

"I guess not…" The vixen replied with a tired whisper, once again leaning back on her seat before she focused solely on the buxom leader and asked, as politely as she could, "But putting all that aside for now, to what do I owe your visit, Lady Fifth?"

Tsunade prepared herself, she didn't wanted to rile the powerful being or cause any reason that may change the fox's mind regarding her promise to Kushina. But ultimately, the legendary Sannin chose to simply be honest, as she had a feeling that the woman was somewhat like Naruto, in that she could easily detect lies and manipulations, thus, the busty blonde spoke, "I have your papers right here…" She showed a folder, adding, "Your new identity, a short background and your status as an official citizen of the Village Hidden in the Leaves and the Land of Fire."

"But…" Maō trailed, knowing well that there was no need for the leader of the village herself to come all over to the Hidden Oak just to deliver the documents, rather, she was surely here to interrogate her in a more relaxed scene.

"But…" Tsunade nodded, continuing after a brief pause, "Before I give these to you, there a couple of questions I have…" Tsunade narrowed her eyes, showing that she was dead serious as she said, "And I want the full honest answers, I'm not here to judge your past or your actions from before you were sealed, but I have to be absolutely sure that you are not a threat to my village, my daughter and godson specially."

Maō sighed, crossing her arms below her bust, giving it to the Hokage as she whispered, "Fair enough…" The redhead then inhaled, preparing for the interrogation before she spoke again, "What is it that you want to know?"

There were most definitely thousands of questions the medic-nin had for such an old and legendary creature as the Nine-Tailed Fox, but Tsunade knew that she couldn't really go too deep without risking earning a negative reaction from the vixen, thus, she thought of a set of crucial questions, wording the first one out, "Alright… why are you friendly to Kushina?" Tsunade's brown eyes were locked on her blues, ready for any sign of deceit.

The chakra being sighed before she replied, eyes locked to her counterpart's, "Throughout my life, there have only been very few times were I was treated as a living creature rather than a weapon…" Maō couldn't deny that she felt a slight pain in her heart as she recalled her life, "One when I was created and my father still lived…" She said after the pause, adding then, "After that, it was centuries of fighting against your kind, until your founder imprisoned me in his wife…" Tsunade nodded, listening as the redhead continued, "My first jail wasn't really bad, barely even talked to the woman at all… but it was Kushina who first treated me like my father used to…" She smiled a little, looking at the side as she thought of her friendship with the fiery Uzumaki, "It was rough at the start, both of our personalities are similar and obviously, that made us clash constantly…" She looked back at the Senju, continuing, "But she was genuinely the first one to not use my power, to grow strong on her own and I came to respect that… I guess it all started from there."

Tsunade was most definitely intrigued, the woman once known as the Nine Tails, was acting as a real human being, a person with a painful past that slowly managed to overcome it and it's now in the process of healing, moving on, "You said 'father'…" Though, she was also quite surprised, Tsunade never even considered the Tailed Beasts to have someone they called 'Father', "I never thought you had a father."

Maō closed her eyes as she sighed, leaning back on her seat. For a moment there, she considered shutting down the course of the conversation, as she didn't really felt compliant enough to relieve such information to someone she barely knew. But, she gave in as she knew she had to be in the good grace of the Hokage, otherwise she would be risking her stay in the Leaf, and thus, her proximity with her best friend and knucklehead, _'The things you make me do, Naruto…'_ She though with a small chuckle.

The redhead then focused back on Tsunade to reply her inquiry, "Not too surprising, your kind has never bothered to understand us…" Tsunade frowned, conceding the point, though the blonde was surprised when Maō also added, "But I guess, neither of us gave you a reason to in the first place, we attacked you at first sight, and you reciprocated the action, so I guess we're both to blame…" The redhead then sighed, going back to the original question, "But to answer your question, yes, we had a father of sorts, the man who created us as we are."

"May I know who he was?" Tsunade asked tentatively, greatly intrigued. She had a thought in mind, a possibility that at the moment seemed too out of this world, but she could only think of one man capable of creating such powerful creatures, a man set in the stones of time and history.

"The same man you're thinking of right now…" Maō replied with a small teasing smile, clarifying to avoid any confusion, "The Sage of Six Paths."

"Amazing…" Tsunade said, genuinely surprised. The Sage was such a gigantic figure in their history, essentially the God to all shinobi, a man said to have fought the dreaded Apocalypse Beast at the beginnings of humanity, creating the continents in the process due to their gargantuan fight, "He's real then."

Maō chuckled, nodding as she mumbled, "Indeed he was, he was the man responsible for your Ninshū, the father to all shinobi."

Tsunade wanted to probe further into the subject, but it was easy to see that the vixen was not comfortable with the theme, thus, Tsunade decided to respect her privacy, for now at least, in order to say, "Okay then, onto the next question…" Tsunade fixed her posture before she asked, "Why stay here? You could walk away, find a new life away from humans, but yet here you are, in one of the biggest cities in the continent, the very place that imprisoned you…" Tsunade crossed her arms as she stared at the vixen, "So, why stay?"

 _'Wonder what you'd say if I told you it is because Naruto's here…'_ Maō chuckled, shaking her head as she added in thought, _'Having a hard time digesting it myself…'_ It was most definitely such a strange sensation for the woman once named Kurama to feel such an attachment to a man, a romantic one at that, one that kept her in a place regardless of how uncomfortable you might feel.

But knowing that she couldn't say any of that, since as far as Tsunade knows, the vixen hasn't really had any contact with the next God of End, the redhead had to say something else instead, "I won't tell you that the anger I have towards your kind has faded, even with Kushina's friendship, I've went through much in my life to simply forget it during my stay in Kushina…" Tsunade nodded, understanding, "But…" She hesitated for a moment, not knowing if she should reveal something she hadn't even revealed to Naruto yet.

"But?" Tsunade leaned on, intrigued, sensing the discomfort. There was also something that genuinely threw the Senju off guard, genuine fear.

"What…" Maō struggled, but at the end of the day, her love for Naruto was enough to make her give in and request for help, knowing that she won't be able to grow her strength to protect Naruto against his grandfather, if she didn't have the Hokage as an ally, "What I'm about to tell you, stays between you and me…" Tsunade felt troubled, more so when Maō released some of her aura to prove her seriousness as she added with cold dead eyes, "Naruto and Kushina cannot know about this, especially Naruto."

That set off some alarms in Tsunade's head, enough to make her a little nervous as she replied, "I understand."

Maō stared at the Hokage for a moment before she took a deep sigh, biting her lip before she mumbled, "Is about Naruto…" At the distance, she could feel the darkness of her one true horror, the only creature that has ever instilled any sense of despair in her heart, "And his true lineage…"

Tsunade felt a certain chill in her skin that never in her life she's felt before.

* * *

"So…" Shizuku uttered as she continued jumping from branch to branch, following the jinchūriki of the Twelve-Winged Dragon closely behind, "This 'Sakuya' lady…" Naruto turned to look at the brunette over his shoulder, listening as the Uzumaki female added with a tinge of something, "Is she one of your… 'ladies'?" She still couldn't really come to terms with the world she got thrown in.

Naruto chuckled, his eyes going back to the front before he answered, "Not really…" He sighed, remembering the Madame of Sun Village's brothel, the woman he had told to try and move on. He didn't really know what to expect once he sees her again, he hadn't talked to her ever since his mission in Sun and thus, has no idea whether she moved on or is still waiting for him as he promised a year and a half ago, "She was interested… but at the time I…" He stopped for a moment to be able to say more calmly, "At the time, I hadn't made love to Ayame, my first lover…" Shizuku landed next to him, listening as he added after a sigh, "Also, I was still really coming to understand what I'm doing, the full extent of it…" He focused back on the brunette, finishing, "And so, I didn't really felt confident to protect her at the time."

Shizuku nodded, biting her lip while she asked, "What's you not making… umm… love… to Ayame got to do with anything?"

Naruto chuckled, leaning against the tree trunk as he replied her inquiry, "Well, Sakuya wanted me to make love to her…" He paused for a moment, "But I had promised to Ayame, who was the very first woman that supported me from the beginning, that no matter who I convince to join us, she was going to be my first and me hers…" Shizuku's eyes widened a little at that, finding his reasoning quite chivalrous, "I promised Ayame my virginity and I wasn't gonna let her down." Naruto smiled at Shizuku then.

The brunette couldn't help but feel charmed by that smile and action, she could tell he wasn't lying and the fact that he had kept his word despite the fact that he was so young and an older woman was willing to bed him, it was indeed something quite rare, akin to those love stories she'd read in her childhood.

Before anything else could be said however, there was a sound not too far from them that drew their attention, both ninja putting their guards up as they crouched, eyes narrowed at the origin of the sound.

Something akin to growls were slowly getting louder as they felt a weak signature approaching their location, apparently belonging to a civilian.

"Ow…" Shortly after, an old man appeared from within the foliage, his travelling clothes tattered, some stains of blood coating them as he limped towards the nearest tree where he could rest for a moment and catch his breath.

Sensing no threat from the man, Naruto and Shizuku jumped down to meet the man, who was easily startled by the sudden appearance of the two ninja, backing away, afraid of them.

"Whoa whoa…" Naruto said as he waved his hands, trying to ease the man's worry, Shizuku at his side, looking as calm as she could, "We ain't here to hurt ya, mah dude…" He and his companion relaxed as the man seemed to be okay now, adding, "We were travelling when we suddenly found ya limping, just wanted to check out if you were aight."

The man seemed relived after hearing them, resting his back on the trunk again to take a breath. The man was wearing a travelling merchant's attire, his dishevelled hair was somewhat similar to Naruto's, though grizzly, a statement of his age. His eyes though, were a vibrant blue, his skin white and still quite smooth, few wrinkles staining it. Though the clear bruised state of the man along with the lack of items for sale, told the two ninja that he was probably robbed pretty recently.

"Thank the Maker…" The man wheezed out, taking some moments to compose himself before he added, "I was afraid you were part of those… brutes… and had decided to come back and finish the job."

Once being in the clear to help the man, Naruto and Shizuku approached him, with the silver-haired boy crouching and after a nod from the injured man, he began applying some of the healing jutsus he knew, saying as he did so, "So you were robbed."

The man opened his eyes, nodding while he replied, "Indeed, young man…" He painfully pointed towards the east, adding after, "Mere minutes ago, a bunch of savages ambushed me…" He sighed, clearly affected as he concluded with a whisper, "Took all of my stuff and left me to die…"

Shizuku frowned, commenting as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, it'll be okay." She smiled at him then, trying to cheer him up as best as she could.

Naruto added as he finished healing him, "Yeah old man! I can go and take care of those fools right now!"

Before the young man could do his word, the old man chuckled, already feeling better thanks to his healing jutsu, shaking his head as he said with a small smile, "It's okay, young man, it's not worth the hassle…" He inhaled, adding with a grateful smile, "But I thank you for the offer."

Naruto sighed, crossing his arms and with an eyebrow raised, he asked, "Ya sure?…" He smirked fiercely then, adding gleefully, "I'll have ya know, I thoroughly enjoy kicking ass."

The man chuckled, saying, "I don't doubt that…" He thanked Shizuku as she helped him up, still resting on the trunk before he inhaled and continued, "Instead, I would appreciate if you could help me get to Sun Village, I…" He winced as he tried to walk, chuckling bitterly before he added, "I still c-can't quite move on my own."

Naruto smiled, saying, "We're actually heading there, grandpa!…" He was a little confused by the strange glint that suddenly appeared in the man's eyes, but the jinchūriki ignored such thing to continue speaking, "So dontcha worry 'bout that! We got ya!" Shizuku just smiled beside him.

The man bowed, as best as he could with his still fresh injuries, and thanked the two ninja, "Thank you, is good to see the youth willing to help an old man."

And with that, the old man threw his arm around Naruto's shoulder, eeping when the young man threw his entire body on his back instead. Smirking and with a nod to the female who smiled back, the two ninja and injured merchant resumed their trek towards Sun Village, an eager smile on Naruto's face, wishing to see Sakuya again.

Ddraig didn't reciprocated the smile though, in fact, he could barely contain himself at the moment.

* * *

"Damn…" Naruto uttered as they finally reached Sun Village, a wave of nostalgia washing over the silverette as he remembered how he met Akeno for the first time, smiling slightly when he whispered, "Good to be back."

Shizuku looked at him while the man on his back smiled as well, taking in the air of Sun as he commented, "I get your feeling, young man…" He eyed the ninja to add, "It's been a while since I've come to trade here."

"Where are you from, Mr…" Shizuku was asking before she trailed off, just now realizing they hadn't even introduced themselves yet.

"Oh dear, we haven't even introduced ourselves… ufufu…" The man chuckled, with Naruto and Shizuku chuckling as well before the man added, "My name is Riz, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Naruto and Shizuku bowed, with the brunette taking the time to introduce herself and her companion, "M-My name is Shizuku and he is Naruto…" She bowed as she walked, adding, "A pleasure to meet you as well." Naruto had been pushing her to be more outgoing in order to tackle her social ineptness, thus, the jinchūriki had warned her that he was going to let her do the talk occasionally, just so that she could work on those social skills of hers. She was still quite nervous, but she took it as just another test to overcome, using that fire that characterised all Uzumaki to prevail and be better.

Naruto rewarded her with a small smile that caused some tingling in her belly.

"Ah how wonderful…" The man said with a smile, adding after a grunt, "Now, answering your question, dear…" He focused on the beautiful brunette, saying once their eyes met, "I am from the Wind Capital."

Naruto whistled, saying, "Damn old man! That's really far!…" He eyed the old man in question as he continued their trek towards the hospital, adding a query, "You must have been on the road for a while, nah?"

The grizzly-haired man chuckled, nodding as he replied with a really tired tone, "Of that, you can be sure, young one…" He groaned, fixing his posture, Naruto allowing him to get off his back and once the man threw his arm around Naruto's neck, they resumed their walk as he added, "Three months to be precise."

"You still had many places to go?" Shizuku asked with a small frown, feeling it for the old man. Poor bastard had been stripped of all of his wares, she couldn't imagine what he must be feeling with losing it all after such a long and tiring travel.

The man smiled, answering, "Not really, this was actually my last stop before going back…" He sighed as he looked at the front, adding with a whisper, "I'm just gonna have to explain to Hiro why his stuff's gone… ufufu…" Shizuku was somewhat taken aback when the man laughed and scratched his scruff sheepishly, specifically because for a moment there, he looked exactly like Naruto.

"Well then, this is the hospital…" Naruto then said after some moments of more walking, now in front of the medical centre of the village, turning to face the man to add, "We're going to be in the village for a few days, so if you ever come around and want me to search for them thieves, you just let us know, aight!?" He flexed on the old man.

Riz chuckled, amused by Naruto's behaviour, replying, "I'll be sure to consider that, if not to at least repay you once I feel better."

Naruto and Shizuku just shook their heads in synchrony, with the silverette saying, "There's no need, mah man! We tight."

Riz just chuckled, muttering, "What a funny way of speaking you have…" He then bowed gratefully, stating, "But please, do let me repay you some way…" Before the two ninja could refuse again, he simply turned around and said with a cheerful tone, "I'll look for you once I'm better! Good luck!"

"What a strange man…" Shizuku whispered once the man limped into the hospital, tilting her head as she looked at her companion.

"Tell me 'bout it…" Naruto said as he sighed, turning to face the woman to add with a grin, "But anyways… we gotta job to do, so let's go!"

Shizuku nodded and with that, the two ninja continued their way towards the 'Red Lantern'.

As they walked through the streets, Shizuku found herself perplexed by the amount of people that were constantly saluting the silver-haired boy she was travelling with, with the young man in question paying them back with a small wave and a grateful smile, nodding at those he could while he purposely sped up the pace, knowing that Shizuku would feel nervous being surrounded by a big crowd.

"I-I see you're q-quite famous here…" Shizuku whispered, subconsciously gripping Naruto's coat while she stepped a little closer to him, her anxiety appearing as the crowd seemed to recognise the Leaf ninja more and more.

Naruto smiled bitterly at that, replying, "Yeah, these people were quite frightened by the…" He frowned, "Raven Witch…" He despised that nickname, but for the sake of the citizens, he had to keep up the charade, "So they were very grateful when I… took care of the problem."

"O-Oh…" Shizuku whispered, knowing about the truth of his mission here, as he had spent all of their free time telling her about his life and some of the occurrences in it. Still unaware of her hand holding his jacket.

Since Naruto had fastened their pace, they managed to arrive to Sakuya's brothel quicker than expected, Naruto wanting to get out of the streets so that Shizuku could take a breather from such large crowd. The only other place filled with people she's been was Moon, but she barely walked outside of the castle and spent most of her time talking to Rosalia or Piña, so this was essentially her first time in the streets of a town with thousands of citizens.

"Welcome to the Red Lant…" A feminine voice drew Shizuku's attention back to the real world, her eyes travelling to the origin, finding a beautiful young lady acting as receptionist of the place she knew served to sell pleasure to travellers. The receptionist however, lost her voice when her eyes settled on the Leaf ninja, widening and saying with a blush, "L-Lord Namikaze! It is s-such a pleasure to see you again, Hero of Sun!" She was most definitely starstruck.

 _'Damn… what's with all these 'Hero of this and that' shit…'_ Naruto thought with an awkward smile, scratching his scruff sheepishly, still somewhat embarrassed by his own fame, "Hehe… c-come on now… there's no need for so much…"

Before the receptionist could say anything else however, there was a voice that interrupted the scene, belonging to the woman Naruto's been wanting to see after almost two years of his last visit.

"Airi, what's the commotion…" None other than the Madame herself, Sakuya, suddenly entered Naruto's field of vision, the woman's mouth parting as she saw the young man that months ago had stolen her breath, whispering almost unbelievably, "N-Naruto… i-is it… you?"

Naruto smiled widely at that, happy to see the beautiful middle-aged woman again, replying to her question, "Of course it's me, Saku!…" The woman smiled widely at the nickname, with the silverette adding, "It's so good to see ya again!"

Sakuya wanted to jump at the man, stating with a wide smile, "I-It's so good to see you again too! It's been so…" She trailed off, her happiness falling like a decaying building when she finally noticed the female beside Naruto, the pretty brunette still grabbing his coat, very close to him, breaking Sakuya's heart in a fell swoop, the woman barely able to whisper out, "l-long…"

Even Shizuku could tell that something shifted so suddenly in the Madame, but neither the receptionist nor the Uzumaki female could understand what had happened.

Naruto did though, and he cursed himself silently.

"I a-assume Lord Jiraiya sent you for my request?" Having nothing else to say right now, least she risks breaking down in tears, Sakuya did her best to muster a friendly smile, her mind now coming to a conclusion for why the boy hadn't come back in the past year and a half, thus, she just wanted to deal with this quickly so she could move on.

Sighing, berating himself for not thinking on at least send a couple of letters to the beautiful Madame, Naruto decided to put the issue aside for a moment in order to focus on the mission that brought him here, "Yeah, he said that you were having some trouble lately."

Smiling a little bitterly, Sakuya nodded, replying, "Indeed, but I think we should discuss this in my office…" The two ninja nodded, with Shizuku finally letting go of the boy, the owner of the brothel biting her lip as she turned around and once she began walking, said, "Please, follow me."

The trio walked into the brothel, some of the girls and patrons immediately recognising the jinchūriki, waving at him with cheerful smiles, Naruto returning the acknowledgment with a couple of nods.

After some moments of walking, Sakuya lead the pair to what Naruto remembered was her bedroom, though as he entered, he could see that she had adapted the room to fit a small office in, separating her bedroom with a smooth velvet curtain.

As she sat on her desk, she gestured to the couch in front of her, saying, "Please, do sit down…" The pair did as told and once the two sat, she turned around to a small cabinet beside her desk, filled with bottles of various alcohol, "Do you wish anything?"

Shizuku shook her head, saying, "N-No thanks." She's had an experience with sake before, and that one time was enough for her to know that drinking was not her thing.

Naruto however, was about to say something when Sakuya gave him a slight melancholic smile as she guessed, "Whisky?…" Naruto scratched his nape, chuckling sheepishly. Sakuya then proceeded to serve him the same whisky she had served him the day they met, handing him the glass as she whispered softly, "Of course…"

Naruto took the glass with a grateful nod, taking a sip of the dizzying beverage, moaning as the hot liquid travelled through his throat, "So…" He began saying once he finished his drink, adding, eyes locked at the woman, "What's happening here?"

Sakuya bit her lip, frustrated that seeing his blues again still caused those butterflies she actually loved. But focusing on the topic, she sighed and as she crossed her arms below her bust, replied, "Well, to put it simply…" She rested on the desk, "There have been some disappearances lately."

Naruto nodded, having already heard as much from his godfather, scratching his chin as he mumbled, "I read as much from your letter…" He eyed her again to ask, "I take it they were all your girls?"

Sakuya however, confused him when she shook her head, explaining, "At the beginning, yes…" She massaged her neck, "Two of my girls went missing two months ago, so we all thought that there was someone, or a group even, kidnapping women for human trafficking…" The two ninja nodded, listening as the greenette continued, "But then, five weeks ago, a man went missing as well, young, relative to the girls' age…" She looked back at the young man before her, concluding, "During this past month, there have been four more disappearances, the daughter of one of the main merchants here, one of the Leaf ninja stationed in Sun, an adventurer and just four days ago, another of my girls."

Naruto nodded, with Shizuku remaining silent as she didn't really had a clue on how to act on this kind moments, she was essentially a rookie in training. Thus, Naruto was the one that hummed in thought, remaining pensive for some moments until he finally asked, "Were they all around the same age?"

Sakuya nodded, replying, "Indeed, all of them between the ages of twenty and twenty three."

"I see…" He nodded, commenting after a pause, "It still sounds a little bit like human trafficking, but the fact that so many people have disappeared in such a small window of time, puts a damper on that theory, it's too risky on their part…" He leaned back, greatly intrigued by the case, "More so when even a Leaf chūnin was taken as well."

Sakuya nodded, uttering, "Lord Jiraiya told us as much, he argued that there was something more… sinister… going on."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, thinking, _'A cult perhaps?… a serial killer?…'_ The options were simply too many at the moment, he needed to filter the theories by gathering evidence, "Are you privy of the personal lives of the girls that worked for you? Something that you can tell me to begin investigating."

Sakuya shook her head with a small frown, answering, "We talked once in a while, but I try to stay away from my employees' private lives…" She bit her lip, thinking on a solution, "You can have more luck asking the other girls, they've been working together for a while so they all know each other quite well, if there is someone who could tell you something about the missing girls, is one of them."

Naruto nodded, whispering, "Aight…" He sighed and then added, "I guess I'm also gonna have to talk to the merchant, the chūnin's teammate and whoever had contact with the adventurer for further clues."

Sakuya tilted her head, placing a finger on her lip as she said, "Mmm… there is an Adventurer's Guild here in Sun…" She looked at the male, adding, "You can gather information there about him for sure."

Naruto nodded, turning to look at Shizuku to say, "Alright then, Zuku…" The brunette replied with a stuttered 'yes', prompting the silverette to add, "Why don't you go and ask the girls downstairs about the missing women? You and I can head to the others later."

Shizuku felt nervous, as it would be the first time she interacted with someone on her own, without Naruto being there with her, "M-Me?…"

Naruto found Shizuku extremely cute when she showed such shyness, but knowing that Sakuya was intently watching him, he said with a comforting tone, "Come on now, Zuku, you can do it!…" Shizuku looked at him, the boy adding, "All you gotta do, is approach them and ask for details about the missing gals, there's something I have to talk about with Sakuya…" Sakuya's eyes widened, her belly tightening at those words, "So do your best, alright? I won't be long."

Shizuku kind of wanted to stay and see how Naruto moved on the woman, but she could understand that Sakuya seemed to be somewhat put off by her presence, so gathering courage, she nodded, stating with a shaky smile, "A-Alright… I-I'll do my best!"

Naruto just chuckled as the brunette stood up and bowed at Sakuya, the Madame smiling at her, both looking at the Uzumaki as she left the room, leaving the two behind in an awkward silence.

"Umm…" Sakuya mumbled, her demeanour now nervous, looking down at the floor while gently biting her lip, fiddling her fingers as she added with a slightly loud whisper, "Y-You don't have to e-explain anything to me…" She mustered courage to look at him then, smiling slightly, unable to hide the sadness but still saying, "I understand t-that… things happen…"

Naruto sighed, standing up from the couch and walking towards the woman, who shrunk as he stood before her. The silverette the cupped her cheek gently, brushing her cheekbones with his thumb as he asked with a husky whisper, "What are you talking about, Saku?"

The woman continued biting her lip, looking aside to avoid those beautiful blue eyes of his as she whispered back, "You said y-you'd come back in a year or so…" Naruto sighed, disappointed in himself, "That was a-almost two years ago…" She suddenly got a rush of anger that forced her to look at him straight in the eye, grabbing his coat, her grip tight and angry, adding in between gritted teeth, "You didn't even sent me a l-letter! I knew you w-were just like ev…"

Her eyes went wide and body stiff however, when she was silenced by a ferocious kiss that despite her earlier protests, she soon found herself holding him close, reciprocating the hungry contact in kind.

"I know…" Naruto whispered once they broke the lip-lock, still caressing her cheek as she looked aside, blushing, "And I don't have excuses for that… or…" He scratched his nape, "I do but…"

"But?" She whispered, her eyes looking down at Naruto's chest.

Naruto sighed deeply then, stepping back a little before he went back to the couch and sat, Sakuya now looking at him as he grabbed the glass of alcohol and drank it full in a sip, groaning before he said, "I need to know first, if you're still wishing for something with me… something strong, not just physical."

Sakuya's eyes widened a little, looking down at the ground as she blushed again, her heartbeats increasing like crazy as she took a moment to compose herself, "Y-Yes…" She finally said after a couple of silent moments, taking a deep breath before she looked at him straight in the eye and continued, "I d-did tried to… you know… meet other men…" Naruto nodded, prompting her to continue, "But none made me feel like… like you… I…" She sighed, looking at her fiddling fingers as she concluded with a husky whisper, "I d-don't know why but… I… I think I fell in love… with you…" He could see that it frustrated her, "Just like that…"

Another moment he could add to his 'asshole moments' book. Back then, Naruto wasn't capable of fully controlling his own attraction, he was ill-used to being around kunoichi, who because of their training and chakra, were capable of resist him on a regular basis, unless he actively targeted them, they usually only saw him as a really handsome young man. But with civilian women it was an entirely different talk. Because they were usually just simple humans with no training, barely carrying any reserves of chakra, just enough to survive, but they weren't accustomed to protect their bodies against hidden threats.

Thus, when Sakuya was subjected to his full presence, as a woman who's never really had any experience with men, despite being the Madame of a brothel, she was more susceptible to her natural instincts that urged her to mate with the strongest male present, instincts awoken by his own draconic divinity.

But now, all he could do was mend those wrongs and thus, he focused on her to say, "Then, if you truly want that and also want to know why I hadn't come or write you, take a sit and serve yourself enough alcohol, 'cause I'm about to tell you one heck of a story…"

Sakuya could feel the seriousness in the boy's voice, earning a small nervous nod from her and with a tiny gulp, she walked towards her cabinet, grabbed the whole bottle of her favourite wine and walked towards the couch, sitting right next to Naruto and preparing herself for the tale that was about to come, one that she had no idea how immensely would impact her whole life.

* * *

" _Sigh_ …" He sighed deeply once he sat on the stool, leaning against the bar, eyes closed, massaging his temple as his mind replayed the tense meeting he just had with Sakuya, who was at the other end of the brothel, carrying her regular Madame face, but the silverette and those who knew her well, could tell something was bothering her, Naruto knowing exactly what that something was, "Dammit… could've gone worse, I guess." He whispered to himself, exasperated.

Putting the disaster aside for now, Naruto sensed a female approaching him, said female being his companion Shizuku, who sensing his mood, closed in on him with a timid step, saying with a whisper, "Umm… are you okay, N-Naruto?" She could tell by the connection she shared with him, that he was troubled and actually sad. Also, a look at the Madame told her that Sakuya felt down as well. Their meeting probably went wrong.

Naruto sighed deeply again, looking at Sakuya who sensed his eyes, thus, she turned aside to avoid the stare, biting her lip, eliciting a small frown from the jinchūriki who replied after a moment of silence, "No, but there's little to nothing I can do right now anyway…" Shizuku was genuinely surprised with how much it saddened Naruto, whatever it is that happened between him and Sakuya seemed to put the silverette in an off mood, "But we gotta job to do, so…" He then added, shaking his head to put his worries aside for now, focusing on the brunette to ask, "What could you gather?"

"Okay…" Shizuku whispered, uncertain but complying, not saying anything of how it made her a little happy to see that he was genuinely affected by being rejected as she believed he did, it told her that at least right now, he respected Sakuya's decision, whichever that might've been. But going back to the matter at hand, she shook her thoughts and focused, relying everything she managed to gather from the call-girls in the brothel, "W-Well… _ahem_ …" Naruto found her 'all-business' change quite endearing, but knowing that she was already struggling enough, he kept silent, listening as she continued, "For w-what I could gather, none of the three girls who worked here appeared to have issues with someone…" She sighed and sat next to her companion, "The three spent most of their time here, no family in the town, just friends, most of them within the Red Lantern…" She looked at the other girls, working, the patrons smiling as they chatted with the prostitutes, unaware of the grim conversation, "The only out of character behaviour they all seemed to share, was that they started talking about dating."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, seemingly consolidating a first clue, "A lover?"

Shizuku shrugged, looking at him as she explained, "None could tell, they all said that the women seemed to be talking about seeing someone outside of work…" She sighed, crossing her arms before she continued, "The weird thing though, is that one of them was apparently dating a woman, not a man… so…" She trailed off.

"That rules out a single person then…" Naruto muttered, scratching his chin, intrigued by the information, "We could be dealing with a group… but to what end?"

Shizuku bit her lip, looking down at the ground before she sighed and added, "I really don't know… I'm no detective…"

Naruto looked at her and chuckled, patting her head as he said, "You're doing excellent so far, Zuku, don't feel down…" Shizuku did smiled slightly, a light blush on her cheeks for the praise, listening as the silverette continued, now serious, "But this is almost nothing… we have a connection between them all, which is that apparently they were all seeing someone outside of work, but beyond that… damn…" He frowned, frustrated at his current impasse.

"L-Lord Namikaze…" A feminine voice was suddenly heard from behind them, right inside the bar, earning both of the ninja's attention, seeing a pretty black-haired girl wearing a bartending attire, biting her lip as she continued, somewhat timidly, "I-I'm sorry but… I couldn't help but listen to your conversation and…"

Seeing her struggling, Naruto turned to face her and placed a comforting hand atop of hers, smiling at her while using his pheromones to ease the woman's nerves, urging her to continue, sensing that she had something important to tell him, "Please, if you know anything about the case, I would be immensely grateful to you."

The girl stared at those beautiful blues of him, feeling strangely calm under his presence, smiling with a small blush, looking down and nodding when she stated with a whisper, "I do… actually…" She took a deep breath then, gathering courage to look up again and say, "The thing is… I… umm… I knew Chika…" Naruto nodded, recognising the name of one of the missing girls, "K-Knew her very… umm… you know…" She blushed, looking aside to avoid embarrassment, "W-Well…"

Naruto had to stifle his chuckle when he saw Shizuku's clueless expression, innocent to what the bartender was implying. But returning to the main subject, he leaned on and said, "I understand, you were lovers, right?"

Shizuku's expression further embarrassed the bartender who just nodded dumbly, whispering, "Yes…" She sighed, sadness reaching her as she continued, "We didn't had anything really serious, we were just… t-trying…" Looking at the silverette, she found strength in his presence so kept saying, now more composed, "We were seeing each other for over six months now, but were never really… exclusive, if you know what I mean…" Naruto nodded, Shizuku still dazed by the talk, "So I wasn't too surprised when Chika began to show signs of seeing someone else."

Naruto nodded, asking with a soft tone, "Do you happen to know anything about the man or woman she was seeing?"

She shook her head, saying, "We never discussed those things… usually when one of us found themselves another partner, we just expressed it to the other but spared all details…" Naruto nodded, prompting her to speak after a brief pause, "But, there was something only I noticed."

"Which is?" Naruto asked, intrigued.

"She looked thinner…" The bartender said, forcing Naruto to narrow his eyes as she continued saying, "And paler, not by much… but I could definitely tell because… u-umm…" She blushed then, not wanting to be open with such intimate details to someone she didn't know well.

Naruto smiled a little, patting her hand, calming her nerves again with his pheromones as he uttered, "I understand…" Once the girl looked at him again, he asked, "Did you noticed those same details on the other two girls?"

She tilted her head, recalling the last time she saw the other two missing ladies, "Actually… I couldn't tell you with full certainty but…" She looked at him again, "I do believe they seemed thinner and paler, also, they seemed to run out of energy faster than before."

 _'Alright, this ain't no normal kidnapping…'_ Naruto thought to himself, his eyes lost in the bottles of liquor at the back of the bar, massaging his chin. It took a moment of silence for the jinchūriki to focus on the bartender again and say with a charming smile, "Thank you for telling me this, milady…" He kissed her hand, earning a cute blush from her, "I promise you, I'll do my best to figure out what happened to Chika and the others, if need be, I will deliver justice."

The female server smiled and bowed gratefully, saying, "Thank you so m-much, Lord Namikaze… you are really a gift from the heavens to this community."

Naruto just smiled and bid farewell to the girl as he stood from the stool, Shizuku copying the action and once the jinchūriki walked away, she asked as she followed, "What now?"

"It's clear that we're dealing with something other than just someone kidnapping random people, there's indeed something more… sinister behind this…" He looked at her over his shoulder, adding with a grim smile, "But right now, we need to focus on interviewing the people close to the other three missing persons."

Shizuku just nodded, her honey-coloured eyes now falling to the woman standing beside the exit door, Sakuya, who the moment she saw Naruto approaching, looked down, avoiding eye contact with the male while she squirmed, silent. She could feel tension coming from the two.

Naruto sighed deeply, looking at Sakuya with a saddened expression before he whispered once he stood next to her, "I'll solve this, Sakuya, I promise."

Shizuku was surprised that with those words, Naruto continued walking and exited the room, the Uzumaki female gulping as she followed, whispering a shy, "E-Excuse me." And with that, she exited the brothel as well, falling into step with the jinchūriki who didn't looked back.

Sakuya for her part, managed to control her tears while still looking down, unable to stop the small smile that reminded her belief in the man, whispering to the air, "Thank you… Naruto…"

* * *

"Alright then…" Naruto began uttering as he walked through the streets of Sun Village, Shizuku closely next to him, still nervous at all the attention they were getting. But the jinchūriki was proud of the brunette that was not shying away and was doing her best to endure, she needed to get out of that shell and she knew it, and so far, she was doing just great, "We gotta interview the merchant about his daughter, the Leaf-nin's partner and go to the Adventurer's Guild to ask about the other victim."

"A-And how are we dealing with the parents?…" Shizuku suddenly said, earning Naruto's attention to hear her add, "I mean, I imagine is something completely different to talk about a missing person when it's the parents, instead of the boss."

Naruto sighed as he nodded, cracking his neck before he replied, "And you assume right…" He looked around, trying to find the store that belonged to the girl's parents, adding as the two ninja walked, "In these cases, you have to be very careful with what you say…" He focused on the Uzumaki then, who was looking at him as he continued explaining, "You need to make sure to not get their hopes up, never promise anything other than doing your best to find their loved one, anything other than that is just a big mistake… especially if you promise to bring the person back."

Shizuku nodded, looking down at the ground, gently biting her lip as she asked with a whisper, "Do you… do you think she's dead?… all of them?"

Naruto sighed, genuinely wanting to say that he believed they were, if maybe just to not throw Shizuku into the dark world of the shinobi so suddenly. But she needed to, if she wanted to accompany him on his journey, she needed to be prepared to the terrors they will face as they go, thus, he looked at her and replied with a grim look, "It's the more likely scenario at this point…" Shizuku winced, nodding as the silverette continued, now looking forward, "We're talking about weeks now, and about a series of disappearances, I highly doubt we're dealing with a ring of human traffickers, my guess is either a cult or a serial killer."

"I see…" Shizuku whispered, keeping the victims in her prayers as she focused her mind back on the task.

Finally, the pair reached a small store that matched the name Sakuya had given them, both ninja taking a deep breath before they walked towards the closed door, with Naruto whispering to Shizuku before he knocked, "Remember, don't say anything about their chances, if they ask you anything, keep it as vague as possible, no promises."

Shizuku gulped but nodded, mustering her best calm façade and observing as Naruto turned towards the door and knocked a couple of times.

The pair remained standing outside for some moments, the two considering that perhaps, there was no one home as they waited for almost two minutes for a response. But just before the Leaf ninja was about to knock again, the door was slowly opened, the face of a middle-aged man appearing from behind it, his eyes tired and sorrowed, sadness increasing when he saw that his daughter was not the one behind the door.

"I-I'm sorry, but we are closed for the moment… I-I…" The man tried to politely ask them to leave, but was interrupted when the young man spoke.

"Mr Higuchi?…" Naruto slightly put his hand on the door to stop the man from closing it, adding once the man nodded at him, "My name is Naruto Namikaze, I'm a Leaf ninja sent to check on the recent disappearances the town has suffered."

The man's eyes widened as he immediately recognised the man, opening the door fully as he asked, "You a-are the ninja that killed the Raven Witch, right?"

Naruto winced at the nickname, but remained composed as he nodded with a small smile, replying, "Indeed, sir."

The man shook his head, looking at the woman accompanying the ninja before he stepped aside and urged them to come in, saying, "A-Apologies, please do come in…" He closed the door once the two ninja walked into the house, leading them to his living room, gesturing a couch as he said, "Please, take a sit… is there anything I can offer you?"

Naruto and Shizuku both shook their head with small polite smiles, with the Namikaze stating for the two, "No thank you, we would like to tackle the investigation as soon as possible."

As if remembering his daughter all of a sudden, the man sat in the lone couch in front of them, his eyes displaying the immense worry he had for his child as he asked, "Oh god… my beautiful Machi…" He couldn't hold back some of his tears, gripping his trousers tightly when he added, "I-It's been almost a month now since… s-since she…" He inhaled, trying to calm himself down to continue, now looking at the two ninja, "To be quite frank with you, Mr Namikaze, I… I h-have lost all hope…"

Naruto and Shizuku frowned, feeling it for the man. But the jinchūriki said, "I understand…" Once the man looked at him, he continued, "If it isn't much to ask, could you answer some questions for me?"

The man nodded, whispering defeated, "O-Of course."

Naruto took out a small notebook from his pocket along with a pen, looking at the merchant as he asked the first of his inquires, "Thank you… on the days prior to Machi's disappearance, did you or your wife happen to notice behaviour out of the ordinary from her?"

The man tilted his head, his eyes going down as he pondered on the young man's question. It took the merchant some moments to hum and narrow his eyes, as if remembering something, stating as much when he looked up, back to Naruto to say, "Now that you mention it, she did acted weirdly on the last few days she was here…" He looked at the side, still thinking of those days as he continued, "But I had chalked it up to just the mood swings of a young girl being in love."

Naruto and Shizuku narrowed their eyes, the first coincidence appearing, with the silverette asking, "Was she seeing someone?"

Mr Higuchi looked back at the ninja, nodding slightly while he said, though not one hundred percent convinced, "While I cannot assure you she was, because she always denied it, I do believe she was seeing someone…" He sighed, missing his daughter dearly, "She has never been rude or rebellious, always d-doing her chores, studying and being home at an early hour…" He bit his lip, "But on the days before she… disappeared… she had become less cooperative and spent more hours outside than in the house."

Naruto nodded, writing down all of the information the man was giving him, commenting after a brief moment of silence, "Do you know anything of the person she was seeing?"

The man frowned, shaking his head as he replied, "No… and neither does my wife…" He sighed, desperately adding with a whisper, "As I s-said… she refused to say anything to us… almost as if… as if s-she didn't trusted us anymore…"

Feeling that the man was nearing the end of his composure, Naruto smiled slightly as he reassured with a whisper, along with his divine presence to quell his sorrow if just a little bit, "I know this is hard for you, Mr Higuchi… but I only have two questions left…" The man nodded, wiping some of the tears that escaped his control, looking at Naruto again when he asked, "During those days, did you noticed if she looked unhealthy? Paler, thinner, weaker and so on."

The man tilted his head, nodding as he replied, "Actually, y-yes…" He took a moment to recollect his memories before he continued, "She looked paler and seemed to always be tired… like… I-I don't know how to explain it but she seemed… lost…"

 _'Drug addiction?… or some kind of mental manipulation perhaps?…'_ Naruto thought while writing down, slightly finding a pattern in all of this mess. When he turned back to the merchant, Naruto nodded and asked his final question, "And do you happen to have an idea of where your daughter hanged out? Mainly on those last days you saw her."

The man struggled to recoup his memories for a moment, but after a pause, he looked at Naruto, though his eyes were glassy, as if focusing on the past while he replied, "She never mentioned something specific… though, I h-heard her talk a few times about a lake and how much she enjoyed swimming in it…" He focused on the ninja before he looked down, whispering almost to himself, "But that makes no sense… there's no lake here in Sun."

Naruto though, kept the information as another big clue, sighing as he closed his notebook and looked to his side, to Shizuku, the female nodding with a small frown, understanding the message.

Thus, the two ninja sat up, the man looking at them as Naruto said with a gentle smile, "That's all the information we need to continue our investigation, Mr Higuchi, I thank you very much for helping us out."

The man stood up, groaning as he did so, grabbing Naruto's hand as he asked, with just a tiny bit of hope left in his heart, "Of course, Mr Namikaze… anything to find my baby girl… but… do you think… s-she's still…?"

Before he could say anything, Naruto placed his other hand on top of the man's, using his divinity to once again quell the sorrow from the man, stating with a comforting smile, "I cannot promise you anything, Mr Higuchi… but I assure you, I will do my best to find out what happened to your daughter and if need be…" He placed a hand on the merchant's shoulder to conclude strongly, "Deliver justice to the responsible."

The man still could understand that the chances of finding his daughter alive were pretty slim, but he couldn't destroy the last drop of hope he had, so he chose to nod with a grateful smile at the silverette, thanking him for doing his best to find his little girl, "I t-thank you, Mr Namikaze… regardless of how it ends, you have brought many blessing to our lives."

Naruto genuinely felt it for the man, he couldn't even imagine how he'd feel if Emi suddenly went missing. But putting such thoughts aside, he replied simply, "It is my joy and duty, Mr Higuchi."

With that, Naruto and Shizuku bid their farewells and left the merchant's home, walking away with a downed mood, product of talking to such a despaired man, "What's next?" Shizuku asked in an effort to keep them both focused.

Naruto took a deep sigh before he shook his head and faced the brunette Uzumaki, replying her question, "To the Leaf's outpost…" Shizuku nodded, listening as Naruto uttered while he made way to their next destination, "Let's see what the partner has to say…"

* * *

Naruto and Shizuku waltzed into the Leaf's outpost in Sun Village, a house that seemed to have been refurbished to accommodate a simple centre of operations in the outskirts of the town.

Currently inside, they could see four Leaf ninja, all of them preoccupied with various tasks. Thus, Naruto approached the woman he knew was the jōnin in charge, saying, "Yo."

The kunoichi looked to her side to face the newcomer, her eyes widening slightly as she recognised the jinchūriki of her village, bowing slightly in respect, action repeated by Naruto and Shizuku, before the woman greeted them, "Ah, Lord Namikaze, we've been waiting for you."

She urged them to sit on the visitor's couch inside her office, the woman walking right after them and once the two travelling ninja sat down, the jōnin rested her butt on the desk's surface, crossing her arms as she added, "I was surprised to receive the message from Lady Fifth detailing your mission here, though, knowing of your previous exploits in this town, I find it reasonable as well."

Naruto scratched his scruff, a little embarrassed by the respect the kunoichi was giving him, stating as much as he said, "Thank you and p-please, there's no need for formalities, Naruto is fine…" He chuckled a little bitterly then, muttering under his breath, "I'm technically still a genin…"

Chuckling a little at the boy's reaction, the female in charge smiled at the two, saying, "Then please, call me Kei…" Receiving smiles from the two, the Leaf jōnin continued after a brief sigh, "I take it you have interviewed the Madame and the Merchant?"

Naruto nodded, leaning back on the couch as he spoke, "Yeah, we gathered some clues that left me thinking that we are definitely not dealing with human trafficking…" The woman nodded at that statement, with the silverette adding his theories, "I think we're either dealing with a cult or a serial killer."

Kei sighed, cracking her neck as she uttered, "We arrived to similar conclusion…" She focused on the jinchūriki, adding with a frown, "Especially after Taichi disappeared as well."

Naruto and Shizuku frowned too, with the brunette female asking with a whisper, "W-Was that the name of the Leaf ninja who went missing?"

The woman nodded at her fellow female, sighing before she explained, "Taichi was a really talented chūnin, a couple of more missions and some months of waiting, and he would've been able to take the promotion test…" She looked through the window of her office, adding after a wistful sigh, "He would've made a fine jōnin, of that I'm sure."

Naruto and Shizuku remained silent for a moment, allowing the woman to recover herself before the draconic male inquired, "Could you point us towards his partner? I'd like to ask him or her some questions regarding Taichi's last known days."

Kei turned to look at her comrade, shaking her head as she explained, "I'm afraid you are confused, Naruto, we do not employ in partnerships during our stays in Sun…" Massaging her neck, she further elaborated, "What we do is work in a four cell team, a Commander, a chūnin and two genin, each make individual rounds around the village, but we're not supposed to go beyond the outskirts of Sun, and we're not allowed to meddle with internal affairs in the city, we're simply limited to ensure that no enemy shinobi tries to enter the town, being a hub of gambling usually attracts the wrong kind of people, but those are issues we leave to the local police…" She sighed, fixing her posture as she concluded, "The Samurai do something similar as well."

Naruto nodded at that, saying, "So you're saying that Taichi was on his own most of the time?"

"Indeed…" Kei then added, "Everyone besides me, usually stays from six to eight months, then goes back to the Leaf and a new ninja fills the vacant…" She bit her lip, adding after a pause, "Taichi had been in Sun for around two months before he went missing…" She focused back on her fellow shinobi, "So I doubt he had the chance to connect with anyone in more than just a casual way."

Naruto nodded, leaning forward, massaging his stubble, pondering on the information before he asked, "What about the local police?…" Focusing on the woman, he sneaked a personal question, "Isn't Captain Orimura on the case?" He had wanted to see Chifuyu again, since it's been a while he's heard from her, they have kept in touch through letters, but his own obligations, as well as hers, have kept the letters pretty far in between.

Kei shook her head, explaining, "Captain Orimura was transferred to the Capital…" Naruto's eyes widened, listening as the jōnin continued, "The populace was told that she had been promoted, and she was indeed promoted by the Fire Lord himself, to Vice Captain of the Capital's Police, but there's a rumour that the promotion was pushed by the local mafia, the Captain had always been a thorn in their side and it wouldn't surprise me if they convinced the Feudal Lord to call on some favours to remove the Captain from the board."

 _'Damn…'_ He thought, disappointed, keeping a mental note to go and find Chifuyu, to at least ensure that she was okay.

"As for the police…" Kei continued talking, earning Naruto's attention as she spoke, "Captain Orimura's transfer was fairly recent, just three months ago… so the station is still in transition and the new Captain is focusing on settling the department as he wants…" She cracked her neck, adding, "They have dispatched some officers and a detective on the case, but since crime has risen up in the last few months since Orimura's departure, the new Captain requested the Leaf for assistance…" She pointed at him then, saying with a small smirk, "You are the assistance."

Naruto sighed as he laid back on the soft surface, nodding, stating with a tired whisper, "Then, I take it you can't tell me much about Taichi?…" He focused his blues on the woman's browns, continuing after a silence, "Where he hanged about, who he usually talked to and that?"

Shaking her head, Kei replied, "I'm afraid not…" She sighed, "The genin he used to speak to the most, has just finished his stay here in Sun a week ago, his replacement is already here…" She crossed her arms below her bust, continuing, "We already did our own investigation with all of those who interacted with him, but none really knew much about his likes and what he did outside of work hours."

"Never went to a pub or something like that?" Naruto asked.

Kei shrugged, saying, "Not with us at least…" She then tilted her head, as if remembering something, stating as much after a moment of pondering, "But, I do remember seeing him slacking off on his duties…" She looked at Naruto who was now narrowing his eyes, listening as she concluded, "It wasn't a huge dip in performance, but it was certainly noticeable and for the look on your face, I take it that's a common case in the other victims."

Nodding at her deduction, the jinchūriki explained, "Indeed, all of the missing people showed signs of weakening, paler, dazed, like losing energy faster than normal…" He looked at the woman, finishing, "That's what drove me to my theory that we're more than likely dealing with some sort of cult."

"Makes sense…" Kei agreed, nodding and as she bit her lip, added, "Unfortunately, there's nothing much left that I can give you…" She sighed, "I can't provide support either, as we're already stretched thin with our current duties, I think your best bet is to investigate the last case."

"The Adventurer?" Naruto asked.

Kei nodded, saying, "They call him 'Don'…" She rubbed her forearm, continuing, "He's an A-class adventurer, that roughly translates to a jōnin, so that he also went missing, speaks of a bigger menace than we might believe."

Naruto nodded to that grim theory, if someone was able to take two strong warriors like it was nothing, then they were surely playing with a dangerous opponent, one that definitely knew what they were doing.

But standing, Naruto sighed and stretched his body a little, Shizuku following his action and as Kei approached, Naruto shook her hand with a smile, stating, "Thank you for your help Kei, I will keep you posted on our investigation."

Kei returned the smile, shaking his hand as she returned, "Please do, it's nice to work with someone of your renown, hopefully, we can have a talk later on."

Naruto and Shizuku smiled, with the jinchūriki promising, "You can count on that."

With that, the two travelling companions bid their farewells and exited the outpost, looking around the streets for a moment before the silverette said to the Uzumaki, "Aight then, all we have left is the Adventurer's Guild, so we should head there now."

Nodding, Shizuku walked behind the jinchūriki, whispering, "I hope we can find something solid."

The silverette hummed his agreement, this investigation was turning out to be something more complex than what he originally thought. He only hoped that things won't get out of control.

* * *

 ** _"Naruto…"_** The voice of the Absolute God of End reached the silverette's inside ears, earning his attention as he walked towards the Guild, **_"I'm shutting off your divinity and mine…"_** Knowing that his host was confused, the beast further elaborated, **_"Have a sniff."_**

Naruto's eyebrow raised in confusion, not really getting what his predecessor was pointing at. But doing as told, Naruto used his heightened sense of smell to grasp all the scents around him.

There was none in particular that may warrant the god shutting his presence off, but Naruto knew that Ddraig wouldn't have done it without a good reason, thus, he focused even more and as he walked into the Guild, he caught a scent that made him narrow his eyes.

 _"Smells like Akeno… but stronger…"_ He said to his partner after he managed to focus solely on the scent that reminded him of his raven-haired mate.

 ** _"And what is she?"_** Ddraig threw him a cryptic question then.

It took Naruto a few moments to finally caught on to what the Red One was implying, his eyes trained on the receptionist, but his senses spreading across the Guild to try and find the source of the scent he could now easily identify, _"A Fallen Angel."_ He mentally replied the god's question.

Ddraig nodded within the Namikaze's mindscape, laying on his beach as he warned, **_"Indeed, a presence of one means that this case of yours might be related to the reincarnated…"_** Naruto pouted, knowing that if what Ddraig theorised was true, then things will turn out even more difficult than he imagined, **_"I advise you keep your divinity hidden until you figure this out, they'll immediately recognise my power and your divinity, and that could hinder your progress… facing off against fully trained reincarnated is equivalent to you going toe to toe against your father at full strength…"_** Naruto gulped at that, knowing full well how truly strong Kakashi was, **_"They are trained to apprehend rogue divines, remember that."_** Ddraig concluded with that warning, ensuring to plant his point in Naruto's brain, being reckless will do him no good against people capable of actually hurting him badly.

 _"R-Roger…"_ The jinchūriki replied and made sure to follow his draconic partner's advice, focusing his mind back on the now, realising that he was right in front of the male receptionist who smiled at him.

"Hello sir, welcome to Sun Village's Adventurer's Guild…" The receptionist greeted, adding once Naruto and Shizuku greeted him back, "What can I do for you today?"

Naruto sighed before he replied, "My name is Naruto Namikaze…" The man's eyes widened as he recognised the silverette, but the young man continued, "I'm here to investigate the sudden disappearances going around lately."

The receptionist shook his head, saying once he composed himself, "O-Of course… I take it you want to talk about Mr Don?…" Receiving a nod from the Leaf-nin, the receptionist cleared his throat before he continued, "Then please, follow me, I will take you to the Administrator of the Guild, he can tell you what you need to know for your investigation."

Naruto and Shizuku nodded and waited for the man to get out of his post, going around the desk and as he nodded, he began leading them towards the stairs, the two travelling ninja closely behind.

As they moved through the Guild, Naruto was surprised to see quite a few adventurers in the Guild, some chatting amongst each other, other checking out some contracts posted on the tabloid, many looking at him with a recognising gaze.

But one caught his eye more than the rest, a rather beautiful raven-haired woman, sitting on her own in the bar, glancing at him with a critical eye. The woman was wearing a black jacket on top of a purple blouse that hugged her impressive curves quite well, a set of leather trousers covering her toned legs, her outfit completed by a pair of black boots. Her long black hair was loose, two strands of hair resting on her collarbone. He could tell that she had a pair of beautiful violet-coloured eyes. Overall, she looked and felt like a strong warrior.

But there were two things that struck him the most about the woman. One, she looked a lot like Akeno, the resemblance almost made him clear his eyes to ensure he wasn't seeing Akeno herself. And two, the Fallen Angel scent he caught, definitely came from her.

 ** _"There's the crow."_** Ddraig commented within his mind, confirming his suspicion.

Naruto just kept walking, ignoring the woman for now but still keeping his guard up, not knowing what to think of her at the moment.

"Please…" The receptionist's voice brought Naruto back to the real world, making him realise that he was already in front of the administrator's office, the male receptionist saying with a small smile, "Mr Toyo is waiting."

Naruto and Shizuku nodded with a small smile, walking into the office once the receptionist opened the door and stepped aside.

"Welcome, welcome!…" A cheerful masculine voice greeted them within the office, both ninja observing as a rather bulky and hairy man approached them with a friendly aura, grasping Naruto's hand to give him a strong handshake, doing the same with Shizuku before he added, "It is good to finally meet such an accomplished warrior as yourself, Mr Namikaze."

Shizuku smiled as she found it quite endearing to see Naruto being genuinely embarrassed by all the praises he received. To her, it was a testament of the good intentions Naruto really had, as he was never really looking for a reward other than making this a better world for those he cared for.

But focusing back on the now, the Uzumaki female barely heard as the administrator said, "I only wish we could've meet under more pleasant circumstances." Mr Yoko frowned, massaging his temples as he thought on the current problem his hometown was enduring.

Naruto sighed and nodded, taking a sit on the couch in front of the man's desk, Shizuku placing herself next to her, "It is unfortunate, to be honest, I didn't really knew there was a Guild of Adventurers…" He smiled at the larger man, adding, "Always thought the adventurer's life was long forgotten."

The large man laughed at that, offering the two something to drink, Naruto accepting but Shizuku refusing. Yoko then served himself a glass of sake and said, "And you aren't too far off on your assumption, young one…" He sipped his liquor, sighing contently as the hot liquid travelled through his throat, "There used to be over one hundred Guild's all across the continent…" He sighed wistfully then, his eyes melancholic, thinking on the past, "But now, only sixteen remain…" He focused on the two ninja again to say, "There's approximately around three hundred certified adventurers left… but most are getting old and recruits are lessening… I presume that within the next decade, our fine career will disappear."

Not quite knowing what to say, Naruto and Shizuku looked at each other awkwardly before the jinchūriki cleared his throat and spoke, "Right… well, I hope that doesn't happen…" Receiving a grateful nod from the large man, the Leaf ninja went all business as he leaned on and asked, eyes narrowed, "Now, I believe you are aware of what I'm doing here?"

The buffed guy nodded, crossing his arms as he replied, "Indeed I am, I received a call from the police Captain, telling me that I should expect your visit to inquire about the adventurer that went missing…" Resting on his desk, the man continued with a question, "I take it you are also investigating the other cases?"

Naruto nodded, answering, "We are, you are actually our last visit regarding the interviews…" He massaged his temples for a moment, sighing before he added, "We haven't really found anything that can point us towards a certain direction, but we do have some clues that allowed me to form a theory."

"A cult?…" Sensing the surprise coming from the ninja, the administrator said, "I believe you also found that all the victims seemed to weaken during their last days…" Naruto nodded at that, prompting the large man to conclude, "While I cannot claim to have been a friend of Don, I did spoke to him a couple of times and those last days he was seen, he was indeed weaker, I heard something similar from Sakuya and the Captain regarding the other victims, so I theorised that they might have been drugged, or hooked on a narcotic of some kind."

Naruto nodded, scratching his chin as he said, "Indeed, I also came to a similar conclusion…" He sighed as he focused on the large man, adding, "Something that appears to be a common factor as well, was that they all seemed to have recently begun dating a person…" He leaned back, pausing briefly, "I originally thought that we were dealing with a serial killer, but I learned from one of the girls at the Red Lantern, that one of the victims was seeing a woman, so that derailed my original theory."

The large man nodded as he too scratched his neck, uttering, "I see, I do not know if Don was seeing someone, he did seemed to be out at late hours during those last days…" He sighed, fixing his posture before he added, "But never thought much of it, I always believed that the companion he had was his lover."

"Companion?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, leaning on to listen well.

Yoko nodded, saying as he walked towards his desk, "Yeah…" Opening a drawer, he rummaged through his documents, talking as he did, "The two arrived six months ago, they're travelling adventurers that wanted to settle for a while in one place, so they chose Sun, comfy town with still a lot of work for adventurers…" He pulled a folder out, walking towards Naruto and handing it to him, speaking again, "I assumed they were a couple, but to be honest, I never once saw them act as one, so perhaps they were just companions."

Naruto opened the folder, his eyes widening if just for a moment as he saw the picture of the woman in question, the very same one he saw down at the Guild's bar, "Ray…" He read her name, finding no surname or anything that could shine a light on her background. Though, he knew that she was a fallen angel, if the woman had been a companion to that man, then it also meant that he too was a fallen angel, _"What could two fallen be doing here?"_ He asked his partner.

Naruto could picture Ddraig shrugging within his mind, replying his question, **_"I doubt they actually wanted to settle in town, if you ask me, I believe they were more than likely hunting a rogue."_**

That set off alarms in Naruto's brain. If two fallen angels had come to Sun in search of a rogue, then it meant that the responsible of the disappearances was either a rogue devil, demon, fallen or an angel, _'Or worse… a god…'_ He gulped at that thought, he was absolutely not ready to face a god, more so when it was one that had broken the rules and went on their own to do Great Red knows what.

That was, of course, if the 'adventurers' themselves weren't the real rogues. Either way, spelled trouble for him, enough to feel worry about Shizuku accompanying him on this investigation.

"Not much information on their background." The silverette then commented once he focused back on the now, looking at the Guild's administrator.

Yoko shrugged, explaining, "It's part of the job, we do not ask questions, most of the adventurers are people who didn't made it into the ninja or samurai ranks, they're not being paid by the government either, so there isn't much regulation…" Scratching his nape, he added, "If they can do the job, they get paid by the client and that's it, no paperwork needed."

Naruto nodded, looking at the woman's file, surprised by the accomplishments he could see in her file, in Don's as well, "Seven bandit lairs raided, five kidnappings thwarted and two rogue A-rank ninja killed…" He looked at Yoko, adding, "They sound strong."

"They are…" Yoko conceded, adding, "That's why Don's disappearance is so concerning…" Taking a sip of his sake, the large man continued, "Those two were A-rank adventurers, they seemed to have much experience and were quite popular with the clients as they dealt with the job efficiently and quickly, if someone was able to take Don out just like that…" He sighed, genuinely worried for the one behind the disappearances, "Then that spells trouble for all of us."

"Indeed…" Naruto muttered, closing the folder and as he handed it back to the administrator, the jinchūriki asked, "I take it you don't know much about Don, then?"

"No…" Yoko shook his head, adding after he placed the folder back on the desk, "But Ray is still here, you should talk to her, if someone knows about Don, is surely her."

Naruto nodded, saying as he stood up, "Aright then, I'll do that right now…" He then shook the man's hand, saying with a small grin, "Thank you for your time, Mr Yoko."

"It's nothing…" The man returned the shake and smile, adding as he did the same with the brunette, "Please, do let me know how the investigation goes and if you need my assistance, just come see me."

Nodding at him, Naruto and Shizuku stepped out of the room and proceeded to go downstairs to the bar, with Naruto saying to Shizuku, "Zuku, I caught a glimpse of this Ray when we came to the office and I honestly don't know what to make of her…" Shizuku bit her lip, understanding the warning before Naruto worded it out, "So let's just be careful around her, aight?"

Shizuku nodded, following behind Naruto as he continued his way towards the victim's companion. To be honest, Shizuku wanted the investigation to be over already, as she had a bad feeling about the whole thing that was testing her control over herself.

* * *

"Excuse me…" Naruto said with a small polite smile to the black-haired woman drinking on her own, the adventurer looking at him out of the corner of her eye, nodding at him to continue, "My name is Na…"

"I know who you are…" The woman said, sipping her whole drink before she turned on her stool to face the jinchūriki, smirking a little as she continued, "Naruto Namikaze, Leaf-ninja, A-rank in the Bingo Book…" She eyed his companion for a moment, sizing her up before she added with a more serious tone, "I guess you're here investigating the disappearances?"

Naruto and Shizuku both sat on the stools available next to Ray, with the silverette replying with a confident smirk, "My, aren't ya well informed?"

The woman returned the smirk, a certain tension between the two as she whispered huskily, "It is my job to be informed…" Sighing, she fixed some strands of her hair, her violet eyes roaming the Guild as she added, "I suppose you want to ask me about Don?"

Naruto nodded, stating, "Your guess is correct, there are some questions I have reg…"

He was interrupted again however, when the woman turned to face him and leaned on him, too close in Shizuku's opinion, "I'll answer anything you want…" She titled her head, mesmerising Naruto for a moment as he got a close up to her beauty, supernatural in every regard, "If…" She brought a finger to his chest, pushing it slightly as she finished with a sexy smirk, "You let me tag along in this investigation."

Naruto raised his eyebrow, alarmed but also intrigued, slightly narrowing his eyes and as he asserted some of his presence on her, he asked, leaning on as well, "And why would I allow that, Ms Ray?"

The adventurer couldn't help but show the surprise on her face, surprise stemmed from the fact that she actually felt intimidated by the young man. But thanks to her years of experience, she managed to keep a cool exterior as she replied, uncaring of how close they were to each other, almost kissing, "Because…" She pushed him playfully then, a masked attempt to get herself under control again, his presence being far more intoxicating than what she originally thought, "Don is my partner and I'd like to know what happen to him… plus…" She flipped her hair, fixing her posture as she released some of her power, impressing Naruto slightly in the process, "I can help you, I'm an A-rank adventurer, we're rare to come by."

"That may be…" Naruto looked at Shizuku for a second, who looked unsure, "But I don't think having the lover of one of the victims along, would be a wise idea."

Ray smirked at him, tilting her head as she said, "What gave you the idea that I am his lover?…" Chuckling slightly, though Naruto could still tell that there was indeed genuine worry in the woman as she added, this time, in a more sombre tone, "You can say we are… siblings…" Turning towards the man, she continued, "We grew up together, I'm older than him, so I always took on the 'big sister' role…" She sighed, balling her fists as she finished, "I… I just need to know what happened to him… and find the responsible."

Sensing the boy's reluctance, Ddraig suddenly intervened, **_"Take her with you, hatchling…"_** Knowing that Naruto was about to ask why, the dragon elaborated, **_"We're more than likely dealing with a reincarnated, Akeno was a half-fallen, so she doesn't count as experience with full-fledged reincarnated."_**

Naruto nodded, but still argued, _"I get it but… what if she turns out to be the problem?"_

 ** _"Then you deal with it…"_** Was the god's dry response, adding with what Naruto could tell, was a small smirk, **_"Besides, she's interested in you, so you could use that to your advantage if need be."_**

Still having some doubts about it, Naruto none the less decided to go along with his predecessor's plan, but he still made it a little difficult, just so that she wouldn't suspect anything foul, "I don't know…" He leaned back on the bar, Shizuku silent as he dealt with the adventurer, "That's still an emotional attachment that can make this personal for you…" He looked at Ray and made her shiver when he narrowed his eyes and concluded with a commanding tone, "I don't have time for 'personal'."

Composing herself, Ray looked at the front and sighed, saying after a moment of silence, "I understand…" Still though, she was equally stubborn, so she turned to face him again and said with a challenging smirk, "But if you wanna know anything about my brother, then you're taking me with you."

Naruto sniggered at that, massaging his temples as he whispered, "You do know I can just charge you with obstruction of justice, right?…" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, smirk in place when he added teasingly, "You'll be in jail for a while."

Far from being deterred, Ray's smirk widened as she shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Then I'll be in jail and you'll be without a clue about my brother…" She turned to look at him, and Naruto could detect that there was a sense of pleading in those gorgeous violets when she said with a small smile, no longer challenging nor teasing, just terse, "Your choice, Mr Namikaze."

He had to give it to her, the fallen angel didn't back down, "Alright then…" Naruto finally conceded after looking at Shizuku who just shrugged, the boy standing up from the stool and after he fixed his coat, said with a genuine serious tone, "But let me be clear, you do as I say, if I detect the slightest sign of rebellious attitude from you, you'll be dealt with, understood?"

Both Ray and Shizuku were surprised by how their bodies felt at that specific tone of voice, it was incredible that such a young man, way younger in Ray's case, could make them nod their heads in submission. Even when Shizuku didn't had to, she still felt as if the warning was aimed at her as well.

There was a tense silence after that, with Naruto finally cutting off his aura to ease the atmosphere, bringing his hand forward to Ray and saying, "Then, welcome to the case."

Ray shook her head and with all of her experience, pushed aside her current thoughts in order to smile lightly and shake the man's hand, stating, "I will cooperate, you have my word."

With that done, Ray stood up and fixed her clothes, leaving some bills behind to pay for her drink, turning to face the two ninja to say, "Then let's head to a more private setting, we've much to discuss."

The two travelling ninja nodded and then, started following the adventurer as she led them to where she was staying at.

Naruto had his eyes glued to her and she could feel it, but while she was of the mind that he was interested in her as she in him, she failed to realise that Naruto's interest was in fact, more of a cautious one than anything else.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you liked the chappie! Shout out to those who figure out who certain characters really are! Thank you for reading and I'll see ya lads soon, cheers!**


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